Controversy erupted on campus this week when ******The Lawrentian******* published a letter by James Hall that stated his opinions on leadership.
“I believe that leadership is the key to successful organization management,” Hall wrote, angering many who, while they may not object to leadership per se, don’t feel the need to be proselytized to.
Many were even more angry when ULEAD, the campus leadership organization to which Hall belongs, distributed shirts that said “I agree with James.”
One anonymous fraternity president, who refuses to attend ULEAD meetings because the organization is “too cliquey,” resented the entire stunt. “I mean, it’s not that I oppose leadership. It’s just that I think there are more polite ways to promote it. And it’s very rude to assume that the only leaders on campus are ULEAD members. Many leaders just object to the pushy tactics of ULEAD, but support the general message of leadership,” he said.
Others think that while leadership may be an all right message for ULEAD, it should not be shoved down others’ throats. “Leadership may be alright for James, but honestly, I’d rather not be confronted with it every time I go around the corner. I mean, what if I tried to convert James to my club, UFOLLOW? I don’t think he’d like that, would he?” said Sam Greenley, a junior physics major.
School officials are looking into a formal sanction against ULEAD for its rudeness to non-leadership students and its insistence on stressing the message that leadership is not ********a******* way to run an organization, but rather the ******only******** way.
“We really wish that ULEAD would recognize the diversity of this campus, and that there are indeed followers, and those who grew up as leaders, but then repudiated leadership in college. Must they be confronted with ‘Be a Leader’ posters littering our walls?” asked President Jill Beck.
The questions soon came to ******Lawrentian******* editor Peter Gillette. Several members of LUCC and the community in general begged the question: did he know in advance of the T-shirt and sign blitz, wherein each member of ULEAD stated his or her thoughts on leadership? And why would the newspaper be allowed to support such blatant advertising?
“Really, this is not a matter of the message. We don’t object to leadership, or ULEAD’s right to practice it. We object to the tactics. We want to stress again we only object to the tactics, not the message,” said an anonymous member of the LUCC Publications Board.
It remains to be seen if this will have the desired effect on membership ULEAD clearly intended. According to Dave Macaulay, Hiett RHD and ULEAD advisor, only seven people attended the most recent meeting instead of the normal nine.
“I suppose it’s sort of a trade-off,” Macaulay mused in an interview with *****The Lawrentian.***** “While we have energized our base, we have also galvanized those who opposed leadership and may have turned off some of the so-called ‘soft-supporters’ of ULEAD who have always believed in leadership but have had a difficult time submitting to the strictures of a group,” Macaulay said.
Hall, for his part, has endured ridicule, scorn, and threats, but is keeping a cool head. “I am standing up for what I believe in, and people know where I stand. A real leader doesn’t back down just because a few people would rather not have been confronted with the truth,” Hall concluded.
Lynn Hagee, of food services, was unavailable for comment.
ULEAD alienates, converts in controversial publicity stunt -dlh
