Jack Fowler, on National Review Online’s “The Corner,” wrote, “Congratulations to the 2015 Sheldon winner. And condolences to the students.” Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit) said naming Peter Salovey of Yale the winner was “a good call, though it was a rich field this year.”
Perhaps with a touch of regional pride, Charlie Sykes, a well-known Milwaukee blogger, hailed the achievement of Michael Lovell, president of Marquette (Milwaukee) in finishing so high among the five worst presidents. “Okay, so Marquette President Mike Lovell didn’t win gold, but taking home a Third Runner-Up medal as the fourth worst college president in America is no mean feat, especially given the stiff competition. Think of it as the Super Bowl of academic awfulness, cowardice, and unprincipled appeasement. And 2015 was a banner year. We suspect that if Lovell – who seems quite clueless about the actual issues involved here – goes ahead and actually fires McAdams that he will start the year as a front runner for winning the 2016 Sheldon.”
The Heartland Institute put out this statement: “The governing boards of UC-Berkeley, Marquette, Missouri, Virginia, and Yale should follow the lead of the University of Chicago, Purdue, and the University of Wisconsin system and pass the ‘Chicago standard’ resolution that reaffirms free speech rights on their campuses.”
One of the most common reader reactions to the Sheldon was regret that Tim Wolfe of the University of Missouri didn’t win it. An NRO reader wrote, “I’d have given the award to Tim “Fold Like a Cheap Suit” Wolfe of Missouri. Quitting your job because a handful of students are unhappy with you has to be one of the most pathetic performances out there.” Another said, “I’m disappointed it wasn’t Wolfe. His will be the most damaging precedent for higher education, long term.”
In California, the Orange County Breeze was disappointed that local Sheldon candidate Janet Napolitano didn’t win, asking, “Who managed to be even worse? Last year, competition was extraordinary. Many college administrators trampled one another in their zeal to oversee campus ruin and collapse…. Go read the entire article and ask yourself how we got to the point that college administrators can be so easily bullied and the tender feelings of college students became the Law of the Quad.”
