ABSTRACT
In September 1993, CBS television’s “Eye To Eye” revisited the events precipitating the sudden resignation of Richard Berendzen, president of The American University. The years since 1990 have not erased wounds suffered by the institution when its chief executive unaccountably began making obscene phone calls to area daycare workers and was arrested. Some of those wounds were inflicted after the president resigned, as the board and interim administration were thrust into a “nonroutine” process of sensemaking. Their enactment of coping strategies and communication during a critical succession period left much to be desired.
