John L. Brown

Herewith are presented twenty highly personal tales from the darkest depths of the Crypt of Academe, told by an old soldier no longer in the line of fire. The topics include evaluation of students and faculty, how faculty claw their way up the ranks, who wins the awards and why and how decisions get made, or more often don’t. Each tale is recounted in about three pages in a straight forward manner without gilt or favor to anyone. I have tried to be frank in my writing and may offend a few but you can’t please everyone all the time and others at no time. But I hope to bring a smile to the lips of some and a pause for thought about the real life and meaning of our Crypts, a.k.a. universities. If you don’t like the writing of each tale you may enjoy the accompanying illustrative cartoons. Despite what might be interpreted as the odd harsh word or phrase I would defend the unparalleled importance of all Crypts to the fabric of our life. At their best they contribute beyond measure to our intellectual, social, emotional, democratic and economic life. And any institution of such importance deserves periodic scrutiny from a variety of angles, including the tongue in cheek.

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