Ivy is a Weed by Robert Roseth

Was Jeremy Ronson, a top-ranked university official, defenestrated — was he pushed out a fourth floor window — or did he defenestrate himself? The police say his death was accidental, but Mike Woodsen, the PR director, is skeptical. He investigates the possible crime on his own in the hope that he might break the big story that had eluded him as a news reporter. Meanwhile, Woodsen’s day job gives him a bird’s-eye view of academic life in the 21st century. He observes an often-comical bureaucracy, dealing with serious issues related to education and research. But also serves as a rhetorical battleground for individuals with towering egos. Woodsen learns that the victim had made many enemies on campus. But did any one of these have the animus necessary to force him from a fourth-floor window? The facts end up pushing Woodsen in a direction that is both absurd and completely logical