University of Washington - Tyee Yearbook (Seattle, WA)

Page 28 text:

is it the heart or a cog? Say the word Administration. Chances are that whoever hears you will form an immediate concept of what you mean. And the chances are that his concept will be different from the next fellow ' s. To some people, Ad- ministration is a big, spired building with funny windows, or a long line that winds through a building lobby every quarter; it ' s a place to send mail and get programs from,- it ' s the heart of the University— or just a cog; it ' s orders from the boss, a raise in pay, a place to send grade cards; or it ' s just another building to clean out at the end of the day. To the people who are the administration, the word means A Job. Not just-any-job, mind you, but A Job. The job to be done is a little like beauty— it exists mainly in the eyes of the beholder. There ' s a job to be done there, somewhere, but nobody ' s really quite sure what it is. It ' s usually pretty clear how much chemistry you can teach in one year; it ' s not quite so clear how much administration you should administer— and when— and how. There ' s a job to be done, one administrator says. It ' s here when I come in the morning, and it ' s here when I leave at night. I do what needs to be done— whatever that is. Administration, according to a very large dictionary, is the act or process of administrating; which is a huge help. Administration, then, is everything and nothing. Administration, more realistically, is people. If the people do their jobs the way they see them, then the jobs are not jobs; they ' re the traces the people leave behind. Enter, then, the people. 24