October is an exciting month and this week is an exciting week for Ohio Wesleyan. Homecoming week was upon us. Rock Jones was inaugurated last weekend, many sports teams are now in the heat of conference play, and first module exams and mid-semester break are on the horizon.

The inauguration of Ohio Wesleyan’s 16th president, Rock Jones, was marked by a cloudless autumn day and activities ranging from a national forum on the future of the liberal arts to an all-community dinner featuring foods from around the world and entertainment by various campus groups.

As part of Ohio Wesleyan's inauguration celebration, the university also hosted a national forum titled "Whither the Liberal Arts,” to examine the role of a liberal arts education in today's society and in the future. In an email to students, Rock wrote he would never forget the sight and sound of the ceremonies and that according to "one of the visiting members of his family told him she needed more tissue when she heard the students than at any other time in the ceremony." Provost David Robbins even stated that he “had never seen the campus more excited.”

If excitement is the currency that Ohio Wesleyan needs to thrive in the academic world, then we , as a college, should be all set.

But it is not all vapid statements of joy that don't convey much and it is not all rosy at Ohio Wesleyan. Concurrent with the celeberation, the University Self Study Report is being circulated among students, faculty and staff this week. The Report is a document, written by faculty and administrators, about the state of affairs at Ohio Wesleyan. The document reveals some pressing problems that require attention for the school accreditation in the coming year but also highlights many areas where our strategic planning should particularly focus on. Several clear pressing concerns were articulated in it (but this time by the outside commission):

1. The current rate of tuition discounting jeopardizes the ability of the University to achieve its mission.
2. There are significant physical plan needs—new construction, major renovation, and deferred maintenance—all of which need to be addressed to achieve enrollment goals.
3. There is a lack of adequate institutional research analysis to inform the allocation of resources to departments and programs.
4. There seems to be little consensus outside the planning committee about strategic directions for the institution.

Add to these the Ohio Wesleyan students concerns articulated in the students' survey from last year about:

• Low Admission Selectivity and
• Low Student Retention

...and the picture for the next few years on the president's plate is complete.

Ohio Wesleyan President Rockwell "Rock" Jones however showed in the first week of October that he is knows how to cook things up for students. Not just figuratively but also quite literally. Jones whipped up a family favorite for several students to kick off "Inauguration Week." For the meal, Jones and his wife, Melissa Lollar Jones, made Pasta Rocca and a dessert -- Chess pie, a 150-year-old secret family recipe.

As the Latin proverb states, Fervet olla, vivit amicitia. At least the ones who care about the stomachs more than their future.

The inauguration was an interesting event providing much food for thought. It certainly differed from the inauguration of the previously short-lived presidency in many ways, but particularly in its theme. While Huddleston's inauguration focused on the school's international diversity, Jone's inauguration strangely focused on the University past only and even more so on a particular aspect of it. One couldn't help but notice the two Methodist Ohio Conference Representatives and the Republican U.S. Representative. In the context of chosen by Jones theme, Huddleston's words from a few years ago seemed oddly appropriate for the occasion. Huddleston then mentioned that "The fact that we have a glorious past and are presently delivering a great education to our students is important. But past performance, as the mutual fund ads say in fine print, is no guarantee of future success. Some schools, including schools with clear visions and great delivery, will not make it. The survivors will be those who can tell a distinctive story in a compelling way." More determined to make friends with a particular part of the campus community, Jone's words spoke to some who reminisced about the school's past but evaded a vision for the challenges that lie ahead.

During his inaugural address on October 10, Jones challenged the campus community and others to look for ways to enhance the educational opportunities already offered to Ohio Wesleyan's 1,850 undergraduate students. Enhancements, he mentioned, may include additional summer research and internship opportunities, increased opportunities in the fine arts, and expanded mission trips for service learning.

Consistent with the theme, Jones highlighted the presidency of the previous three presidents: Tom Wenzlau, David Warren, Tom Courtice.

While Warren and Courtice can deserve a lot of praise, Jones, disturbingly, and perhaps quite ignorantly highlighted Wenzlau's presidency as he pointed out that Wenzlau "brought a breath of fresh air and an innate understanding of the changing times. He immediately connected with students, calming the waters in an era of student unrest on American campuses."

Truth be told, Wenslau apparently had his deserved highlights. But not ones anyone would want to mention and focus on in an inauguration speech. Suffice it to quote the Wikipedia well-referenced article on Wenzlau's presidency: "Thomas Wenzlau's presidency (1968–1984) began with the challenge of campus unrest: Wesleyan students took over the ROTC building, demanded its shut-down, and eventually eliminated ROTC in 1970. Students also demanded participation in departmental meetings and faculty committees, and the democratic process in the governance of Wesleyan grew in this period. Wenzlau's presidency witnessed decline in students' test scores, an unusually high attrition rate, lack of adequate research to identify potential major donors and a growing "party school" image, leading to a rocky relationship between him and the student body. Between 1979 and 1982, the campus newspaper The Transcript frequently criticized Wenzlau's presidency, blaming it for "severely affecting the reputation of the college". This exchange resulted in a Washington Post report on the school that eventually precipitated the end of Wenzlau's presidency."

Jones expressed his deepest gratitude to Wenzlau, however. Perhaps history seems to have been kind to the school after the Wenzlau's presidency in that the college actually managed to survive the reputational mishaps caused by his leadership.

To his credit, Jones did highlight one aspect of the campus that students and alumni rave about: the faculty and the curriculum. The reputation of Ohio Wesleyan has indeed been developed first as a result of the teaching and scholarship of a stellar faculty. The teacher-scholars of this faculty are this institution’s greatest asset, and they are the students’ greatest resource.

The first few months and the theme of the inauguration can be a  good or bad harbinger of what changes are to be expected in the coming years.

Organizational change occurs slowly and it offers solutions to problems in the long run, as a gradual, evolutionary process. Individual people—leaders—however, can and should
be more agile and adaptive in the short run, and should be able to prompt the sort of resilient and flexible organizational response required for quick and immediate change if challenges exist.

The problem, of course, is that well-intended leaders, practicing what they believe is effective leadership, could be just as much part of the problem as they are part of the solution. Especially, if the focus on the part of the school's past that suits their own dogmatic perspective at odds with today's competitive liberal arts academic elite. What Ohio Wesleyan needs, it seems to me, is a strong meta-leader, not just a leader to get where it needs to be.

Meta-leaders require a distinct mindset, a unique set of skills, and a network to encourage cross-agency thinking, risk taking, and productivity. Meta-leaders should probably even work in a far less scripted fashion. It is easiest to establish cross-organizational influence when bringing something of value to the table. In my mind the three zones for the school that a metaleader has to activate are: vision and strategy, operation and execution and finally impact. With a vision only, you have a dreamer; with operation only, you have a charger; with impact only, you have a bean counter. Which category Jones falls into in the long run remains to be seen. But focus on older alumni and the conservative base can provide some hints, which is probably more indicative of the Board of Trustees who voted for him, in the first place.

The very well-scripted Jone's speech seems to lack the bold steps that address the Self Report Study problems. It remains to be seen whether the very carefully crafted appeal to the older alumni might actually solve our pressing school problems. The two representatives of the Ohio Conferences, a Republican U.S. Representative, and the inauguration theme were not what Huddleston's inauguration looked like 4 years ago. So it is definitely a change. Will the new initiatives turn to be the clever fund-raising  strategy that the school needs to catch up with its endowment or another failed presidency with eyes turned too long towards its past?

It remains to be seen.