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When the Textbook Ends There is a peculiar comfort in knowledge. In veterinary school, it arrives neatly packaged - chapters, lectures, diagrams, lists. Diseases have names. Syndromes have pathways. Treatments follow protocols. Even uncertainty is, to some extent, organized. A student learns to ask the right questions: What is the signalment? What are the clinical signs? What are the differential diagnoses? And, with time and effort, the answers begin to come. But then comes

An opinion piece on donor influence, governance, transparency, and institutional trust. Each spring at the University of California, Davis, two familiar events quietly are a reminder of what a university is meant to be. Picnic Day opens the campus to the public. Families wander through laboratories, alumni retrace old paths, and students share their work with pride. It is a day of openness, curiosity, and belonging for all stakeholders. Soon afterward, the Day of Giving  inv

What Veterinary School Promises There is a quiet confidence that surrounds graduation day. Caps are tossed. Photographs are taken. Families beam with pride. And beneath it all sits an unspoken assumption shared by students, educators, and the profession itself: You are ready. After years of study, long nights, examinations, clinical rotations, and the steady accumulation of knowledge, this belief feels not only reasonable, but deserved. Veterinary school is, after all, one of

Letting Go of the Need to Be “Best” At the end of all rankings - after the tables, the metrics, the arguments - there remains a quiet, persistent image: A podium. First place. Second place. Third place . We understand it instinctively. It is familiar. Ordered. Comforting. But veterinary medicine does not live on a podium. The Seduction of “Best” The idea of “best” is powerful. It simplifies decision-making. It creates clarity. It offers a sense of arrival. To be “#1” is to ha

The Values Hidden Inside the Numbers By now, we have examined rankings from every angle: Reputation-based systems. Research-driven global metrics. Formula-based attempts at objectivity, The very question of whether rankings are needed at all. And yet, one question remains - perhaps the most important of all: What are we really measuring? Numbers as Mirrors Rankings present themselves as measurements of quality. But they are not neutral instruments. They are mirrors , reflecti

Do We Need Rankings at All? After reputation surveys, global metrics, and carefully constructed formulas, we arrive at a more uncomfortable question: What if we don’t need rankings at all? It feels almost heretical to say it. Rankings are so embedded in academic culture that their absence seems unimaginable. They guide applicants, shape institutional identity, and provide a shorthand for “quality.” But step back for a moment. What is the fundamental purpose of a veterinary sc

Can Objectivity Ever Be Truly Neutral? Faced with the shortcomings of reputation and research-based rankings, the instinct is almost irresistible: Let’s make it objective. No opinions. No surveys. No prestige bias. Just numbers. Transparent. Measurable. Defensible. And so, proposals have emerged, most notably a formula-based model that seeks to rank veterinary schools using quantifiable variables such as: Teaching hospital case load, Faculty numbers, NAVLE pass rates, Resear

The Inconvenient Truth Behind Conflicting Rankings It is one of the most quietly revealing features of veterinary school rankings: They do not agree. A school that is ranked near the top in the United States may sit lower in global rankings. Another may rise internationally while appearing less prominent domestically. At first glance, this seems like a problem. Surely, if rankings are measuring something real, they should converge on the same answer. But they do not. And that

When Research Overshadows Reality. If U.S. rankings are built on reputation, global rankings promise something more substantial. More data. More rigor. More objectivity. And so, we turn to QS World University Rankings , with its elegant formulas, its global reach, and its reassuring sense that this time , the numbers must mean something. But do they? The Metrics of Prestige QS rankings are built on a combination of indicators: Academic reputation. Employer reputation. Researc

How Rankings Distort Institutional Behavior There is a quiet shift that occurs once rankings take hold. At first, they are observed. Then they are discussed. Eventually, they are pursued. And somewhere along that path, something subtle but profound changes: Institutions begin to optimize not for education, but for position. From Measurement to Strategy Once a ranking exists, it does not sit passively. It becomes a target. Administrators begin to ask: How do we move up? What d

The email arrives. Or the press release. Or the carefully worded announcement on the school’s website. Or the piece in the Alumni Newsletter. Or the post on Linkedin or Facebook There it is again. “Ranked #1 in the nation for the 10th consecutive year.” The headline is clean, confident, and irresistible. It signals excellence. It reassures stakeholders. It travels well to alumni newsletters, donor briefings, and prospective student inboxes. And yet, beneath that polished surf

There is a moment when a decision is made without those most affected ever being in the room. In Washington, it is called an Executive Order. In academia, it often arrives through an Executive Committee. Different settings. Different stakes. But the underlying question is strikingly similar: What happens when authority outruns participation? The Nature of Executive Action   An Executive Order, issued by the President of the United States, is designed for decisiveness. It is:

I have never cared for the phrase: “We are the #1 veterinary school in the United States.” Not because excellence should not be celebrated, but because I am not entirely sure what, precisely, is being celebrated. What does #1 veterinary school actually mean? And perhaps more importantly, what does it do for a profession that prides itself on care, diversity of practice, and service? What Are We Really Measuring? Most veterinary school rankings are built less on objective outc

There is a deceptively simple question that sits at the heart of every university: Who is the institution? Is it the leadership? Or is it the people - the faculty, staff, students, alumni, and public - who give it life? In 1867, Charles Sumner stood as what many called the “conscience of a nation,” insisting that governance must reflect the moral will of the people, not merely the authority of those in power. More than a century later, Ronald Reagan captured a similar idea in

There is no single moment when accountability fails. No clear breach. No definitive line crossed. Instead, there is a gradual accumulation of small accommodations, quiet adjustments, and reasonable decisions made in complex circumstances. Each, on its own, may be defensible. Together, they are something else. By now, the pattern is familiar.   In Part 1 , the line between public responsibility and private interest softened.   In Part 2 , we saw how systems exert their own pul

Governance is everywhere. Committees convene. Agendas are circulated. Minutes are recorded. Votes are taken. From the outside, the structure appears intact - reassuringly so. There are layers of oversight, clearly defined processes, and a visible architecture of accountability. And yet, there are moments when a quiet doubt emerges: If governance is present, why does it sometimes feel absent? This is not a question of whether governance exists. It does. The question is whether

A gift is never just a gift. At least, not at this scale. When a public university receives a transformative donation - $120,000,000, for example - the immediate response is predictable.   Gratitude Celebration Headlines   The language of generosity flows easily, and understandably so. Such gifts can fund buildings, programs, scholarships, research. They can accelerate progress that might otherwise take decades. But alongside the gratitude, there is another question - quieter

At a public university, decisions do not derive their legitimacy solely from authority. They derive legitimacy from process. And process, at its best, reflects something deeper than structure - it reflects trust . At institutions like the University of California, and within schools such as the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, that trust is meant to be safeguarded by a principle we invoke often, and interrogate too rarely: Shared governance. But what happens when deci

It is tempting to tell this story as one of individuals. A dean joins a corporate board. A chancellor sits at a table where decisions are made that extend far beyond the university. A senior administrator accepts compensation that quietly exceeds what most faculty will earn in years. From a distance, it is easy - perhaps even satisfying - to frame this as a question of personal choice. But what if that is the wrong lens? What if there is another possibility? What if what we a

Accountability rarely disappears overnight. It erodes quietly, through exceptions, justifications, and the gradual acceptance of what once would have been unthinkable. And nowhere is this more evident today than in the intersection of public universities, corporate boardrooms, and conditional philanthropy. There was a time when the boundary was clear.   A senior academic leader, particularly in a public university, was understood to serve a singular mission:   Education. Rese