In Herman Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener, the title character responds to nearly every request with a calm, unwavering phrase. I prefer not to. It is not loud or combative. It is polite, measured, and deeply unsettling. Over time, that quiet refusal brings an entire office to a standstill.
Anyone who has worked through a higher education modernization effort has seen a version of Bartleby show up.
Most people do not resist change because it is bad. They resist it because it is inconvenient. Even when a change is clearly beneficial, it still interrupts routines, introduces uncertainty, and asks people to let go of what feels familiar. Bartleby’s response is not anger. It is discomfort, expressed softly.
When Silence Becomes Resistance
In Melville’s story, Bartleby is never truly confronted about why he refuses. The lack of conversation allows his stance to harden and confusion to spread. On campuses, the same thing happens when change arrives without enough context.
When people do not understand why a change is happening or what the risk is of staying the same, they fill in the gaps themselves. Often, the assumptions are grim. There must be no good reason. This must be about money or politics. No one really thought this through. Silence invites stories, and those stories rarely work in the project’s favor.
Naming What Is at Stake
One of the most important and overlooked steps in any change initiative is being explicit early about two things. Why the change is happening and what the risk is of not changing. Laying out that landscape does not eliminate discomfort, but it gives people something solid to react to.
Yes, it invites questions. Yes, it opens the door to conversations that feel harder than staying quiet. But the difficult conversation you have early is almost always easier than the one that erupts later.
Small Conversations Prevent Big Breakdowns
I often think of this work like a fire department. Many small, intentional conversations act like putting out spot fires. They keep the temperature down and prevent something larger from igniting. Avoidance does the opposite. It lets pressure build until refusal becomes the only response left.
You do not need perfect answers on day one. What people need is honesty, context, and acknowledgment that change is disruptive. In Melville’s story, no one ever truly engages Bartleby where he is. In real life, that is where trust begins.
Final Thoughts
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