by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
Being the president of a university is like standing in a cemetery, said Samuel Schuman, former president of two colleges.
"You're on top of everyone, but it's hard to get any of them to move," he said.
Schuman gave a talk Wednesday in the University Honors Forum called "Everything you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask about being - and choosing - a college president."
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Schuman, this year's Garrey Carruthers Chair in the University Honors Program, said college presidents should serve for at least four or five years.
"Less than that is frivolous and reckless," he said. "Three years is long enough to add a line to your rÇsumÇ but short enough that you don't have to deal with your actions."
The ideal tenure for a president is 10 to 15 years, he said.
"Speaking in the most generic terms, an institution that does not retain its president for more than a few years - unless the president is an unmitigated disaster - is doing itself a disservice," he said.
The past three UNM presidents have served between two and four years.
Former president Louis Caldera announced his resignation in January. David Harris is serving as president while the University searches for a replacement.
Schuman served as president for the University of North Carolina-Asheville beginning in 1991 and later at the University of
Minnesota-Morris.
He said UNM should not judge candidates against the quality of past presidents.
"It's always a very bad idea to pick a president based on reactions, positive or negative, to the previous president," he said. "It's easy to get sucked into this, 'If a failed president came from a business background, we need to find someone with an impeccable academic background that is unsullied by money.'"
It is not practical to come up with a long list of requirements prospective presidents must meet, he said.
"I see too many advertisements for presidents and chancellors in the back of the Chronicle of Higher Education that would require a divinity, not a mere human," he said.
He said it is important to have a good selection process.
"Doing a good job selection is empowering to the new president and can make them more effective," he said. "Vice versa, a bad selection process can be crippling."
He said he is a fan of an open process in which the public knows everything that is going on, including the names of the candidates.
"There are those who say you aren't going to get the very best candidates if everyone knows who they are, but I don't think that's true," he said. "Especially with a fine institution like this, people should be proud to be named as candidates for the presidency."
Schuman will be available for a question-and-answer session today at 5 p.m. at the UNM Faculty Club at 1923 Las Lomas
Road N.E.
