March 2, 2001

Beggar, Psychologist, Mediator, Maid: the Thankless Job of a Chairman

By ROBIN WILSON

Positions that were once prized are now seen as powerless and paperwork-laden

When Kevin J. H. Dettmar told a professor his courses would attract more students if he were a more compassionate teacher, he thought he was only doing his job as chair of the English department at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. But the comment so enraged the professor that he threatened to file a grievance accusing Mr. Dettmar of slander.

Both a dean and a mediator eventually got

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