The brouhaha brewing in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication is a result of secretive leadership, whining faculty and, ultimately, a bullying provost.

There is no doubt there are some problems with the school’s leadership under department chair John Eighmey and his deputy, Joel Geske. Many senior faculty don’t trust Eighmey. They say he isn’t straight with them, especially about the benefits offered to minority faculty. They say he muddles the truth in a way very unbecoming for the head of a journalism school.

These complaints will be discussed. Maybe it’s time for a change. Maybe it’s not. A committee (yea!) will decide.

But that’s not the problem. Professors and department officers are bound to disagree on tactics and goals and to generally not understand why the other party does what it does and thinks how it thinks. A university faculty that completely approves of what the department’s leadership is doing does not exist on this planet or any other.

The problem is that, somewhere along the line, this disagreement got framed as racist.

In academia, a world like no other, racism is the worst possible insult. It is the unforgivable sin. It’s going nuclear. Obviously, one does not drop the R-bomb unless one is sure it’s necessary and true. In this case, it was neither.

This is not about racism. It’s about the costs of diversity. It’s about understanding that if a school in Iowa wants a diverse faculty, those providing the diversity are going to be better-paid than those who don’t. It’s about being truthful with faculty about this unfortunate but unavoidable predicament.

Faculty, get over it. Eighmey, be honest about it. It could have ended there.

Enter Provost Rollin Richmond. Exit light, enter night. Richmond strolled in to a meeting May 3, saw that the long-running Greenlee standoff was getting even more heated than usual and chose the most ham-handed, explosively newsworthy and unnecessary option, relieving Eighmey and Geske of their administrative duties. He apparently did this with little or no input from, well, anyone.

It’s impossible to say why Richmond did what he did. Clearly he couldn’t explain it to his boss, President Gregory Geoffroy, who reversed his decision two weeks later.

Ask yourself this: Would Richmond have acted so hastily if Greenlee faculty and officials were arguing about the balance between teaching and research or the future of the school’s print programs?

Racism is a hot word, really smoking-hot. It appears our provost smelled that smoke. Luckily Geoffroy can tell the difference between smoke and fire.

Editorial Board: Dave Roepke, Erin Randolph, Charlie Weaver, Megan Hinds, Rachel Faber Machacha