Dartblog

In the category of There Are Some People Who Just Can’t Be Pleased, take a look at this recent headline in the Times: “Newest Spy Court Pick Is a Democrat but Not a Liberal.” To comment more amply on this subject would be to lead us away from Dartblog’s focus, but still, the choice of Judge José Cabranes for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court does have some relevance to this space’s themes. Cabranes is the author of the most incisive piece that I know regarding the role, or the utter lack of a role, played by trustees at institutions of higher learning: Myth and Reality of University Trusteeship in the Post-Enron Era (2007). He serves on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, was a trustee at Fordham (1974-77), Colgate (1987-90), Yale (1987-99), and Columbia (2000-2102); in addition, his wife Kate Stith-Cabranes ‘73 was on Dartmouth’s Board from 1989-2000, and several of their children attended the College. A representative excerpt from his well-worth-reading article:

I still hear from people in the College community that they have heard that the Trustees want Dartmouth’s President to do this and that. Wrong. Jettison that illusion forthwith. Our Trustees know so little about the College that they are routinely led around by the nose by the President — or even by Interim Presidents. Given their collective lack of knowledge and experience in higher education, one would think that this fact would be self-evident.