Jonathan Holloway, the President at Rutgers University, recently gave a speech to the Faculty Senate at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, a member of the Big Ten Conference. The speech caught national attention when he told the group “ For too long the entire Rutgers community has been laboring under the illusion that athletics will generate enough revenue to pay for itself and, then, in time turn a profit. Let me disabuse you of that claim. While I would be thrilled if athletics were to cover all of its expenses, it is highly unlikely that it will. Only 2 percent of major college athletics programs run in the black, and not many more than that break even. The better way to think about athletics is that it represents a commitment by the university that helps tell a compelling story about this institution—one that will inspire applicants, alumni, and friends to learn more about we have to offer as a university in 2022. In this regard, the story-telling capability of athletics far outstrips any other thing that we do at Rutgers."

Is that an appropriate summary of where athletics should fit into a campus? Or can we find different ways to define how athletics fits into the campus and its culture? 

My guests today have led three different institutions, and have written two books on leadership and the presidency: their new book is called “Leadership Matters: Confronting the Hard choices Facing Higher Education”, as well as their previous book, “How to Run a College”, both from Johns Hopkins Press. Joseph King is the past president at Lyon College (MO) and Brian Mitchell is the current president of Academic Innovators, and a past president at Bucknell University (PA) and Washington and Jefferson College (PA). They also talk frankly about future presidents and their need to be strategic when it comes to implementing change.