I AM A junior pursuing a business degree at Shorter University. Over the past two and a half years, I have learned what the true meaning of a leader should be.

First, he should be one that knows how to communicate not only his employees, but also his customers. This puts him in a place to verbalize exactly what direction he wants to move in and be able to do it effectively. However, at the same time you must be listening to your customer base and hearing what they think about your product or service.

Second, a leader must give opportunity to employees, as well as customers, to express their concern.

He can’t do this through private meetings with each and every one of them. This puts people in a place of fear, that if they speak up in a closed door meeting, what they have to said maybe misquoted. That is why it is so important for a leader, such as a college president, to have a public forum. This allows for all parties to hear the exact same thing and get everything on the table.

Third, if a president isn’t capable of or will to be put in a public setting to defend his policy, he has no business being in that position. The president and board of Shorter University should welcome the opportunity to defend their new policy before the faculty and students.

So all of this is simply to say, Dr. Dowless, if you can’t handle the heat get out of our school.