Regarding yesterday’s strike memo hullabaloo, we found out today on good authority that Provost Brinkley did not write the memo, that it in no way respects his views, and that none of the punitive measures listed therein have a snowball’s chance in Hell of being enacted under this administration. Obviously, in a perfect world, the provost wouldn’t have initialed this internal memo at all, but this information definitely accords better with my sense of what’s going on and with my measure of the man.
2 thoughts on “Strike Addendum.”
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Kevin, if Brinkley is signing memos that don’t represent his views, why does he have any business being provost at a great university?
Hey, Rick, good to hear from you. 🙂
Well, I can’t comment knowledgeably on Prof. Brinkley’s intentions when he signed the memo, so I guess I’ll take him at his word. Perhaps, as per Brinkley’s own explanation on HNN, he thought this memo accomplished its intended purpose — it succinctly summarized the various options under discussion among members of the administration, and could be used to open discussion at some brainstorming session or another.
Or, perhaps he was handed a stack of memos for the next fortnight’s meetings at the end of a long day and didn’t read them all that carefully. Is this making excuses? Undoubtedly. But, speaking as someone who spent several years in DC writing memos, letters, minutes, and sundry longer tracts in the names of various other people…if we started forcing every single public official in this country who signs off on internal memos they haven’t read very carefully to step down, there’s be no one left.
Regardless, given my personal sense of the man and my sense of his attitude toward labor, I think little is gained by asking him to step down for this unfortunate episode.