The Dubious Professor

by Scott Armstrong

Meet Jepson Alexander, recently appointed ( slipped through the proverbial cracks of a flawed vetting process) to the physical education professorship at a small liberal arts university in southern Ohio. A secret, yet powerful organization called the Schoolhouse is on the verge of rocking higher education in America. A triumvirate of three professionals and a small staff use blackmail, intimidation, and other duplicitous means to gain entre to universities by planting bogus professors and administrators. The ‘House preys on the operational weaknesses common to colleges by peddling seemingly practical solutions to the issues of student debt, institutional endowment, and the NCAA’s latest attempt to placate Name, Image, Likeness (NIL). Assistant Professor Jepson Alexander is woefully undereducated, but through deceit and wit lasts several weeks before officials at Brentman and Elby University see through the ruse. The Schoolhouse, fearing their cover may be blown, quickly reassign young Alexander. But the former assistant professor is already in the wind. He is pursued by a quintet of parties; one seeks payment on an outstanding debt; a pair of seasoned physical educators are tracking him, motivated by individual grudges; the Schoolhouse has never been outfoxed—they want their pound of flesh; a former felon who landed in one of his classes has unfinished business; and if there is anything left of Alexander, a former female UFC fighter-turned athletic administrator vows to “mess him up.” Jepson Alexander is naïve but clever—a survivor. Brentman and Elby University is no different than hundreds of small institutions of higher learning—enrollment driven, moderately endowed, with a balanced approach to the education of its students and the pursuit of intercollegiate athletics. The Schoolhouse is that entity, hiding in plain sight, circling, striking. Just fiction? You decide.

529 pages, Hardcover

Published November 28, 2023

Reviews

[Tony Grimm]

Great book and story. I could see this story becoming a movie.