I was wondering if anyone knows why the Provost of Simon’s Rock left mid-year. Such an unusual thing to happen. Anyone on campus have the inside story?
There was a lot of student dissatisfaction with him, he tended to be very aloof and not responsive to student or faculty concerns. Simon’s Rock is not in a great financial situation, and while I don’t have the details I suspect that may have something to do with it. They recently started the “Bard Academy” which is a program for people in the 9th and 10th grade in order to raise revenue. Creating it was controversial, which probably led to more dissatisfaction. I’m a former student, so I don’t have the complete story, but I imagine all of those came together to cause him to leave. The new provost, who was leading the Bard Academy program in its first year, is reportedly much more adept politically at getting support and is himself a Simon’s Rock alum. Having a solid replacement also may have contributed to the former provost leaving.