
HAMILTON, NY — After months of poor performance ratings in the polls, Dean Paul J. McLoughlin of Colgate University has reached his lowest ratings yet. Just under 1% of Colgate students said that they approved or somewhat approved of the Dean’s recent actions. is descent actually exceeds the speed of President Trump’s fall from favor after taking office, which was previously thought to have been an unmatchable decline. Here, we break down the various causes of Dean McLoughlin’s plummet in the polls.
McLoughlin started off the year strong, with a good endorsement from beloved President Casey. He made some great speeches about listening to the students and all the classic new-administrator cliches, and it seemed like the students were willing to trust him. For the first few weeks of school, his approval ratings remained in the mid-80s, which is actually where President Putin of Russia tends to hover. Perhaps this should have been a sign of his future as a fascist leader.
The first large hit to his approval ratings came immediately after the weekend of the infamous Tail’Gate, hosted by the Dean himself. In an effort to draw students away from the grand tradition of Fraturday and make the school care about sports, the Dean abused his authority and cancelled all parties scheduled Saturday afternoon. He declared that students would be allowed to bring alcohol to the game, but in such a regulated way that it could never hope to replicate the tailgates of the SEC schools. After a weekend of sad, off-campus fraturdays, his approval sunk to barely 50%.
Later in the fall, McLoughlin signalled that he was ready to start making bigger changes on campus, specifically in the social realm. Apparently, Colgate’s lax (read: fun) enforcement of social hosting policies did not match his dictatorial style. At a forum for his proposed new rules, he spoke passionately about hiring outside security, banning lengthy parties, and carefully monitoring the alcohol consumption of every party attendee. Despite students ardent pleas against these proposals, he continued onward with his draconian ideas, leaving his approval rating hovering in the 30s.
The final blow came at the beginning of second semester. All winter break, students had been fantasizing about finally being able to return to Tach parties after their probation was lifted. Most students thought the probation was unjust in the first place, so everyone was more than ready to get back to grade-A raging. However, McLoughlin seemed to think that they had not done their penance, and arbitrarily extended their punishment, which plunged him to his current approval rating. Despite the fact that the probation has since been lifted, Colgate students will struggle to trust the Dean ever again.
