Sunday, August 31, 2008 Lim: Propriety By Melanie T. Lim Wide Awake
AN IOWA college president has resigned over a controversial photo. The photo published by Des Moines Register last Aug. 23 shows Iowa Central Community College President Robert Paxton holding a small keg of Coors Light above a young woman’s head. The woman appears to be drinking from the spigot held open by Paxton.
When first asked about the photo, Paxton denied any knowledge of such scenario. He also denied having been aboard a boat with young people. Towards the end of Friday, however, the eve of his fifteen minutes of fame, Paxton recanted his denials. He confirmed authenticity of the photo but added that the keg was broken and was not dispensing any beer. When asked what he was doing holding the keg over the woman’s mouth, he replied, “Nothing...I was grabbing it and trying to put it back down.”
Not a very smart answer even from a college student. But an especially dumb one from a college president.
Paxton says the photo was taken on July 4 at West Okoboji Lake. He identified the younger man in the photo as his 19-year old son, John, but said that his son was not drinking. According to the Des Moines Register, however, Iowa court records show that a day after the photo was taken, John Paxton was arrested and charged with second-offense drunken driving in Dickenson County where Okoboji is located.
One lie leads to another. Before you know it, you become entangled in a web of lies. Paxton’s last words? “It’s my own private life.”
And indeed it is. But Paxton as college president should have exercised better judgment. There is no excuse for lowering the bar—-because we have stepped out of our offices.
We don’t work in Venus and live in Mars. Whether we like it or not, our private and professional lives are inexorably entwined. We are judged by what people see. Our actions, despite being private, are not exempt from the bar of public opinion. And when the public is part of our professional lives, then, public opinion becomes even more crucial.
The higher the office we seek or occupy, the more exemplary our conduct should be. And those who find such standards untenable should thus not seek to aspire for positions that carry not only a great deal of power but symbolism. Almost always, all positions of leadership require such exacting standards.
When you sit as contest judge, you should NOT only BE objective, you should also APPEAR objective. So if your closest friend is up on stage, you should inhibit yourself from the judging process even if you know you have the capacity to BE objective because you do NOT have the capacity to APPEAR objective in the eyes of the public.
It's called propriety.
The board of trustees of the Iowa Central Community College unanimously accepted Paxton’s resignation. Let me add my vote to that. Paxton does not seem to possess the moral authority to impart the importance of alcohol intake control among college kids. I could be wrong. But if I were, Paxton doesn’t seem to understand the concept of propriety either.
