Thursday, July 14, 2011
Higher education Final round of UA president search
Posted by Max Brantley on Thu, Jul 14, 2011 at 12:02 PM
The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees had a private interview session this morning with the third of four candidates for System president to succeed the retiring Alan Sugg. Up this morning was former trustee Stanley Reed of Marianna, a lawyer, farmer and former head of the Arkansas Farm Bureau.
Talking with reporters afterward, he was ready with a defense of his involvement in a couple of hot issues — work in a private school formed initially as a segregation academy in Lee County and his leadership of Farm Bureau in fighting to prohibit same-sex marriage and adoptions by unmarried couples, the latter drafted to target same-sex couples.
* RACE: Reed was a school board leader at the private Lee Academy in the 1990s. He said that the school today was an alternative to failed public schools and that, though Lee Academy has no black students and no black faculty members, it has an open enrollment policy, advertised on the website to address perceptions that the school is a racist academy. He said poverty has discouraged black students from attending. He said he didn't have an answer for failure of public schools in the Delta. But he said he'd worked for desegregation of the Lee County Farm Bureau, that his daughter had desegregated her UA sorority and his son had a black friend who'd been a university roommate and also a member of his wedding party. He said he'd sponsored African students to attend U.S. colleges and that any suggestion he encouraged inequality "had no merit at all."
* GAY RIGHTS: Reed acknowledged his belief in the "traditional" view of family as marriage between a man and woman. He said he'd uphold university policy that prohibits discrimination on account of sexual orientation. But did he support such a policy? His personal feeling is irrelevant, Reed said. He'd observe policy. And what if the University Board finally considers a policy to allow health insurance coverage of domestic partners? Reed said he'd have to disqualify from participating in that decision because of a "conflict of interest."
* POLITICS: Reed said he'd made a mistake in his brief flirtation with a race for U.S. Senate in 2010. He said it had produced sleepless nights and elevated blood pressure. He said, as events proved, he had a partisan problem — too much of a Democrat for some Republicans, too much of a Republican for some Democrats. He had considered briefly, then dropped out of, a Republican primary race, eventually won by John Boozman.
* EXPERIENCE: Though he lacks academic experience, Reed said his record in law, as a trustee, in farming and in general business and public service was the "right mix" for the job.
* SURPRISE: Though he identified himself as a conservative who didn't like tax increases, Reed spoke directly about his belief that a case could be made for an increased investment in higher education, even if it meant taxes of some sort, though he was not specific.
LATE BREAKING: Dale Charles, president of the Arkansas chapter of the NAACP, released letter this afternoon expressing opposition to Reed's selection. It arrived after the board began deliberations. The group said retired Judge Olly Neal had recommended against an endorsement of Reed. ON THE JUMP: You'll find a YouTube clip of a portion of Reed's response on racial questions.
The Board's final interview was with retired Jonesboro banker Frank Oldham. It then began deliberating on a choice about 3:30 p.m. Board chair Carl Johnson said he hoped a decision could be reached by 5 p.m. or so. Deliberations were to begin with a winnowing of candidates to the most popular, perhaps by initial secret ballot votes.
Oldham must have been a heckuva lecturer when he was a university faculty member. Meeting reporters, he gave one of the most spirited of the candidates' talks to the press, pitching his emphasis to the chancellors with whom he'd met on a more aggressive effort to raise public investment in colleges, the need for greater diversity of student bodies and a push for greater public involvement by campuses, a change that undoubtedly would come at some expense, too. I asked him, in short, if he knew he lived in Arkansas and had he seen the 2010 election results when he talked about pushing hard for more spending on education and more affirmative action in student bodies. "What's the alternative?" He said the only alternative was to try as hard as possible to move forward. Any other alternative is "not acceptable to me," he said. He said his desire for public service and love of the university led him to seek the position.
The Board met yesterday with John Churchill of Washington, head of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and Donald Bobbitt, provost at University of Texas Arlington. All four candidates have extensive Arkansas ties. Only Churchill never attended UA.
Comments (19)
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Aww, Nanc; I just got a new hat after choking my old one down following the Ryan Mallett draft fiasco. But I have a feeling your prediction is right, and this hat is safe.
On Race: Funny how poverty has a way of "discouraging black students from attending" isn't it? Solid justification there Stanley!
On Gay Rights: "Personal feeling is irrelevant." Let's hope he applies the same rationale to how he handles situations involving his friends in the System who miserably fail to do their jobs when he has to make decisions about going after them in order to do what is best for the actual institution instead of the individual (and we can all hope he does a better job than Max in that regard).
