With Cambridge College's recent firing of its president, a smaller controversy brewed.
A humanities professor, John Bremer, took umbrage at Chancellor Eileen Brown's continued assertions to the media that she founded the school, which was set up to cater to working adults. Bremer e-mailed the Globe an 11-page document explaining why he is the real founder.
Brown, the college's acting president since Mahesh Sharma was fired Jan. 4 for financial management and other issues, said she properly calls herself the founder.
"Reasonable people can differ, I guess," Brown said.
Bremer was the academic dean of the now-defunct Newton College of the Sacred Heart and recruited Brown to teach in the school's new graduate program for teachers that he created, the Institute of Open Education. On that, he and Brown agree.
Bremer left the state in the 1970s to teach in Canada and later work in Australia, and Brown became codirector of the institute, which later broke off from Newton College.
In 1981, Cambridge College, with the institute as part of the name, was founded with Brown as president.
Bremer said he received proof of his stature as the founder in a 1981 letter; a board member invited him to a party celebrating the college's creation and praised Bremer's "vision and insight as founder of the Institute of Open Education. Now Cambridge College, it is a still a very special place."
At Campus Insider's request, the state Board of Higher Education researched the college's creation in meeting minutes from the 1970s. The college's roots, the minutes say, began with the institute. But in 1974, the institute, then affiliated with Antioch College in Ohio, became a corporation, and Brown and two others - Bremer not among them - were the original directors.
In 1981, the Antioch affiliation ended, and the institute was renamed Cambridge College/Institute of Open Education Inc. In 1986, the college was approved as Cambridge College. The minutes do not name a founder.
So who is the founder? The answer appears vague. But trustees bestow that honor on Brown; she was the leader when the college was established, said longtime Cambridge College trustee K. Dun Gifford.
Bremer, who has some support among faculty members, counters that: "What happened was they decided the place needed a better name."
ESSAY ETIQUETTE: Stumbling over how to write your college essay as the application deadline approaches? Here are ideas for applicants on how not to impress a college:
Write the essay with your foot, include photos of your method, and cap it off with a groan-inducing pun. The Harvard wannabe who tried this, recalled Bill Fitzsimmons, the school's dean of admissions and financial aid, "wrote something to the effect that he hoped by going to college that he would make larger footprints in the sand of time."
Put your prose inside a circle. "If I'm an admissions counselor, and I have to read that, that's pretty annoying," said Thom Hughart, Wellesley High School's director of guidance.
Here are some tips on making the essay count:
Try normalcy in the presentation. Stay away from unusual fonts.
"Don't have someone else do it. Make sure it's your voice," said Richard Walcek, the head of guidance at Framingham High School.
Do a litmus test on your experiments with humor. "You ask your friends, 'Am I funny or not?' They're going to be brutally honest," said Debra Shaver, Smith College's director of admission.
Be creative, within reason.
Avoid recruiting multiple editors.
CHANGE AT MERRIMACK: It's the right time for a change at Merrimack College, says Richard J. Santagati, who steps down today after nearly 14 years at the North Andover school's helm.
Santagati, the first lay president of Merrimack, announced his retirement last week, saying he wanted to give his successor time to prepare for a 10-year accreditation process, which begins next year.
The Rev. Joseph Calderone, a Merrimack trustee and chaplain at Villanova University's law school, will serve as interim president of the 2,350-student college during the search for Santagati's successor.
The 64-year-old Santagati, who graduated from Merrimack in 1965, helped transform the college from a commuter school to a more selective, better-known residential institution with a national draw, said Laurence Demers, trustees chairman.
Campus Insider runs on alternate Sundays with Ask the Teacher, an advice column. To submit tips to Campus Insider, e-mail Linda Wertheimer at wertheimer@globe.com and Peter Schworm at schworm@globe.com.
