From Madison to Lawrenceville

In today's edition, The Badger Herald is reporting that Virginia Sapiro has been named a finalist for the position of provost at the University of Kansas and is currently in Lawrenceville interviewing for the job.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I found out about this late last week but, as per usual, bit my tongue until the Herald could take it to press.)

There is an editorial in today's paper that sums up the tremendous damage that is being done unto the Madison campus:

[W]ith matters remaining as they are, it would seem difficult to offer a convincing reason why Ms. Sapiro shouldn’t accept this job if offered or any of the others she could so easily be given. And that is precisely why Chancellor John Wiley must look beyond the chillingly mind-numbing recommendations of this search and screen committee, either commissioning a new panel or working outside the narrow list of candidates.

Keep in mind, only two such candidates remain and, as we have previously discussed, one of them is a radical ideologue with an academic agenda that would have last been considered progressive during the era of Reconstruction.

Basically, a search and screen committee that was apparently back-loaded with petty, personal biases decided to do the smug, conniving deed of not giving Ms. Sapiro due consideration. And now, as a result of the childish stunt, they have not only done the immediate harm of keeping the best person away from the position that needs to be filled, but, equally loathsomely, have prodded her just enough to realize that she will be better off elsewhere.

And that is saying a great deal, considering that Ms. Sapiro has three decades of service to UW under her belt.