The final word

Because obviously my farewell post would be late.I’m not going to say too much, but I will update you on a few things.

Hasta la vista: Dean Lynch decided to delete all of the comments from her BlogTV post ? they were unrelated to the post and very critical of her decision to leave and her silence on the matter ? and has since suspended all commenting. The blogs were getting pretty nasty (I wish I had saved my post about, ’cause dang it was getting ugly), but it doesn’t justify her deleting the post, reposting it without comments and then disabling the only form of interaction it that students and staff had. It’s always been obvious that the “sort-of official blog” has been nothing more than less-glorified press releases, but it’s only more obvious now.

It’s also made it clear Dianne Lynch’s M.O.: When she finds dissent with her own views, she tends to squash it out, quite literally in this case. It makes for an impressive P.R. front, but is a little disconcerting coming from a online journalist who knows very well how blogs work and don’t work. To some it might seem contrary to her openness to student opinions. It’s follows a very different method of hers, one that expects students to understand and believe everything she says questioningly and without impatience, rudeness or demandingness. It’s been the story since she got adjusted to the very vocal minorities at the Park School and is something that get shown in this sort of behavior.

All that being said, I do have a lot respect for Dianne Lynch and know that personally this was a very, very difficult decision for her, one that probably broke her heart to make. And I do honestly and openly wish her the best in her career. The jaded journalist in me still fears for the Park School, but that’s hardly is or ever was her burden alone.

What is this “summer updates” you speak of? In case you missed it, I was scooped during my little sabbatical. By my own (now former) paper, no less. Dean Dianne Lynch broke her silence in an interview with esteemed future editor in chief Erica (R.) Hendry.

Those grapes sure are sour, huh? There was some interesting chatter about college’s “revolting” over the U.S. World News & Report’s college rankings. While I have never been a fan of rankings, it’s not for the same reasons as these presidents. It’s the same thing that hurts academic Top Tens in high school, or causes grade inflation, or making an Employee of the Month (okay, that’s a stretch): when you make rankings that are inherently flawed (lack of data, limited scope, no way to really measuring how good a school vs. another for the individual high school senior), you cause everyone to flip out ? that is, when you’re not on top. Robert Samuelson has a nice piece on this from the WaPo, and National Review Online’s John J. Miller has an interesting take too that takes into account that these college’s raw data is more valuable out, but the lower ranked ones know it’ll hurt ‘em. And he throws in some “whiff of anti-capitalism” charges that are pretty darn amusing too.

And that’s it from me. I’m not sure who will be covering this beat at all, but the world of higher education is critical for more than just students, faculty and staff, and I hope I’ve been able to illuminate on the past six months exactly why. Colleges and universities are made up of the elite class of citizens, for better or for worse, and we must hold the entire system and the people involved accountable. It’s been a privilege to cover it and I appreciate all the faithful readers out there. If you ever need anything (CHE? IHE? IvyGate? Need an intern? haha), you can reach me at mattquintanilla -at - gmail.com.Keep up the good fight.