On Tuesday, a Grand Forks Herald editorial suggested that Interim Chancellor Larry Skogen's focus should be less on students than on the state ("Not the students, but the state," Page A6 in The Dickinson Press).
Also on Monday, news from the West Coast suggests that the regents of the University of California are thinking along the same lines.
The University of California is a university system with 10 campuses, the most famous being UC Berkeley. So, the president of the University of California actually is the head of the whole system -- the equivalent of the chancellor of the North Dakota University System.
And on Monday, the new president of the University of California had her first day on the job.
She is Janet Napolitano, until recently the U.S. secretary of homeland security, and before that a two-term governor of Arizona.
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Napolitano is a lawyer. But she doesn't have a Ph.D., nor has she ever served as a college faculty member or administrator.
As the Chronicle of Higher Education put it, "even those who have voiced support for Ms. Napolitano acknowledge that she is a surprising choice for an institution that has traditionally been led by a president more steeped in academe."
But at this point in its history, the University of California needs an advocate more than it does an academic, said William Tierne, co-director of the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California, to the Chronicle.
"She may not be the status-quo choice, but what we need right now in California is an effective spokesperson on behalf of public higher education," Tierney said.
"We have no one who has made a sustained, systematic argument to the citizens of California about how important public higher education is. She may be an ideal person to make that argument."
The chairman of the university's system-wide Academic Senate and a faculty representative on the Board of Regents agreed.
"The UC presidency isn't about setting day-to-day academic policies and expectations," Robert Powell told the Chronicle.
"It's really about who Jerry Brown [the governor of California] picks up the phone and calls when he has a question, or who from the university flies to Washington to represent you. For that, she's perfect."
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John Douglass, a senior research fellow in public policy and higher education at UC Berkeley, said the same thing but in a different way.
"Being president of the university is not like running a campus," Douglass told The Associated Press.
"Her duties are, largely, to negotiate and deal with Sacramento -- most significantly UC's thus-far shrinking share of the state budget, decipher the wants and advice of the regents, manage conflict and cooperation between the campuses and work with the faculty's Academic Senate on systemwide policies."
In North Dakota, Skogen will bring vital strengths to the job of interim chancellor.
Those strengths include proven managerial skills, a talent for getting along with others and a deep familiarity with academic culture.
But there's more to the task of leading a university system these days, and Napolitano's appointment in California confirms it. There are politics involved -- notably, the politics of dealing with elected officials in each state's Capitol.
Skogen has less experience in that realm. He should recognize that and devote extra time and attention to it, because in North Dakota, a great deal depends on his success.
Dennis is the opinion editor of the Grand Forks Herald, which is a part of Forum News Service. Email him at tdennis@gfherald.com .
