The president and the provost of UNH have publicly stated that Larkin’s behavior constituted “moral delinquency of a grave order.” Good for them. The Board of Trustees has also condemned Edward Larkin’s behavior. And that has raised the ire of one UNH professor. He responded to the UNH Board of Trustees with the following:
I believe (Edward Larkin) is capable of returning to that level of service, and re-earning the trust and respect of his students and colleagues. Being a leader of a public institution requires moral leadership, particularly during difficult times. I believe you have failed in this regard. Instead of cowering from public opinion, or even pandering to it, you might have attempted, early on, to shape it and educate it.
The preceding paragraph was written by Philip J. Hatcher, UNH Professor of Computer Science. In defending Edward Larkin, he makes no attempt to condemn the professor’s decision to expose himself. He only condemns the UNH Board of Trustees for condemning Larkin. He goes so far as to say “by joining the clamor against Professor Larkin, you have now damaged all the faculty, particularly when you denounce the faculty union.”
In other words, the true offender is not Edward Larkin. It is the UNH Board of Trustees. Nor were the lady and her 17 year old daughter victims. The true victims were the faculty in the UNH Professor’s union.
Over the last ten years, I have been talking about the rapid moral decline in higher education. I’ve enjoyed exposing the universities. But, truth be known, they are better at exposing themselves.
