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College presidents are more preoccupied with financial issues than educational ones, according to a new survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education.</p>
<p>The presidents said they believed they were judged slightly more on whether they had a balanced budget than for the quality of educational programs. Five of the six top concerns they cited related to money: rising health care costs, rising tuition, financial aid, technology costs and inadequate faculty salaries. The sixth was retaining students.</p>
<p>"While the job of college president is often still filled by former provosts, their top priority these days is more akin to that of a chief financial officer," The Chronicle says in its Nov. 4 issue, available this week.</p>
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<p>Discussing daily activities, more than half of the presidents, 53 percent, said they spent part of every day on fund-raising. The next most frequently mentioned daily activity was budget and finance matters (44 percent). Only 41 percent said they dealt with educational leadership on a daily basis. Even fewer presidents, 28 percent, - said they attended to student life matters every day.</p>
<p>A similar tilt toward business was reflected in the people with whom the presidents met. Almost half, 49 percent, said they met daily with their chief financial officer, only slightly less than the 53 percent who said they met daily with their provost, the person usually regarded as the top academic officer. And 43 percent said they met daily with their chief fund-raiser. Only 18 percent said they talked to their head of student affairs every day.
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<p>I remember student and faculty complaints about the president of the small LAC I attended decades ago. He was a very invisible character on campus--we rarely saw him, except at ceremonial events like opening convocation and graduation. As far as we could tell, he spent all his time on fundraising. </p>
<p>Other college presidents at nearby colleges seemed much more involved in their campus's daily life--some presidents even took time to teach an occasional course themselves, ate occasional meals in a student dining hall, held office hours once a month at which students could bring concerns, attended occasional performances of student music and theater groups, participated alongside students in community-service projects, and generally seemed to keep a finger on the pulse of the communities they served.</p>
<p>At a large research university where I later taught, I remember being struck by the much greater visibility of the university president. I remember seeing him walking around campus on his way from one meeting to another. He walked alone--no entourage--and greeted students, faculty, and staff that he encountered on his way. I even recall seeing him bend down to pick up a piece of litter marring an otherwise tidy campus--and thought about the implicit symbolism of his simple act, the example he was setting for the community. (This was back during the heyday of MBWA--"management by walking around"--LOL. I understand that the current president of this same university arrives at campus meetings in a chauffeured SUV--and is generally surrounded by an "entourage," which discourages casual encounters from random students or faculty.) </p>
<p>University presidents are paid a great deal of money these days--I would guess their total compensation is a much greater multiple of typical senior faculty compensation than in the old days. Perhaps this goes hand-in-hand with the way they feel it necessary to spend most of their time--on finance and budgetary issues rather than on educational leadership. </p>
<p>Should the priorities of the institution come primarily from what external donors want to fund, or should the president take the time to stay in touch with what his institution needs and then proactively seek donors willing to fund those initiatives?</p>
<p>Obviously, finances are a critical concern of college presidents, but it is important for them to strike a balance. I wonder if the current balance is the right one.</p>