Should college presidents take public positions on controversial social issues? This question continues to stir debate in higher education.
The latest casualty: Ronald J. Daniels, President of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
On September 16th, a “hot mic” at a Hopkins alumni dinner caught Daniels saying to a donor: “If the [NFL’s Baltimore] Ravens are going to recover from their 0-2 start this season, [Lamar] Jackson will need to up his game at quarterback.”
Reaction was swift.
The Baltimore chapter of the NAACP condemned the statement, asserting that “we no longer live in an era when a white man can get away with telling a black man how to do his job. Daniels must not have seen the memo. He must go.”
The Faculty Senate at Hopkins unanimously passed a no-confidence vote targeting Daniels, noting that “we always kick off the academic year with a no-confidence vote in the President. It usually focuses on parking. It’s a Hopkins tradition.”
ESPN called on Daniels to resign, noting that the President’s comment had adversely affected sales of Jackson’s football jersey and Axe Body Spray fragrance (“Turf Toe”) at the network’s flagship store, ESPN Zone, in Manhattan.
Two of the most militant student groups on campus — Jews for Israel and Palestinians for Gaza — put aside their differences and signed a joint statement demanding that the President step down, insisting that “even though the President’s remarks had nothing to do with the current crisis in the Middle East, we’re in college and so rabid with all-encompassing rage it doesn’t matter. It’s time for Daniels to enter the lions’ den.”
And Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy issued a press release in which he criticized Daniels for not providing his country with long-range missiles “that could reach deep into Putin’s Russia, piercing its vital organs. Ronald Daniels, you call yourself a leader? I call you a timid little mouse looking for moldy cheese in the dark, dusty corners of the world’s closet.”
Daniels has vowed not to resign, maintaining that “I’m not the problem. Trust me, the Baltimore Ravens are the problem.”