MATTERS AT HAND: New chancellor scores with plan for N.D. colleges
August 18, 2012 at 6:05 pm in Grand Forks Herald
It’s an exaggeration to say that Hamid Shirvani has taken North Dakota by storm but not by much. He certainly made a powerful impression. Continue Reading
Mr. Jacobs,
You wrote:
All of this points to a concentration of power in the chancellor and his staff.
Ordinarily, North Dakotans might shy away from that — but given the recent history of the higher education system, there’s a desire for strong leadership and accountability. That’s what Shirvani has promised.
I certainly agree that leadership is critical, but that does not necessarily equate to increasing the ‘power’ of one position in one office. And, increased ‘power’ in one office won’t necessarily prevent some of the campus issues that got our attention these past few years.
It seems Shirvani has charmed you and others. Certain strong personalities can do that. I would have liked the Herald to ask Shirvani about his past challenges as a leader. Then tell us his response. It seems he’s certainly had challenges, at least according to an article from the Turlock Journal (CA newspaper), posted 11.20.09. The article, titled “Faculty has ‘no confidence’ in CSU Stanislaus president,” states:
General Faculty of California State University, Stanislaus voted overwhelmingly Friday to express no confidence in the performance and leadership of CSU Stanislaus President Hamid Shirvani.
The weeklong balloting process drew responses from 264 eligible faculty members, approximately 90 percent of the 300 total ballots that were distributed. A total of 240 votes, or 91 percent of those received, expressed no confidence in Shirvani.
The article also states:
“The ballot, they said, was made inevitable by Shirvani’s abandonment of the shared governance process, the deteriorating working relationship between Shirvani and faculty, and Shirvani’s seeming lack of understanding of the mission of the CSU system.”
The article does nothing more than raise one primary question for me: Did those hiring Shirvani for the Chancellor position have the real wherewithal (skills, understanding, insights, etc.) to determine that Shirvani’s leadership is, in fact, what is needed for making the kinds of changes that are truly in the best interests of the ND higher ed system. Were they in consensus about the changes needed, much less how to make them happen? Or, are they hoping this strong personality will take care of it all and are only too glad to ‘give’ him the ‘power’ to do it.
Were there ND news articles regarding Shirvani’s past challenges with his leadership? If there were, I did not see them – but I could have missed them. If there weren’t, why not?
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“Were there ND news articles regarding Shirvani’s past challenges with his leadership? If there were, I did not see them – but I could have missed them. If there weren’t, why not?”
Of course not. That would have required research on the part of Herald reporters, and they just don’t do that. With a couple exceptions, their modus operandi is to take down a bunch of quotes, never check them for accuracy, and throw in a few lines to connect them together.
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I do not remember all the articles from the time of the Chancellor search and hire but I do remember reading about the faculty issue and also the fact Dr. Shirvani was voted President of the Year by the students at all of the California State University campuses.
I had an opportunity to ask a Board member who was on the search about the faculty issue and was told it had been checked into by the faculty member that serves with the board and the incident was not an issue over which Dr. Shirvani had control.
I ask the previous commenter what has the new Chancellor done to warrant the reaction to this article or is it simply a matter of control. I for one believe it is time to give the SBHE and Chancellor room to try and correct issues across all institutions. If it does not work then the legislators and people can make constitutional changes.
For now let’s give those in charge of higher education a year to see how things progress without overreacting less than two months into Dr. Shirvani’s term.
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It’s pretty significant that our new Chancellor has a history of difficulty with the people he served in the past. And he did ‘serve’ them, it wasn’t the other way around. And never should be.
If anyone does research, it wasn’t just at his post in CA where he’s experienced difficulties. Now, I agree, that shouldn’t automatically make him or his actions suspect, but if asking questions about such is ‘overreacting’ then I’m sure you can find many ND folk who won’t think or react at all. And, personally, just because you asked a member of the search committee about the faculty “issue” and got an excuse for a response – that doesn’t make me feel better. In fact, it’s troublesome. Oh…there I go, ‘overreacting’ again.
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Prairie is basically wrong. Shirvani is a great leader that does the right thing even if costs him personally. Shirvani has a great sense of responsibility regarding whatever task he takes on.
The vote of no confidence that he endured was based on an overview decision (30 years) regarding elimination of a winter term. Essentially, he asked the faculty to teach their full contractual agreement of 15 weeks per semester versus 13 weeks per semester that the faculty had been doing for a long time. That means asking the faculty who teaches 26 weeks per semester to teach 30 weeks per semester – 4 more weeks per year. Naturally, the majority of faculty was not happy. This decision was beneficial to the students. Incidentally, this was the decision that was mandated by the chancellor of the CSU system. It seems that Prairie was misinformed.
