When comments are open and not filtered, blogging isn’t for the faint of heart.
That’s what Illinois Institute Technology‘s President, Lew Collens, has probably realized — the hard way? — after a few posts in his 26-day blogging experiment with the new communication channel: the President’s Blog.
“This blog, which will be live from now through March 17th, gives everyone in the IIT community a chance to participate in [the development of a framework for the IIT 2010 Plan]. To lead the discussion I have posted a draft document of the Mission, Vision and Values statement, which will shape the programs, services and direction of the university for the coming five years and beyond. This is your opportunity to weigh in and share your own vision of the future for IIT,” writes IIT President at the top of this blog to introduce the initiative.
But, after hundreds of comments about anything ranging from the quality of cafeteria food to the faculty’s command of English Collens explains in his 4th post dated February 22nd that, he “find[s] that some of the blog commentary, while important in that it identifies some current realities that need to be addressed, is not supporting the original intention of this blog – to provide everyone with a chance to discuss our future. In order to keep the blog focused on the discussion, [he’s] having messages about other issues redirected to [him] personally so [he] can be aware of those concerns and follow up with the appropriate people for action”
In spite of this thematic filtering, the comments posted on President Collens’ blog haven’t lost their bite:
“It’s sort of pathetic for me to want to bitch and moan about my alma-mater so much. But I graduated with honors in computer engineering and my degree hasn’t done anything for me. If you take my decision to go to IIT as a pure monetary investment decision, it was a loss. I’m in more debt than I can pay and I’m sure I’d better off financially if I skipped college entirely,” commented a 2002 alum on yesterday’s post.
Pretty tough, isn’it? Fortunately, not all the comments are similar. This one made on the same post is also from an alum, a 1985 graduate:
“I know that, because I went to IIT, I had opportunities that I would have otherwise missed. My IIT degree has always been respected. It also sounds corny to say that, it isn’t enough to just get the degree, you have to keep moving forward and seek out challenges after you leave IIT. No one gets handed anything, you have to work for it. IIT made sure that I learned how to work hard.”
By publishing the good, the bad and the ugly comments, President Collens shows this blogging experiment isn’t just a PR-coup, but a real attempt to use the blog to open and nurture the dialogue with all his constituents, one of the top 3 reasons why a higher ed executive should blog.