Meet H. Neil Matkin

Something to be thankful for: that you’re not teaching at Collin College, with H. Neil Matkin as your president. From The Chronicle of Higher Education:

The news arrived on Friday, nested deep in an email that landed during a Faculty Council Zoom meeting. Only after someone had reached the 22nd paragraph did professors learn what had happened, and when they did, a few began to cry.

“To date, we are aware of one Collin College student who has passed away from complications from Covid-19 and, as of last week, one faculty member,” H. Neil Matkin, president of the community-college district in Texas, wrote. The student’s death had been reported in late October, but the announcement that a colleague had died came as a fresh blow. In the same paragraph, near the bottom of the email, Matkin also disclosed that a staff member was hospitalized.

All of it appeared in an email beneath the subject line “College Update & Happy Thanksgiving!”

One of Matkin’s talking points about COVID-19: “I have chosen to never live my life in fear.” Sounds familiar.

Here’s another example of Matkin in action.