<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left;line-height:150%"><a name="OLE_LINK1"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif">Dear Visionaries:</font></span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left;line-height:150%">
<a name="OLE_LINK1"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif">The column below that I wrote about White's departure is relevant for Nellis' long ride to Texas. I got a lot of criticism for saying that White should stay, but I think Nellis was better regarded than White, who is now the President of the Cal State system.</font></span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left;line-height:150%"><a name="OLE_LINK1"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif"><br></font></span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:left;line-height:150%">
<a name="OLE_LINK1" style="line-height:150%;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif">Nick</font></span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:150%">
<a name="OLE_LINK1"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif"><br></font></span></b></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:150%"><a name="OLE_LINK1"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif">DEAR PRESIDENT WHITE (Now Nellis):</font></span></b></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%">YOU OWE US AT LEAST ANOTHER FIVE
YEARS</span></b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif">By
Nick Gier </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif"><br></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif">President,
Higher Education Council</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%">Idaho</span><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"> Federation of Teachers, AFT/AFL-CIO.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif"> </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif"> Since
1986, the tenure of an American university president has increased from an
average of 6.3 years to 8.5 years. By
contrast, the terms of office of University of Idaho (UI) presidents are
becoming shorter, and in the case of Tim White, alarmingly so.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif"> Presidents
Ernest Hartung and Richard Gibb remained in office 12 years, while Elizabeth
Zinser and Robert Hoover were on campus for seven years. White is now leaving us after four years to
take a position at UC Riverside.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif"> The
average tenure calculation obscures high turnover rates on other campuses. Eastern Michigan State
has had four presidents in six years; Sierra Nevada College
has had four presidents in 10 years; and Florida A&M has had two presidents
in seven years. Over 11 years at Texas
Tech there have been two chancellors and three presidents.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif">White's
$286,187 salary is 392 percent higher than Gibb's, and he will be making
$325,000 at his new job. When Hartung was president, he made three times that
of new assistant professors, but White's salary has risen to seven times that
of new faculty. Adjusted for inflation, average university presidential pay has
risen 35 percent from 1996-2006, while faculty salaries increased only five
percent during the same period.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif"> The
tenure for academic deans is growing even shorter. Studies reported in the <i>Chronicle of Higher Education</i> indicate an average of three to five
years. The most recent UI science and liberal
arts deans each lasted only three years.
</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif">These
outside deans come with automatic tenure and negotiated step-down agreements with
a mere 15 percent reduction in salary. These huge salaries burden departmental
budgets, and they also skew salary calculations for determining how far
departments are behind their peers.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif">The
new deans of science and liberal arts are not only competent but know the UI
well and have deep roots in the community.
Studies show that the best CEOs are those who work their way up within
their companies, so why doesn't the UI choose capable administrators already on
campus to lead the university?</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif"> When
the faculty union complained about exploding dean salaries and costly searches,
UI Provost Doug Baker acknowledged that it was, in contrast to faculty, a very
competitive market with very high turnover.
Since 1982, UI dean's salaries have risen 240 percent while full
professor pay has gone up 187 percent.
The Consumer Price Index for the same period is 210.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif"> The
departure of a university president, especially so soon after he has been
hired, disrupts the lives of faculty and staff as they are forced to adjust to
an interim administration. The vast sums
of money that are paid to "head hunters" and on interviews mean less
money for academics and campus maintenance.
New presidents spend lots of time "learning the ropes," and
they sometimes bring in new management teams that further disturb the efficient
running of the university.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif"> To
his credit White has made sure, sometimes by robbing other budgets, that
faculty have received some decent salary increases. We are still, however, at
the bottom of our peer group because its professors have also received similar
raises.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif">I
have no means to counter White's claims of a much improved financial situation
for the UI, so we have to take White at his word. I can say, however, that White's announcement
that 67 new positions were added in 2007-2008 was very misleading. The UI's own figures show a net increase of
only 15 positions.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif">Out
of all the UI presidents that I've known, I can say that I had the best
personal relationship with Tim White. He
has excellent interpersonal skills and he is the best listener of any
administrator with whom I've had dealings.
Once he excused himself from a very important meeting to meet with me
about retaliation against a staff member.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:14pt;line-height:150%;text-indent:0.5in">After 40 years of handling grievances for the faculty union, my main complaint is
that the UI does a very poor job of personnel management.</span><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:14pt;line-height:150%;text-indent:0.5in"> </span><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:14pt;line-height:150%;text-indent:0.5in">The UI could have avoided some of the legal
cases we won by simply following its own procedures and offering better
personnel training for its deans and department chairs.</span><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:14pt;line-height:150%;text-indent:0.5in"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif">I
do hope that the next UI president is more attentive to these personnel matters.
I also propose that the contract of any external candidate hired will contain a
clause requiring 10 years of service.
Such a clause might not be necessary if an inside candidate—I can think
of several outstanding choices—is hired.</font></span></p>
<font face="georgia, serif">
</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:150%"> </span></p>