NMSU taps presidental search firm for $90,000

New Mexico State University will pay a search firm $90,000 to assist in finding the university's next president.

[studentsfirst]

Where does this money come from?

[Elsie YesSir]

Well, the Trustees have shown that they are not capable of finding presidents, and they need to recall that it was a faculty search committee that found the only recent president who was by any measure a great president. The ones since then have all been unsuccessful. And we turned down a dean who wanted to be president and who is now president of Montana State University. Our loss!! I wish our Board had one iota of common sense. In these comments, I know whereof I speak.

[Elsie YesSir]

studentsfirst wrote:

Where does this money come from?

Answer: Your pocket boook.

[Elsie YesSir]

OOps, one too many letters o. You can take that to be a zero, which is a measure of the common sense that the NMSU Board has.

[APPAUSEPLEASE]

The regents are just trying to provide cover so
when the next bust of a golden parchute dragger
happens they can point fingers at the firm that
did their work.

Another $90K down the tubes courtesy of the
taxpayer.

[Elsie YesSir]

studentsfirst wrote:

Where does this money come from?

Well, if you pay taxes, it comes from your pocket. Everyone seems to know this, except for the Board of Regents. And I am bored of many of the actions of those Regents. The Governor should replace them all.

[Las Cruces retiree]

Elsie YesSir wrote:

<quoted text>
Well, if you pay taxes, it comes from your pocket. Everyone seems to know this, except for the Board of Regents. And I am bored of many of the actions of those Regents. The Governor should replace them all.

Elsie,
I understand your position. Generally I agree with you all the time. Here are some details of an actual search committee that you might find interesting.

Lets say we have a search committee of fifteen people and seventy applicants. The job of the committee is to first narrow the pool down from seventy to around ten. Each of the seventy applicants submits a vita. The seventy packets are centrally located in a couple of boxes. A sign-out sheet is prepared. When a committee member takes a vita, he/she initials that they have the packet. When the packet is returned, the committee member again initals to indicate that he/she has returned the packet.

The committee meets. Conceptually, all fifteen members have examined all seventy packets. A glance at the sign-out sheet indicates that committee member X has only looked at 1/3 of the packets. At the meeting, committee member X loudly berates applicant Y. The sign-out sheet indicates that committee member X has not even looked at applicant's Y's file. My gut tells me that committee member X is a loud-mouthed windbag. Should I keep my mouth shut or challenge the windbag, who happens to work in my college? In this case, I kept my mouth shut. My decision followed the path of least resistance and promoted within-the-college harmony. However, it was probably not the best call for the university as a whole. A case can be made in favor of an independent outside search firm.

[Elsie YesSir]

studentsfirst wrote:

Where does this money come from?

Your pocket book, of course. How can anyone not know this?

[Elsie YesSir]

I apologize for my repetitions, but I am hoping that some Regent will take notice. But then, why should I presume that the Regents can read?