Speaking of Shirvani’s leadership, it is timely to point out that he has been recognized as “The President of The Year” by the entire 23 campuses and 430,000 student body of the CSU system. In addition, readers are encouraged to read the following article
http://www.cvbizjournal.com/general/local-news/extended-version-strong-central-valley-educational-leader-moves-up.html#.T3hoj-Usgbd.email
This article is a great testament by the community leaders regarding Shirvani’s leadership.
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Good. I see active links are allowed. Here’s one:
http://www.calfac.org/news-release/faculty-reject-csu-stanislaus-presidents-statement
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And another one that is, perhaps, the most ‘balanced’ of any posted here – yet:
http://www.modbee.com/2012/03/18/2117650/shirvanis-successor-will-have.html
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John wrote:
Speaking of Shirvani’s leadership, it is timely to point out that he has been recognized as “The President of The Year” by the entire 23 campuses and 430,000 student body of the CSU system.
John, your statement above, is it intended to make the award sound more bigger and better than it actually was. Fact is the California Student Association (not the “entire 23 campuses and 430,000 body of the CSU system”) named him “President of the Year” at an awards event:
If you read this article, http://www.csustan.edu/digest/archive/June2007/main_articles/story_3.html , you will see this statement:
The CSSA subcommittee on University Affairs recommended President Shirvani to the full CSSA Board after reviewing nominations from 9 of the 23 CSU campuses system-wide.
That gives a bit different perspective than your grandiose statement, don’t you think? Now, let me ask you, WHERE do you get your [mis] information?
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Since Prarie is so upset by the proposals perhaps he should call Dr. Shirvani’s office and request a meeting with him n Bismarck or the next time he is in Grand Forks.
Then he can post the outcome of the meeting.
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What, we can’t meet at your home, Mayville?
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Shirvani has been critized in the past but I feel his proposals for the ND university system are overdue. He should be taken seriously but with caution. Any state that allows what happened in Dickinson to be ignored needs a serious shake-up. A state with a reputation for poor over sight is not one to be proud of.
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THANK YOU!
The Dickinson Debacle has resulted in exactly one apology from one person. Obviously not nearly enough house-cleaning has happened. The various people and positions charged with overseeing the “system” have FAILED MISERABLY. Probably time to house-clean THOSE agencies as well…
Perhaps Ham will get around to doing just that. I’m hopeful. So far…so good.
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The fact that Shirvani makes people angry does not disturb me. He was hired to bring radical change to an organization that has been mired in far too much controversy. By definition these changes will not take place unless the prevailing power structure is displaced.
By definition the prevailing power structure will not support these changes. They will not sit idly by while their power & influence are eroded. One need look no further than the reaction of the religious right to the election of the Big O. The old guard are still arguing he is an Indonesian Muslim.
Yes he makes people angry. If I am reading things correctly that is why we hired him.
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I would be more concerned if he took no action to the issues of this past year. The last thing I want is for the NDUS system to be put under the control of people like Al Carlson. If anything that would be an even larger detriment to the school system.
Our current legislature fails so much at leading our state that we have a RECORD number of voter referrals on the ballot for this coming November. In fact I don’t remember a year when we have had this many voter refereed issues between the last election and the next. Why are these happening? Simply put because they cannot take the bull by the horns and deal with issues in any significant fashion.
They do however have time to consider whether or not people should stay married instead of divorced, and create a whole study about if they should pass a law on something so stupid.
I think Shirvani should be given a chance to show us what he is either capable or incapable of handling. So far I agree with this proposal. I didn’t agree with his request for doubling his agency, and honestly think that even though we are flush with money, a few agencies need to learn to do more with less. His being one.
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No doubt a showdown is looming. UND and NDSU have been in a race to grow enrollment at any cost, as a means of generating revenue. Shirvani wants them to be the elite, highly competitive admission schools, which will drop enrollment. Unless the old way is changed, whereby presidents do end runs to the SBHE and legislators, something’s gotta give.
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Tougher enterence qualifications = less students qualify = more $$ per student to attend. I doubt school faculty will accept lesser wages to prepare fewer students for their futures. It’s a good idea to try and get students more serious about college to attend in North Dakota, but it will backfire. Grand Forks and Fargo kids make up a large percent of these schools enrollment numbers. This will not work.
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” Grand Forks and Fargo kids make up a large percent of these schools enrollment numbers. This will not work.”
I’d like to see your stats for that. Actually, a whole mess of HS grads leave the state to go to college. And a whole mess come here from elsewhere. Over 50% of the latter are enrolled at UND.
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I don’t have stats. I graduated from HS is Grand Forks in a class of about 380 students. I’d say roughly 100 of us enrolled at UND because it was convenient and “home”. Making it more difficult to enter is going to turn many of those kids away from college all together. We’ll see what happens. College grads will just start out there professional careers a little deeper in debt.
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