Today, my hat’s off to Saint Louis University students.

To SLU Students for No Confidence, to the SLU Student Government Association: In supporting the regular faculty’s demand for an end to the tyranny of President Biondi and his clients in the SLU administration, you have acted with integrity, intelligence, and courage. And to The University News: your reporting of campus developments since the resignation of Dean Annette Clark has reflected, as always, a high degree of journalistic excellence and acumen.

The combined letters to the SLU trustees cite a wealth of administrative overreach, domination, and mismanagement as reasons for the votes of no confidence. The Faculty Senate’s letter cites particularly a “ubiquitous climate of fear engendered by the President among the faculty of retribution for voicing grievances” and the “unexplained dismissal of highly respected deans and department chairs who publicly challenged [Vice President for Academic Affairs, Manoj Patankar].” In this regard I read with sympathetic interest the words of former University Librarian, Gail Staines, who has also written in support of your efforts. Many of us who have witnessed the savaging of friends, colleagues, and loved ones at Saint Louis University over the past three to five years, can tell stories very similar to that of Dr. Staines.