Witt's

The moral fortitude shown by Merriwell and B.D. in adversity had little in common with Witt's forfeiting a chance at a Rhodes for a chance at football.

Jim Sleeper: Why Yale Fumbled Its Quarterback's Rhodes Scholarship Pass Jim Sleeper 2012

Patrick Witt's detractors will dismiss him as just another by-product of the college beef trust or an ornament to the new, global retail-market university that has displaced it.

Jim Sleeper: Why Yale Fumbled Its Quarterback's Rhodes Scholarship Pass Jim Sleeper 2012

Patrick Witt's detractors will dismiss him as just another by-product of the college beef trust or an ornament to the new, global retail-market university that has displaced it.

Jim Sleeper: Why Yale Fumbled Its Quarterback's Rhodes Scholarship Pass Jim Sleeper 2012

But what's really troubling to some of us who teach at Yale and other old colleges is that Witt's and Yale's bumbling reflect what has happened to certain qualities of character -- can we still call them virtues?

Jim Sleeper: Why Yale Fumbled Its Quarterback's Rhodes Scholarship Pass Jim Sleeper 2012

Worse still, Witt's conduct reinforces a growing perception that administrations at Yale and other once-venerable colleges handle students' crises of character with the soulless, self-protective legalism of business corporations that are interested only in defending their brand names and market shares.

Jim Sleeper: Why Yale Fumbled Its Quarterback's Rhodes Scholarship Pass Jim Sleeper 2012

The moral fortitude shown by Merriwell and B.D. in adversity had little in common with Witt's forfeiting a chance at a Rhodes for a chance at football.

Jim Sleeper: Why Yale Fumbled Its Quarterback's Rhodes Scholarship Pass Jim Sleeper 2012

Worse still, Witt's conduct reinforces a growing perception that administrations at Yale and other once-venerable colleges handle students' crises of character with the soulless, self-protective legalism of business corporations that are interested only in defending their brand names and market shares.

Jim Sleeper: Why Yale Fumbled Its Quarterback's Rhodes Scholarship Pass Jim Sleeper 2012

Only if Yale had decided to reaffirm and re-endorse Witt's Rhodes bid would the interview have remained an option.

Jim Sleeper: Why Yale Fumbled Its Quarterback's Rhodes Scholarship Pass Jim Sleeper 2012

Even when Witt's choice seemed credible, it got Merriwell's and B.D.'s priorities backwards.

Jim Sleeper: Why Yale Fumbled Its Quarterback's Rhodes Scholarship Pass Jim Sleeper 2012

Even when Witt's choice seemed credible, it got Merriwell's and B.D.'s priorities backwards.

Jim Sleeper: Why Yale Fumbled Its Quarterback's Rhodes Scholarship Pass Jim Sleeper 2012