Faculty Impressed By Finalists for Southern System Chief

By Jessica Fender

Faculty impressed by finalists for Southern system chief

The race for a new Southern University system president will come down to one key decision, said faculty members who watched the last of four candidates interview Friday before a search committee.

Would new blood and fresh ideas be best for the beleaguered chain of universities?

Or would a candidate with inside knowledge of the system and the state be more effective more quickly?

Two candidates in the running have ties to Southern, and two do not.

Whoever lands the post will have to navigate treacherous financial waters and steer the five campuses through a series of anticipated major changes, faculty leaders said.

Candidates certainly will have a challenge, said Elaine Lewnau, a Faculty Senate member on Southerns main campus in Baton Rouge.

Time unfortunately may be what drives the decision, she said.

The Southern system Board of Supervisors will vote on a candidate March 11, Johnny Anderson, the board chairman, has said.

The post opened in July, when former President Leon Tarver stepped down to return to teaching after eight years at the helm.

That was before hurricanes Katrina and Rita rocked the state and scooped out a huge hole in the states higher education budget.

Some faculty members said they worried that no solid candidates would want to walk into such a difficult situation.

They have been pleasantly surprised so far, Lewnau said.

The two relative insiders are Lester Newman and Ralph Slaughter.

Newman, president of Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena, Miss., graduated from Southern University in Baton Rouge and worked at the Baton Rouge campus early in his career.

His rsum boasts accomplishments at Mississippi Valley such as raising the average faculty salary by more than $10,000 a year, establishing a capital campaign fund, more than doubling the amount of federal dollars coming in and boosting enrollment.

Dr. Newman was strong on leadership, said Eva Baham, Southern Baton Rouge Faculty Senate president. And he has experience here in the system. I thought he was strong on both sides: political and academic.

Slaughter, currently a vice president for the Southern system, is perhaps the most familiar with the problems facing the campuses.

He presented a plan that focuses on accountability, improving the systems image, fund-raising and improving access, among other points. He said he knows the systems problems best, and he doesnt plan on continuing business as usual.

There are serious issues on those campuses, Slaughter said. I bring almost 10 years of experience and a whole list of new ideas.

Slaughter also has been involved with Louisiana politics a factor that could be important in the decision-making process, Southern-Baton Rouge professor Jacquelin Jacobs said.

Its going to be dog-eat-dog out there for money. This is not a game, Jacobs said. You have to be able to come into this political environment.

She said there might not be time for a new person to learn the ropes.

But Lewnau and Baham said a candidate who is accustomed to the way the system runs now might be more likely to keep in place policies that have led to a series of recent scandals.

Southerns Baton Rouge campus has faced grade-buying issues, problems with its booster foundation and charges that a longtime band leader took money from the university.

For far too long weve drawn from that (local) pool and not moved forward, Baham said. We need some fresh ideas.

Those fresh ideas could come from one of two candidates new to the Southern system.

A. Toy Caldwell-Colbert is a consultant to the president of Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she also serves as a vice chairwoman for psychological services. Her prior experience includes stints as the vice president for academic affairs at the University of Illinois system office and Indiana State University.

Caldwell-Colbert told interviewers she would focus on accreditation, a major capital campaign and image building, among other factors. She cited her experience navigating politics in Washington, D.C., securing funding for the prestigious Howard University.

Caldwell-Colbert won points with faculty for a strong academic background.

She strikes me as someone who understands policy and procedures and may actually have the courage to follow them, Lewnau said.

The Howard University consultant said she is undaunted by the challenges facing the Southern system.

I would be very nave to think there arent issues, Caldwell- Colbert said. What makes higher education exciting is being able to build on strengths, and Im seeing a lot of strengths here.

William McHenry, the last candidate to interview, is the vice chancellor for academic affairs at the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.

Faculty members said they were impressed by his innovative ideas on technology and his background with the National Science Foundation, where he was a program director.

I think he comes to us with a really good background, Baham said. Hes academically accomplished. He brought that level of academic accomplishment to bear here.

McHenry told interviewers he has dealt with desegregation cases and faculty tenure review, two issues familiar to the Southern system.

He said he would want to improve the image of the Southern system, attract more non-traditional students and raise funds to compensate for waning state-government support.

I am about change and doing things proactively, McHenry said.