Category Archives: Uncategorized

My first look at this topic focused on the peculiar and sometimes challenging relationship between the (unpaid) Boards of Directors of Universities, Colleges and Independent Schools and the (paid) Chief Executive Officers of these same schools.

For a good study of... Read More

My subject today is not nearly as clever as the particular “Ingenious Paradox” which W.S. Gilbert had in mind.

Our legal practice concentrates on negotiating the employment contracts and (where needed) the termination agreements of senior academic executives, College and University Presidents... Read More

It will not surprise you to learn that many, if not most, people who make a career at the top administrative levels of higher and secondary education—College and University Presidents and Heads of Independent Schools—are genuinely idealistic about their work. They care... Read More

With all the controversy over Federal funding and other requirements, it is no surprise that 2025 was an extraordinarily hard year for administrators in higher education. The turnover has been significant: Inside Higher Education reports that at least 8 of the Big... Read More

First, a bit of unfinished business: at the end of my last blog, I offered what I thought was an apt quotation, and identified the author as Dr. Samuel Johnson. The source of the quote was correct, but as two of my... Read More

The problem we confronted at the end of my last column was: how to protect a College or University President who feels that he or she has to resign because of an irreconcilable conflict with the school’s Board of Trustees.

The President... Read More

In a year fraught with news stories about higher education, the abrupt resignation of James Ryan, the President of the University of Virginia (UVA), stood out.

What prompted his resignation—conflict between the President’s more liberal view of where this historic university should... Read More

It is common in the commercial world for executives of large companies to have a coach to assist them through the tasks of upper management. The same has become true in the academic world.

Sophisticated College and University Presidents, as well as... Read More

We recently represented an executive in higher education selected to be a first-time College President. During a thoughtful and productive negotiation, both the School’s counsel and I had to acknowledge that many—and perhaps most—of the legal provisions in the contract which we... Read More

Even if you are not a baseball fan, the start of Spring training in late February signals the eventual end of winter on the North American continent.

And the so-called Off Season now ending featured at least one incident which implicated the... Read More