half-political, half-personal. the best administrator on earth is leaving swarthmore for bates.

i hear tell that tedd is a maine native himself, so that going back would be nice even if there were No Issues Whatsoever at swat. i doubt that's the whole story, however.

things are changing at swarthmore, in a way that i often can't put my finger on. in several ways, in fact. it has something to do with division surrounding the football cuts. something to do with the college's priorities on spending (look at estimates for housing, tedd's area, versus say the science center). it has something to do with satan, i mean, ville police chief brian craig, and his non-comprehension of healthy attitudes toward experimental drinking. it has something to do with rankings. something to do with character. something to do with radicalization (of both left and right) and the alienation certain more centrist students occasionally feel.

[my best indicator of the above, with the constant caveat that in the real world i'm NOT A FUCKING MODERATE: during the anti-war actions in 2002 and 2003, i had two separate people say to me on two separate occasions that it would be *better* if i were a conservative, because that would be more honest, more knowable. heads up, meanies (i felt like saying): a non-radical is not a conservative in sheep's clothing, and recognizing some complexity doesn't make me an asshole.]

i don't think for a moment that folks who leave swarthmore are reacting to all of the above. those are my issues, though i know that they are perceived by not a few other alums, as well as certain profs and adminsitrators and current studentsbut i also think that tedd himself was part of some better days than the college has seen recently.

whatever the circumstance (and i don't pretend to have any insight to what it actually was), this is a big loss for the college. other wonderful folks remain (yes, i am talking about myrt and bob), but i'm not kidding about that best-administrator-ever line above, and i feel sorry for all the swatties who won't meet him now, as well as for all the fuckups and confused RA's who won't have him to call in the middle of the night.