Unserious And Unprofessional
By
Leonard Zwelling
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/opinion/kristi-noem-trump.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/us/ohio-state-president-resigns.html?searchResultPosition=1
Frank Bruni comments in The New York Times on March 9 that most of the people around Donald Trump are not only unserious, but they are unprofessional. His op-ed was focused on the case of Kristi Noem, but he easily slides to so many others from Tulsi Gabbard, to Pete Hegseth, to Kash Patel. Here’s what he had to say about Noem and what Trump should have considered before appointing her:
“But another, less colorful trait of Noem’s should have disturbed him, and should unsettle us, even more, because it’s the root of so much of what’s wrong with Trump’s White House — an explanation of its dysfunctions, a key to its disgraces, a signal to the world of how fickle and foolish America has become: She’s unprofessional.”
I am going to touch upon a theme I have been flogging a bit for the past few years. The above is what Bruni said about those around Trump. It can also be said about those around Pisters and what the Board of Regents should have known. It may also be true that many organizations, both large and small, are led by unserious people who surround themselves with the unprofessional.
In the many conversations I have had with faculty victimized by Pisters and his vice presidents, I have been struck not only with the ruthless and unprofessional fashion with which some dreadful situations have been handled, but also with the unserious nature of academic leaders at MD Anderson involved with these matters. I have heard about everything from temper tantrums thrown at faculty in airports to clear scientific misconduct by people at the chair level and above. How can these people be taken seriously here in Houston or in Austin? And why do they still have their leadership roles?
Given his oversight of all of this damage, how can Peter Pisters be taken seriously given his lack of academic accomplishment, the complete absence of his contribution to cancer research or cancer care, and his lack of initiation of meaningful scientific programs at Anderson beyond Saturday clinics, masking against Covid, and vapid tweets, or whatever you call writing on X or Instagram?
One of the things that I always considered when I was a vice president and I was meeting a new faculty member or even a new member of my own staff hired by one of my managers was, is this person serious? Did he or she want to advance the mission of my office–“service with a sense of urgency”—or was this person just collecting a paycheck or doing the bidding of someone else. I got reasonably good at discerning the difference between someone who was a serious academician and someone who had managed to slip in the back door.
By contrast, one of the joys of my former job was interacting with the superb MD Anderson clinical research faculty who may have been excitable, but most of the time, had something to be excited about. They were serious and professional.
When is Anderson going to ask the question of its clinical research faculty that Dr. Freireich always wanted answered when he met a new faculty member. “Have you developed a treatment yet?”
Frank Bruni is exactly right to point out the lack of seriousness in the people around Trump and that people like Kristi Noem and Kash Patel have no inhibitions or morals that prevent them from using the resources of the American taxpayer to fly around the world on private jets or spend over $200 million on ads featuring, in Noem’s case, herself.
I added the second article that reports on the resignation of the Ohio State president for an as yet unclear “inappropriate relationship” which sounds like it may be more about a conflict of interest than a romance gone bad. The university was not forthcoming on the details yet.
Ohio State is far larger than MD Anderson. It has a hospital and a cancer center. Being president of Ohio State is a far larger job than being president of MD Anderson. Yet, the disgraced Ohio State leader made $1.2 million per year. Pisters makes at least $4 million. Why?
It’s so unprofessional.
Can anyone take the leadership of MD Anderson seriously?
Not I, but apparently the Board of Regents does. Who knows why? Then again, who can take the Board of Regents seriously if they are more concerned about Plato’s view of DEI than the quality of those chosen to lead UT and it components.
