Madam, - After Ed Walsh's hagiographical piece about the president of UCC by (Education Today, October 31st), may we now hope for an equivalent article to provide some balance?
The problem in UCC is not modernisation or reform. Moreover, Dr Walsh's snide references to the "carefully honed lifestyles and career paths" of some academics is a smear on those few senior academics who have displayed courage and integrity in the face of considerable intimidation by an autocratic regime.
The image of "disgruntled academics" skulking in corridors is an unpardonable ad hominem attack on people of the highest academic standing in their various fields who have resisted what they see - rightly, in my view - as a drift under Prof Wrixon towards authoritarianism, mismanagement, adventurism, a dangerous and unacceptable level of indebtedness, and an adamant refusal genuinely to consult with or listen to the voices of university staff.
The many serious, well-founded and well-documented questions which have been raised have been consistently ignored and those who attempted to raise them have been consistently rubbished. This is not the way to manage change. - Yours, etc,
PIARAS MAC ÉINRÍ, Department of Geography, University College Cork.