News One is reporting that Michele Moody-Adams, the first female and the first African-American dean of Columbia University's undergraduate school Columbia College has resigned, only two weeks before the new semester begins.
Moody-Adams' departure is the second by a prominent African-American administrator at the university this summer. In June, Claude M. Steele, who was the university's provost, left to serve as dean of Stanford University's School of Education.
New York magazine reported that Moody-Adams first sent a letter to alumni and donors announcing her intention to resign at the end of the academic year, citing administrative changes that would usurp her authority on "crucial policy, fund-raising and budgetary matters."
How does she really feel? Academics typically don't mince words, so you know exactly what they are thinking. Although there is something known as academic freedom, fellow administrators and leaders like college presidents don't take kindly to being put on blast in front of donors and alumni. That's a different type of "academic freedom," which often is not very free.
We're guessing that letter pretty much sealed her fate. Often there is a cost for speaking truth, and hopefully how she is leaving will not overshadow what has been a stellar academic career before this stint.
Read more at News One.
In other news: In Hiding, Qaddafi Tells Libyans to Free Tripoli.