Final update on my contretemps with my alma mater Smith. I’m treating the college as if she were my mother (mater), hoping she’d change her ways and listen. Hopeless for Smith and my mother. I give up. They just don’t get the issues I raise; they are unresponsive; they make promises but can’t deliver. They fail to work openly on student psychosocial needs post COVID. The Smith president focuses on new library (looks lovely ) and a new Culture of Care (w/o attention to impact of COVID on psyche of students). With a well regarded School of Social Work, Smith should know better. The president has never seen fit to contact me (I am a former college President after all and not uneducated!). Ironic that Smith has never had one of its own as president, only Seven Sister with that distinction. Decades ago I was pushed by alums to apply for Smith presidency when Ruth Simmons went to Brown. I got a call from a headhunter, not Smith’s, after another person was chosen. She said “I know 2 things about you. You have a non-traditional resume for a college president and you made it further than any Smithie in history of Smith.” Guess Smithies aren’t good enough for their alma mater, like some daughters aren’t good enough for their mothers. Need to know when to call it a day. …see more