Once upon a time there was a young financial aid counselor at a small private college in western New York state. She wanted desperately to move from small town life to a big city. So she went on a job interview and before very long she was a financial aid advisor at an independent unranked law school in Chicago. She loved Chicago and loved working with law students. She discovered she had a true passion for helping students understand how to repay student loans. But after several years she also discovered that she really missed her family in Pennsylvania. Then one day she was flipping through the Chronicle of Higher Education, and she discovered an ad for a financial aid director at a small law school in south central Pennsylvania that had recently been acquired by Giant University. So she went on another job interview, and before she knew it she was moving closer to her family to work at the little Pennsylvania law school.
When the maturing financial aid director started at the little law school, the scars there were still fresh from the recent merger with Giant University. It was hard for the little law school to accept that they had just gone from “strong and independent” to “We Are.” A financial aid colleague from Giant University’s big campus told her, “A good thing about Giant University is that we’re really, really big. A bad thing about Giant University is that we’re really, really big.” And as she found her footing in her new role, she recalled those words of wisdom many times.
As she progressed into the sixth month in her new job, the financial aid director discovered that she really enjoyed working with all the advantages of Giant University, while still having all of the advantages of the small law school. She was very happy and decided to stay for a very long time. So she bought a house. The next month the entire staff and faculty was called into a meeting with the University President and Provost. The President announced that they planned to pick up the little law school and relocate it to the big campus of Giant University.
Everyone (other than the President and Provost) was very dismayed at the thought of moving the little law school. The alumni loudly shouted their anger. The faculty and staff were upset because they didn’t want to leave their little town. It was clear that Giant University wanted to have a law school on their campus, but the little law school was not going to go quietly. So many people were so angry as many scenarios were tossed around. Perhaps Giant University should sell the little law school to the little college down the street. Perhaps the little law school should close altogether. There was much uncertainty and everyone was scared. Then two powerful alumni came up with a wonderful plan. They would keep the little law school open while also adding a second location on the big campus of Giant University. The two law schools would operate as one, offering students their choice of location. The students would be able to choose classes from either location, either commuting or attending remotely. The faculty and staff were split between the two locations, serving the needs of all the students.
The unified two-location law school continued to grow stronger as the years went by. The financial aid director decided to relocate to the big campus location so she could better meet the needs of the larger student population, while still visiting at the little law school location on a regular basis. Everything seemed to be going well. But eventually it became clear that the faculty at the Giant University big campus could not get along with the faculty at the original little law school location. They fought and fought about how the school should be run and what their academic focus should be. Everybody did what they could to make the angry faculty agree, but it was too late. Their differences were irreconcilable. The decision was made that the two locations would separate into two separately accredited schools.
Over the next years the financial aid director and the rest of the staff worked very hard to painstakingly untangle the two locations into two separate law schools. Once it was all figured out, the accrediting body decided that all was ok and the two law schools could move forward, and everything was fine again. The two separate law schools continued to grow stronger as they moved forward. The big campus law school embraced the interdisciplinary study opportunities readily available to them. The little law school embraced making their students ready to practice law, taking advantage of their location near the state capital. Both law schools were happy and growing and rising up the annual ranks assembled by the fancy magazine.
Everything seemed to be going so well. Except money was tight. Then one day the financial aid director received an email that the faculty and staff of the big campus law school were to report to an urgent meeting with the University President and the Provost. The financial aid director remembered how things did not immediately go well the last time she had been called to a meeting with the President and Provost. This time was not different. The meeting turned a bit unruly after the President announced that the two separate law schools were to be reunited into one….and that the primary law school would be the little law school from which she had relocated so many years ago. The faculty and staff were very scared because there was suddenly much uncertainty about how long they would be able to keep their jobs. The students were very angry because they felt that their school was being yanked out from under them. The Dean of the big campus law school was very frustrated because things were handled quite poorly by the leadership of the Giant University. The now well-seasoned financial aid director was sad because she had been planning to retire from the big campus law school in 5 to 7 years, but no longer had certainty that her job (which she loved very much) would still exist when she became eligible to retire.
Life is uncertain. Change is constant. The financial aid director learned that over and over again during her many years of working for the law schools of the Giant University. And the more frequently she dealt with changes, the more comfortable and nimble she became in dealing with change. The law school(s) evolved through many transitions during her time with the Giant University. And each time the law school(s), the faculty, the staff, and the students all came out just fine on the other side. The law schools grew stronger as they evolved. The staff grew wiser. The students graduated into alumni who benefitted from the increasingly good reputations of the law schools. And new students continued to come to reap the benefits of the innovating law schools.
The moral to this story is that change is hard. Especially when it is unexpected. But change is also good. It makes us resilient. It makes us grow. It makes us adaptable. It allows us to learn from our past mistakes. The law school at the big campus of Giant University has just learned that a big change is imminent. It won’t be easy. But it can be good.
