The missing provost finalist

Rather quietly, toward the end of winter exams, the University of Wisconsin announced the three finalists to succeed Peter Spear as provost: Patrick Farrell, Sue Rosser and Kumble Subbaswamy.

It is far too early to pass any sort of judgment on the three candidates – they may well be outstanding options in the end – but the true news buried between the lines of this announcement is not who the finalists are but, more precisely, who isn't a finalist.

Virginia Sapiro has ably served this university longer than most people on campus, has chaired various departments and proved herself an intellectually monstrous part of the UW administration as of late. As Interim Provost, she has not only taken over Mr. Spears' office on short notice but served as the acting head of the school for several weeks while Chancellor John Wiley was in Africa.

UW administrators speak highly of Ms. Sapiro both in private and public. The general gist of conversations leading up to this announcement was that Ms. Sapiro seemed a natural lock for the job. In fact, the Badger Herald editorial board, just a week before UW's bombshell announcement, complimented her performance and called on the school to give her the post.

But, alas, something has gone wrong.

There is surely more to this than is known now and it will be interesting to find out just what is truly at play as the facts unwind over the coming weeks and months.