Citing the most recent (AP) coverage of Hamilton College’s rejection of the Alexander Hamilton Center, Charles focuses below on the college’s all too apparent need for governance reform.

Another aspect of this report caught my attention: the first-time admission by the campus administration of the real reason for the cancellation of the Center. As AP notes, it is Dean of Faculty Joseph Urgo who has let the cat out of the bag. At the heart of the decision, says Urgo, was the sense “this would be destructive to the faculty community here . . .”

In short, the original excuse given for rejecting AHC, its governance structure, was a ploy to protect the dominion of the left-wing faculty community. As Urgo’s statement suggests, this cabal could not stand any threat to its ideological hegemony, and cowardly trustees and administrators crumpled in face of its opposition to the specter of a valuable new voice on campus.

Charles is right. Hamilton College needs a complete governance overhaul. It needs new board members and a president who value the first principles of higher education.