< Back | Home
Editorial:
The Daily's presidential pick
By:
Posted: 5/12/08
San Jose State is getting a new president. And although members of the editorial board don't have a say in the decision process, we wanted to make our voices heard.
There are both concerns and praises for each presidential candidate. After reviewing the media interviews and going over the background of all three candidates, we realized the decision was harder than we had previously thought.
All three candidates have very impressive resumes, are exceptional speakers and would probably be good fits at SJSU. Here are some of the things that we liked about each candidate.
Elizabeth Grobsmith, the current provost of Northern Arizona University, seemed humble, but not shy, and well-equipped to handle SJSU's budgetary problems. A self-assured speaker, she seemed to place importance on students and academics, as she was quick to focus on the lack of academic advising that plagues the campus.
Jon Whitmore, the current president of Texas Tech University, comes from a university of about the same size as SJSU. He seemed confident that he can do the job, and he has been a university president for five years. His background is strong in fundraising and academics. He also would bring a different perspective to the university, and he seems calm and laid back.
Eduardo Ochoa, the current provost of Sonoma State, is comfortable with the CSU system. He was secure in his speaking, modest and familiar with SJSU and the community. He also has a background in business and talked about specific issues regarding SJSU, topping the other two candidates' more general responses.
What SJSU needs in a president is someone crafty, someone who can stretch what resources we have to cover and then stretch them some more. Or we need someone who can go out and get money for the university and establish relationships with alumni and the community that will bring fundraising to the campus.
The president needs to have strong relationships within the campus as well. A president needs to be accessible to students, not just student media (though we, of course, want that), and be able to build relationships with students and student organizations. This also means working on improving student advising. Students are tired of thinking they had taken care of their classes, only to be told subterranean crocheting was mandatory and that they wouldn't get their degree until it was completed.
The candidate that we feel best fits with what SJSU needs in its next president is Jon Whitmore. He comes from a larger university (almost 30,000 students) than the other two candidates, has a huge amount of experience, values athletics, has experience in building stronger academic aptitude into athletic programs, wants to make the study abroad program more accessible to lower-income students and has raised more than $1 billion dollars for Texas Tech. And he has no plan to overturn the blood drive suspension.
He also seems ready for the job. He seems confident that he can do the job, that the execution of presidential duties would not even be a question for him.
We realize that Whitmore is not perfect. As of December, one month before Whitmore's contract ended, Texas Tech was put on accreditation probation for not satisfying one out of 87 criteria, he's leaving that university after five years and at 63 years old, we have to hope that he wants to push back the traditional retirement age of 65.
Whomever we get as president next year, we are sure that he or she will do a good job, which we will be happy to tell the campus about. Of course, if the president does something wrong, we'll tell the campus about that too.
© Copyright 2009 Spartan Daily