November 4, 2005

The Nature and Nurture of Presidents

By RITA BORNSTEIN

We Americans expect college presidents, like the superheroes of popular culture, to be more than ordinary mortals. We seek visionary leaders, superb scholars, charismatic personalities, and high-energy candidates for the presidency. In addition, and perhaps most important, we search for fund-raising wizardry.

And what do we get? We get presidents who are less than heroic, less than perfect, and, while far from ordinary, unable to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Nonetheless, most

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