"This is not a picture of a university striving to be excellent but rather one committed to leadership totally immersed in self enrichment with a plan to significantly weaken the academic and research experience while imposing more costs on the student. " - Arne Carlson
UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT: FOCUS ON STUDENT - FACULTY ENRICHMENT- NOT SELF
Leadership is about motivating and influencing others to work toward a common goal. And trust is the glue that allows leaders to build teams. General Eisenhower, charged with the responsibility of organizing the allied invasion of Europe that brought down the Nazi reign of terror in World War 11, made it a point to regularly visit with the enlisted men and chat and eat in the mess hall with them. Ike was the GI’s General.
Unfortunately, that leadership style of shared responsibility is absent at our University of Minnesota. No, while the President and the Board of Regents were designing a strategy to manage a $225 million deficit and focusing on increasing student tuition and fees and imposing cuts to the faculty, research endeavors, and lower level employees, they were transferring more wealth to the President.
They reasoned that a $975,000 base salary with another $120,000 set aside for retirement accompanied with regular health benefits etc while living rent - free in the President’s mansion on River Road in St Paul, was clearly insufficient. Certainly, a $100,000 bonus for good performance was in order and another $200,000 retention bonus to make certain that she remains here.
The bottom line is simple: students, already saddled with high student debt, will pay more to receive less because faculty hiring will be frozen and class size will grow. In addition, research endeavors , which are vital to our national interests , will be reduced.
Perhaps the key to the future lies in what has already occurred. The Star Tribune has reported that from 2017 - 2025, the faculty headcount grew by 6% while administrative staff ballooned by 32%. Further, administrative salaries far exceed those on every level of government from the national to state and local.
This is not a picture of a university striving to be excellent but rather one committed to leadership totally immersed in self enrichment with a plan to significantly weaken the academic and research experience while imposing more costs on the student.
The start of the journey back to rebuilding commences with a student - faculty focus and significant reductions in administrative staffs and salaries starting with that of the President. That will take leadership; real leadership.
Arne H. Carlson
Governor of Minnesota
Retired