June, 2019
Lincoln -- In the previous post, I recommended to the NU Board of Regents three questions that prospective NU presidential candidates should answer. One was on Nebraska agriculture, one on research and academic integrity, and one on political process.
Soon thereafter, the Lincoln Journal Star reported on the progress of the presidential search and how it is being conducted. Clearly the search committee has different priorities from those I suggested.
Among the search committee's "seven pillars of leadership," attention to agriculture is not mentioned, nor is research, except tangentially. The word "athletics" appears twice; bureaucratic hierarchy gets full treatment; political leadership is narrowly defined as being friendly with the right state legislators; private fundraising ability is a priority, of course.
This is to be expected, I suppose, from a search committee of which there are twenty-three members, but only two are NU faculty.
Agriculture must get more attention in the search for a land-grant university president. Its tribulations are profound, and growing. The future welfare of the state depends on finding solutions.
Closely related is the integrity of research, and the extension of that research into industry, the agricultural sector, and government. An immediate challenge has been laid down in the areas of nutrition, climate, and health by the nation's secretary of agriculture, who is closing down federal research agencies in the nation's capital and moving them to the Kansas City area in hopes of finding nearby, malleable land-grant connections favorable to his political agenda.
The secretary's suppression of nutrition and climate research antithetical to his political mission is well-documented. He has already attempted to undermine the incredibly important nutrition work of a Lincoln-based scientist. He makes no secret that he expects land-grant universities in the so-called red states to do his political bidding. He states, "We will be placing important USDA resources closer to many stakeholders, most of whom live and work far from Washington, D.C. In addition, we are increasing the probability of attracting highly-qualified staff with training and interests in agriculture, many of whom come from land-grant universities."
Here's hoping NU has a president who can stand strong, with the Regents' backing, against these transparent attempts to politicize research.
Red and blue politics aside, the sad fact is that both political parties have done great damage to America's heartland by short-sighted policies. Although it is obvious that the current administration's policies are inimical and downright malevolent toward Nebraska agriculture, the Democratic Party's neglect of rural America is just as destructive, in its own way.
The NU presidential search committee needs more than a hail-fellow-well-met in a Big Red jacket, but that is what it going to get unless the standards for president are raised to the level of the challenges he or she must be prepared to meet, for the good of the state and the country.
