I am kind of distressed, but not alone in this, in the way in which the search was handled.

I'm still not clear why this has to be done so quickly. It's kind of like going on one blind date and then getting married.

Let me alone, and go in search of someone else..

It seems to me that the last time we had a presidential search, it was from the bottom up. The faculty were much more involved. And of course this search has been completely different. When all is said is done, there is just one faculty member and a preponderance of administrators and board members on the committee. To me, that seems uneven.

From the first moment I handled my lens with a tender ardour.

We are naturally distressed that the numbers turned out the way they did, but we are not discouraged.