YSU's Leap of Faith: President Tressel
When Youngstown State's seven month new president Randy
Dunn abruptly quit his job to move to Southern Illinois University, it reminded me of John Paul 1 dying
immediately after he became pope. The
conclave picked the wrong one. The Board
of Trustees should have picked Jim Tressel last time around. This time they did. Bravo.
It was a brave decision given the criticism leveled at
the Trustees from numerous sources, including two hit pieces in the Youngstown
Vindicator spewing doom and gloom about
hiring a perceived non-academic, a really bad guy who cheated and lied, and
worst of all...a coach. Oh, the horror,
the horror. The assumptions of those
making these comments are so off base it is almost laughable.
Start with don't assume the sanctity and purity of
academia. Behind those ivy covered halls
is a cut throat political environment of the worst kind, filled with unbridled
competition for money, tenure and promotions, dogmatic professors, unions,
research and publication, jealousy and fear.
Some of these jobs are among the most highly paid in the nation, with a
work load that is almost embarrassing. In
many cases, loyalty is a scarce commodity.
Former President Dunn is Exhibit A.
Higher education is big business. Academics get lost in the budget process and
union negotiations. All universities are
run today by those who know how to manage mammoth tens of millions of dollars undertakings
notwithstanding the title. That person
may be the President, or an assistant to the President, but is always
there. Then there are the folks that
concern themselves with academics...and it may be the President, or the
Provost, of a Dean of something or other, but that person is always there.
In the middle of it is good, old fashioned politics
whether it be for state funding dollars, university graduate programs, private
corporation grants, foundation grants, student enrollment, or simply public
relations bolstering the reputation of the university in the local community or
in the national or international arena. Today's university president has to provide a
good product at a reasonable price and then be able to sell it. Like anything else, it is sales, sales,
sales...to prospective students, to the state, to companies and
businesses.
President-elect Tressel may be light on the academic
credentials, but he understands how universities work down to their not so
pretty core. He has powerful friends and
contacts locally, and more importantly at the state and national levels. And yes...he is a little bit of a thief getting
caught up in the fraud that is NCAA football. Sadly, the question is who stinketh the most? Coach Tressel is way down the list on that one.
More importantly, he understands the strength and
weaknesses of our valley, and he knows how to make winners. Although not born in the area, he is one of
us. For better or worse, folks here are
different than anywhere else. We are
junkyard dogs who know how to preserver and fight for what we want. He can make it work.
To the Vindicator and Bertram De Souza, I agree that we
need a man who can make this area the center of research for additive
manufacturing. While academic
development is a large part of that, so are the businesses and funders and
political mucky mucks that will be making those types of decisions. Jim Tressel is not a stupid person. He will make sure the academics are there,
and then sell the hell out of it nationwide.
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