Although it is not really funny, in the traditional sense, I am amused that the President of the U of I is getting blasted from some corners, entirely about athletics related issues. Like it or not, athletics is only a minor screen on his radar. Our President was the most controversial hire in the history of the University of Iowa. He was hand picked by the Board of Regents, and was selected under a cloud of secrecy, from a field of prominent, effective university administrators with significant, well documented success. President Herrald was hired as a business oriented executive, with no experience in education, let alone college athletics, in the face of great criticism based on the foolishness of hiring yet another "business man" to run the organization according to private sector management theories.. Those types of decisions have been ineffective in a variety of other hires in the field of education. What has been discovered is that administrating a public university vs running a private business is a completely different animal.
Now, when it comes to the area of personnel management, which is reputable in the public sector of being much more performance oriented in terms of evaluations and resultant promotion or termination, the President's strength in the personnel area is under great fire, at least on this internet forum.
Here is another theory about his evaluation of Gary Barta, with regard to the sexism issues involving an Iowa coach. Maybe the President determined that the court decided incorrectly in the case that was ultimately lost by the University. Maybe from a business perspective, the President was right. How much criticism of court opinions has been made public in the last few years? Maybe the President was standing up to the court and saying, "We will not bend to your liberal bias, and even if we lost, we will stand firm." Would that not be a predictable response within the private sector business world?
Just to be clear, I was shocked by the lack of wisdom, the bias, shown by the Board of Regents when they hired President Herrald. The secrecy around the hire was inexcusable. But now, when that same President stands in support of members of his administration, with the obvious support of the Board of Regents, consistent with the private sector model, everybody is surprised and horrified. Not me.
My post is not about the performance of Gary Barta; it is not about attacking the decisions made by the President; it is not about attacking the decisions made by the Board of Regents. I just find the irony to be overwhelming, and, ultimately, rather funny. Carry on.
