“An isolated king casts gloom over the entire board.”

– Chess maxim

Dear Father Wildes,

You know already that your new job asks you to wear many hats and wear all of them well, sometimes several at one time. In addition to working effectively with the Board of Trustees – a familiar space – and other senior administrators, you will be Loyola’s primary ambassador and fund-raiser. As with politics, money has become the addictive mother’s milk of higher education. Senators and university presidents sometimes troll for the same generous Whales.

And then there are the committees. They stretch into eternity and will force you to master advanced meditation techniques. Fortunately, you have enthusiasm and a good sense of humor.

But what sets you apart immediately in the estimation of many faculty is your declared intention to teach. This is a terrific idea. You will re-establish a long-neglected Loyola tradition: a Jesuit president who is also a strong scholar-teacher.

A teaching president asserts a scale that clearly places the classroom near the top of a hierarchy of institutional values. This is refreshing.

Your stepping into a classroom says that teaching is the essential labor in the university. The positive effect on faculty and student morale should be substantial.

The ceremonial and managerial demands of your office may make it difficult for you to teach every semester. Stick with your resolve. It’s very, very important. If you cannot teach every semester, then teach every other semester.

If this doesn’t work, then team-teach or range around as a guest lecturer. With tweaking, your scholarly expertise – biological ethics – can engage courses in all of Loyola’s colleges and many disciplines. Many of us will enthusiastically create space for you in our syllabuses.

Also find time to engage many sectors of the Loyola community. You are exploring the physical plant and have located the paneled walls of the Senior Commons Room. Fine. There are other perks – some with wheels – to downsize or chop.

Seek out the groups and individuals who make up Loyola’s community. This especially includes our adjunct faculty. Get to know them directly to appreciate their issues. Get to know the staff at every level. Those who clean our offices and trim the ligustrum. The security guards who protect us. All the other great people who cheerfully keep this place running.

These people know an amazing number of things about Loyola. A president can learn much if the faculty feel comfortable with him and he listens.

Schedule one hour per week and simply walk out of your office to a different spot on campus. Don’t let anybody mess with that time. Engage someone in conversation, someone you don’t know, someone you might not regularly interact with. Drop in on the faculty in their offices. Find out what they are thinking and arguing about. Or not. Tap into currents and feelings outside the glass walls in Marquette.

While Loyola presidents generally do not claim the Byronic headiness of absolute monarchs, the elaborate ceremonies being planned for your inauguration may make you feel a kinship with Shakespeare’s “Henry V.” In the great soliloquy the night before Agincourt, Henry expresses a dread of being swallowed up in “ceremony”:

And what have kings, that privates have not too,

Save ceremony, save general ceremony?

And what art thou, thou idle ceremony?

What kind of god art thou, that suffer’st more

Of mortal griefs than do thy worshippers. . . .

Art thou aught else but place, degree and form,

Creating awe and fear in other men?

The inaugural pomp will be over quickly and we’ll all settle down to go wherever you are going to take us. A year ago we were on our way to being a comprehensive leading university. That heady slogan vanished with Father Knoth. Now, an alumni publication tells us, we are an institution searching to find and fill an educational niche.

Last October the atmosphere at Loyola was complex and strained. Several faculty members were circulating a draft motion of no confidence in Father Knoth. A major reason, apparently, for this discontent was Father Knoth’s increasing isolation.

He seemed surrounded and controlled by a small group of advisors and was making some important decisions abruptly, with little or no visible consultation.

We understand that you have spent time in a boxing ring. Knowing how to laugh and throw a punch – maybe at the same time -may be useful skills for your new job. Welcome to Loyola. You’ll find plenty of enthusiasm here and a great sense of humor. Welcome.

~ Marcus Smith is an associate professor of English, a lawyer and member of the Louisiana State Bar Association.