Dive Brief:
- The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that 18 months after J. Bruce Harreld became the president of the University of Iowa in a controversial hiring by its board of trustees, critics continue to express wariness about his tenure and approach to governing — though it is tempered compared to the initial anger expressed at his hiring.
- Some faculty have commended Harreld for reaching out to minority students’ concerns and addressing mental health issues for students, but the school faced a massive turnover of faculty last year, and cuts to school funding from the state have led him to call for tuition increases and cuts to aid.
- Harreld was the only one of four finalists for the president’s role without extensive experience in higher education leadership, with his only prior experience as a part-time faculty member in Harvard University’s business school, and faculty felt the board ignored their strong opposition to him.
Dive Insight:
The challenges Harreld continues to face highlight the importance for college presidents to maintain a consistent and strong line of communication with faculty and students to be able to address concerns more nimbly. College faculty have expressed concern that seismic changes about their college may not be adequately communicated, a fact that they say is being amplified by the financial concerns facing higher education institutions.
These financial concerns, coupled with myriad other changes and an expected high rate of presidential turnover in the years to come, means the immediate future will be a period of tumultuous and impactful decisions for college presidents, and alienating faculty, even if inadvertently, will make their jobs harder when it comes to selling what may be difficult choices to a college community.
Presidents could look to shared governance models like Marlboro College. While they may not go as far as President Kevin F.F. Quigley did in offering equal authority for all college stakeholders, the lengths to which college leadership goes to keep everyone informed of changes should be considered by other institutions.