Politician Presidents Are Bad for Higher Education
The politician president has become a common feature in higher education in the United States. Governing boards, which make the hiring decisions for college and university presidents, love politician candidates. “Hot damn!” they say, “This professional beggar will help us raise millions of dollars and save the school!” That’s usually what it boils down to. According to at 2014 Politico article about the practice, which was becoming a trend,
…college presidents aren’t just expected to deal with budgets and faculty members. They advocate to Congress and state lawmakers and execute billion-dollar fundraising goals — and politicians used to the era of soft money are a natural fit for coaxing donations from alumni and wealthy supporters.
The primary mandate of presidents in higher education is to raise money, and everybody acknowledges that successful politicians are great at that. A match made in heaven, some think.
Unfortunately, they can come with a lot of baggage. These hires are almost always vanity projects. Some creep at the end of their career thinks it might be nice to run a college into the ground before slouching off to retirement, so they lean on some politician friends to make it happen.
Boards are sometimes so eager to hire these turds that they try to circumvent normal…
