Chapter 14

A Big Problem

Monday afternoon, late

Mondays always seem to be shorter than other day; today it must have been the budget. Now I had only one more thing to do. The dean of arts and sciences position had been advertised and a few candidates invited for a campus visit. The first Meet the Candidate Social is today, right after work.

James Johnson will spend two days looking us over as we evaluate him. It’s all coordinated by members of a search committee appointed by the president.

Most of the faculty think Dr. Johnson is the one the president’s most interested in, so I expect many will attend. On my way to the student center, I checked all the windows of the buildings I passed. So far everything’s normal; but I wasn’t confident that crosses and Roman swords were out of my life forever.

The President and I walked into the Administration building at the same time. He said hello and had a request.

“Please check with me later, I have more information for you.”

“Of course, Dr. Beck.” I replied as we went in different directions. I went straight to Prairie Hall where most of the arts and sciences faculty and staff plus the university’s administrative staff were already catching up on the latest gossip. I moved slowly through the crowd and toward the candidate to introduce myself, greeting those I could make eye contact with.

“John, we’re so glad the westward expansion collection was selected for this round.” Alan Chavez, professor of history, was in a good mood. I knew it would benefit his own research, that of others plus several classes.

“I am too; our resources have been too limited for a long time.” I could admit that. “American history students and faculty will soon be better served.”

“Yes, a masters-degree student and two doctoral candidates will begin their research next semester.” Alan almost beamed in his delight. We shook hands and moved on.

James appeared to be ready to speak as he stood next to the lectern in perfect academic attire. Some consider it standard: dark blue blazer, khaki pants, light blue shirt and orange tie. Old brown wing tips conveyed his relaxed confidence.

He was talking to the business dean, Warren Lloyd, who always wore the same business-dean-style dark blue suit, white shirt, a red power tie and shiny, brown loafers with tassels. I guess I like informal choices, Johnson appeared to be more approachable.

I walked over to them, shook hands with the candidate and introduced myself.

Dean Lloyd, seemed a bit miffed by my interruption, but these events are meant to be relaxed and loose. “Pleased to meet you John, I hope we can chat after I finish my talk.” Johnson was genuine, relaxed and open.

“Great, look forward to it,” I answered and nodded to them both as I walked away so they could continue their conversation. I knew Dean Lloyd was already calculating whether he’d be a suitable fellow dean. Lloyd strikes me as a pompous ass. I stay out of his way as much as possible. I’d been told by several business faculty that he believed the library was over-funded, which was the reason the business college was underfunded. Anyway, I try not to engage in gossip; but I do keep my ears open. Academic politics can be bad, and when fewer dollars come from the legislature, they’re worse. What Lloyd fails to understand is that even if the library got less money and he got more; he wouldn’t be any happier. He’d just find something, or someone, else to complain about.

After several brief conversations I looked around for the president; he was with a group of physics and engineering faculty. I positioned myself so he’d see me when he’s ready to have the conversation he mentioned. He was ready now; he nodded, excused himself from the group and headed over. I suspect he might also have been glad to extricate himself from that group as they seemed to have him cornered.

He shook my hand as he moved us out into the hallway and asked how things are going in the library. I knew that was just to put me at ease, so I made it short and told him that the librarians are upbeat and working hard to do more with less. We’d survive and be OK.

He smiled. I waited for the ax to fall.

“John, I wanted you to hear about this from me. The other university presidents and I are, and have been for a while, under pressure from the governor’s office and the legislature about the number of university libraries in the state.” He paused for a moment, then chose simple, straightforward words.

“Let me put it this way, I’m giving you this information so you can study it, hopefully understand it, and help me deal with it in the best possible way for us and the system.

“Politicians in this state and, as I understand it, in many other states, are questioning why there are so many academic libraries. Each is an expensive facility, fully staffed with abundant resources.” Out loud this sounded worse than I’d imagined.

“To them it seems to be a gross waste of funding because there’s so much duplication of materials in the state university system libraries.” I could tell Dr. Beck was uncomfortable with this prospect. “They’re asking me, or I mean, all the university presidents, why we just couldn’t close them and subscribe to Digital World’s higher education information subscription services. Digital World is claiming they can duplicate the information available in all our state university libraries for far less money.”

He paused, as if to give me a moment to digest what he’d just said. I didn’t think he wanted a big discussion about this here and now, or we would have met earlier in his office. So I remained quiet.

“Give this some thought and get back to Roger as soon as you can.” He finished and left. He’d opened the bomb doors, delivered the payload and flown on. Fast and effective.

When I started to breathe again I remembered James had wanted to talk. I wasn’t in the mood for conversation, but I stepped back into the room to hear his presentation. Like everyone else, I wanted to check out the candidate’s style in front of a group and how much wit and wisdom he would deliver.

I moved a little closer, his casual lecture was well balanced, a nice mix of humor and serious comments about Arts and Sciences and its role in higher education. It must have lasted about twenty minutes.

For that little while I’d let go of my conversation with the president. Now I came back to it. I knew he was serious; he’s facing a huge threat against the university. I thought his next move might have already been decided because he asked me to contact Roger instead of get back to him. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Roger already knew everything about Digital World and the politicians and what would happen next.

After his talk, James might have intended to visit with me, but he was far too busy. Looking at his schedule, I saw he was slated for a library visit on Tuesday afternoon. Good, we’ll have our discussion then. The crowd was thinning fast and search committee members were getting ready to take him to dinner. Time for me to go, too.

As I walked to my car a great horned owl flew overhead, beginning his night. Finished for the day, I let go of work, picked up something light at one of my favorite take-out places, a vegan sandwich and fruit smoothie. Best part of this evening would be a visit with Eppie on the phone.

 NEXT.....Chapter 15
Eppie Explains