When Good Enough is Good Enough: Department Chairing During Covid-19

Abstract

DOI:10.1017/S1049096520001572 Emergencies are unexpected and dangerous, and they require quick action. They also are, admittedly, opportunities for “securitization” (Murphy 2020) and fraught with additional difficulties. When I took over as chair of my department in 2019, I had no idea we would be experiencing a pandemic in 2020. My philosophy as a department chair during this pandemic then and even now (because the United States as a national community has utterly failed to confront the pandemic effectively and safely) is to simply get by and do a good-enough job. It is the same philosophy of the NCAA basketball tournament: survive and advance. We hear the phrase that “perfect is the enemy of the good,” but I would amend that by saying the “good is (also) the enemy of good enough.” I ground my understanding of “good enough” by following Schick’s (2012, 129) Gillian Rose–inspired book. Schick’s approach