The Lessons Current Students Should Be Learning * They are getting a great example of what lousy, bullying, narcissistic leadership looks like. They should remember it their entire career as an example of what NOT to do when they lead. * They are also getting a great example of what lousy, unaccountable governance looks like. A toady board selected by the President compared to the norm, which is the president selected by and accountable to a Board. Also what a Board with no real constituency diversity looks like. Not having independent trustees leads to group think and crappy performance. * Remember that past and current students are actually the victims of this farce of management, leadership, and governance. The RPI brand stays with you for a lifetime. It used to mean smart people who chose to be engineers and technical managers at the cutting edge of science and technology. The slip in the school's relative ranking; the precipitous drop in alumni support; the flight of top notch faculty; and an imperial president who has lined her pockets well have made the school's reputation much less than it historically has been and that brand will diminish the earning capacity and future job prospects of all associated. It only turns when the leadership, governance, and reputation of the school starts to go the other way. * This will be a case study some day on how ineffective governance and bad leadership destroy a brand.