On Experience: The "Right Mix" for this job involves having at least some academic experience besides knowing how to call the hogs, Stanley. Examples of inept leaders with no academic experience who are squandering the potential of institutions are right in front of you. Actually, they're on your speed dial. We most certainly do not need more of you.
How on earth are we even having a discussion involving Stanley Reed?
Just read the account of Reed’s interview, and read it with as open a mind as I could muster, setting aside my personal differences with him and cutting him slack anywhere and everywhere I could.
But, no. A thousand times, no, No, NO! Reed just isn’t the right man for this job. I appreciate his support of and past service to the university and all that, but hey . . .
Durango, for me, the fact that he has to explain himself on race and gender issues is a disqualifier. Whoever is chosen should have a decent record on those issues or they will dog him throughout his tenure. This choice can move Arkansas and the university forward, or it can maintain the status quo.
(Mumbles to self, and goes on line to research Belize real estate.)
Wow, that's weak. He supported a segregation academy that undermined public schools, excuses lack of African American enrollment "because they can't afford it", and claims he's not a racist because his son had a black friend. Reed would be a catastrophe for the U of A.
Let's list the bad choices coming out of the Farm Bureau under Reed's leadership. Supported discrimination of gays. Opposed animal cruelty legislation. Opposed fair taxation, defended the ridiculously low property taxes on agri land. Opposed education reform. Defended mediocre schools. Opposed reform of state environmental agency. Others?
It is troubling that a potential System leader would need to step aside from discussion of an issue such as health benefits for domestic partners due to a "conflict of interest"--presumably his religious views.
We ask, and expect, that many who hold positions of responsibility in our governmental, judicial, and educational institutions be willing to set aside their religious views and other personal considerations so that decisions can be made without imposing individual religious convictions on others.
It seems to me that the ability to exclude one's own religious convictions from public decisionmaking is a far better quality than a commitment to step aside because those convictions create a "conflict of interest."
Health benefits for domestic partners may or may not be a good choice for the University system, but is it too much to ask that a leader lay aside personal convictions and take up the reins in guiding the institution to a decision?
http://www.teenink.com/opinion/current_eve…
Excerpt: Farm Bureau wastes time and resources on problems not pertaining to agriculture. For example, the bureau is against human cloning, drug abuse, gay rights, funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. . . . .
Stanley Reed's own resume shows him to be so certain of his personal superiority to others that he is trapped in his own opinions with no room for any else's thoughts. He should not be leading a university unless it is Harding or Pepperdine.
Just what "conflict of interest" could there be that would prevent one from supporting extending health insurance to anyone who does not have it? What planet does this being come from?
But didn't Ken Starr of The Starr Chamber get first dibbs on Pepperdine for his BJ prosecution/inquisition?
“Oldham must have been a heckuva lecturer when he was a university faculty member. He gave one of the most spirited of the candidates' talks to the press …”
Check back and you’ll see that I’ve said from Day One that the UofA System could do much worse than Frank Oldham. Don't think for a second that he's in the same boat with Stanley Reed. I doubt FO stands a chance, though.
Know and very much admire FO, but I’d like to see somebody younger than 66 take the helm. In my opinion, one of the best things about Bobbitt is that he’s in his early 50s and could serve the System for 20 years.
Churchill should be good for ten, which wouldn’t be bad.
eLwood: Starr certainly did!
(Glad to see that UA chose wisely, from its pool of contenders.)
Stanley Reed was killed in an accident Friday morning, and knowing Stanley he was deeply concerned about all the negative things that have been said about him. He was a good Christian man who is in heaven now. So, those of you who had sust hatefuly comments about him can find someone else to bad mouth.
CSM, no on here made hateful comments about him. Just criticisms based on fact as to why he shouldn't be named president of UA.
Well, outlier, accusing someone of racism is in fact hateful. Those who know Stanley know that he opened his home to any and all people, and that this Christmas his dinner table included a seat for a Rwandan student named Ijead that Stanley personally sponsored to attend UALR. Writing a check to a black student is one thing, but having him in your home on Christmas Day is another thing entirely. It's easy to cry racism about someone you've never met, simply because you read a slanted paragraph about him that Brantley wrote. But it's more difficult to realize that you are entirely wrong. May Stanley Reed rest in peace-- Arkansas is a better place for having had him in it.
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