A book published last year, Presidencies Derailed by former George Washington University president Stephen Joel Trachtenberg and two co-authors, examines the reasons why the individuals chosen to head colleges and universities so frequently run into severe trouble. In this week’s Pope Center Clarion Call, Jane Shaw reviews the book.

Of course, there are a variety of reasons why presidencies derail, but evidently the most common is that the board of trustees made a poor choice. Trachtenberg and his co-authors spend quite a few pages examining the problems that beset boards when they have to perform their most important task. Among those problems is the egalitarian trend in higher education toward ensuring that all “stakeholders” have their say. Therefore, instead of looking for the individual who appears most likely to run a taught ship, the search goes off into a quest for the candidate who appears to best satisfy each stakeholder group.