Two weeks ago Shimer College, the tiny "Great Books" college of Chicago, thwarted a hostile right-wing takeover attempt and fired its president. It was a very close call. . . .
If one less swing vote on the Board of Trustees had been won over, that president would have remained in power and Shimer would have been destroyed in any meaningful sense (faculty would have been fired, others would have left in solidarity, students would have gone elsewhere...), leaving only its valuable accreditation, which would have served the new owners as a shell to pour in their own preferred right-wing content.
Since the victory, a new and highly respected interim president has been appointed, and alums and others have raised over $100,000 as a gesture of support for "The New Shimer." Some more extensive observations on the conflict are now online here. (This is a followup to the April 21 diary.)