<font face="georgia, serif">Good Morning Visionaries,</font><div><font face="georgia, serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="georgia, serif">It didn't take me too long to update some figures. The average tenure has dropped from 8.5 years to 7; hence, the three years rather than five that I put in my White article.</font></div>
<div><font face="georgia, serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="georgia, serif">This disruptive and expensive presidential merry-go-round must stop.</font></div><div><font face="georgia, serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="georgia, serif">Nick</font></div>
<div><font face="georgia, serif"><br></font></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:150%"><a name="OLE_LINK1"><b><span style="line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif">DEAR PRESIDENT 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="line-height:150%">YOU OWE US ANOTHER THREE YEARS</span></b><span style="line-height:150%"></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:150%"><br></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif"> From
1986-2006 the tenure of an American university president increased from an
average of 6.3 years to 8.5 years. Since
then it has gone back down to 7 years. By contrast, the terms of office of UI presidents
are becoming shorter, and for former president Tim White and soon-to-leave Duane
Nellis, alarmingly so. </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="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 left after 4 years, and Nellis will
match White’s tenure when he leaves for Texas Tech this summer.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="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. </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif">Since
1932 Texas Tech has had 16 presidents for an average of 5.6 years. President Nellis said that he was going to
retire at UI, but will he beat the odds and retire at Texas Tech instead? </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif">Nellis’
FY12 salary of $335,005 is 487 percent higher than Gibb's $57,115 in FY82, and Nellis held out a year until he got $40,000 more than White. When Hartung was
president, he made three times that of new assistant professors, but Nellis’salary
has risen to seven times that of new faculty. </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif">Adjusted
for inflation, average university presidential pay across the nation rose 35
percent from 1996-2006, while faculty salaries increased only five percent
during the same period. Last Year Nellis’ salary stood at 141 out of 199 public
university presidents, but UI full professors were 25 percent behind their
peers in all Ph.D.-granting institutions.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="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 former 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="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="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%"><font face="georgia, serif"><span style="line-height:150%"> 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 280 percent while full
professor pay has gone up 207 percent.
The Consumer Price Index for the same period is 226.</span><b><span style="line-height:150%"> </span></b><span style="line-height:150%"></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="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="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="line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif"> When
I published a similar column “President White: You Owe Us Five More Years” (the
average tenure was then 8.5 years), I received a lot of criticism from faculty
who thought that White had done a poor job.
My impression is that Nellis has had a much better record with both the
faculty and the State Board of Education.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif">After
39 years of handling grievances for the faculty union, my main complaint is
that the UI does a very poor job of personnel management. 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. </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="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="line-height:150%"><font face="georgia, serif">UI Professor Emeritus Nick Gier is
the President of the Idaho Federation of Teachers.</font></span></p></div><div><br></div>