-Lionel Lewis provides a lucid, well-documented portrayal of the failure of academic governance at Adelphi University. This book will challenge administrators, trustees, and faculty to examine the integrity of the decision-making process at their institutions. When Power Corrupts should be read by all practitioners and researchers of academic governance in contemporary American colleges and universities.-
--William Phelan, Teachers College Record
-...Lewis presents a thoroughly researched case study of the strife-ridden administration of President Peter Diamandopoulos and the complex interrelationships among the University's board of trustees, the president, and the faculty.-
--History of Education Quarterly
-Lewis's study is not only fascinating but also instructive for its cautionary reminder of the importance of informed oversight by the board and the significance of meaningful shared governance. Faculty, academic adminstrators, and especially members of governing boards will find this book provocative and enlightening because it demonstrates the deleterious results when conflict over governance takes precedence over academic work on Americam campuses.-
--Community College of Journal Research and Practice
"Lionel Lewis provides a lucid, well-documented portrayal of the failure of academic governance at Adelphi University. This book will challenge administrators, trustees, and faculty to examine the integrity of the decision-making process at their institutions. When Power Corrupts should be read by all practitioners and researchers of academic governance in contemporary American colleges and universities."
--William Phelan, Teachers College Record
..".Lewis presents a thoroughly researched case study of the strife-ridden administration of President Peter Diamandopoulos and the complex interrelationships among the University's board of trustees, the president, and the faculty."
--History of Education Quarterly
"Lewis's study is not only fascinating but also instructive for its cautionary reminder of the importance of informed oversight by the board and the significance of meaningful shared governance. Faculty, academic adminstrators, and especially members of governing boards will find this book provocative and enlightening because it demonstrates the deleterious results when conflict over governance takes precedence over academic work on Americam campuses."
--Community College of Journal Research and Practice
"Lionel Lewis provides a lucid, well-documented portrayal of the failure of academic governance at Adelphi University. This book will challenge administrators, trustees, and faculty to examine the integrity of the decision-making process at their institutions. When Power Corrupts should be read by all practitioners and researchers of academic governance in contemporary American colleges and universities."
--William Phelan, Teachers College Record
..".Lewis presents a thoroughly researched case study of the strife-ridden administration of President Peter Diamandopoulos and the complex interrelationships among the University's board of trustees, the president, and the faculty."
--History of Education Quarterly
"Lewis's study is not only fascinating but also instructive for its cautionary reminder of the importance of informed oversight by the board and the significance of meaningful shared governance. Faculty, academic adminstrators, and especially members of governing boards will find this book provocative and enlightening because it demonstrates the deleterious results when conflict over governance takes precedence over academic work on Americam campuses."
--Community College of Journal Research and Practice
This case study details the struggle of Adelphi University's administration and board of trustees with its faculty between 1985 and 1996, which culminated in the removal of the trustees by the New York State Board of Regents. The new trustees, appointed by New York State, then dismissed the president. What occurred at Adelphi is used as a backdrop for discussing the imbalance of power in American institutions of higher learning. Lewis (sociology and higher education, SUNY at Buffalo; Scaling the Ivory Tower) relies on the 8000-page transcript of the hearings, 11 volumes of exhibits from the board of trustees and the faculty, and hundreds of documents from the American Association of University Professors, among other evidence. He suggests that academic administrators are more in control of governing boards and faculty than generally recognized and that self-perpetuating lay boards may not be the best way to govern colleges and universities. He also intimates that the American professorate is relatively powerless at the majority of American institutions of higher learning. Lewis has done his homework and argues his case convincingly. Recommended for academic libraries and all college governance and higher education collections; essential for doctoral students in higher education.--Leroy Hommerding, Fort Myers Beach Lib., FL Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\
Pivoting on a ten-year conflict that ended with the New York State Board of Regents removing the Board of Trustees of Adelphi University in 1996, Lewis (sociology and higher education, State U. of New York- Buffalo) argues that the perceived academic freedom of US university faculty is largely illusionary. Lay governing boards, he points out, ultimately control how much money is spent and who spends it, and what power faculty has rests primarily on relations with students. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)