Perpetual Scandal-Mongering as a Political Tool

James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | April 26, 2021 | Jay Schalin

[karpov]

Members of the media and faculty erupted into histrionics at the recent appointment of Darrell Allison to the chancellorship of Fayetteville State University. It is a great scandal, they claimed; Allison “cut in line” cried the left-wing think tank NC Policy Watch; the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and FSU faculty senate questioned not just the process, but Allison’s qualifications as well.

But, as the Martin Center’s Shannon Watkins demonstrated, the scandal is more optical than factual. Once again, supporters of a Republican appointee, by acting secretively rather than with confidence, gave activists on the other side just enough of the appearance of wrongdoing to enable the sort of “trial by media” that has become all too common in recent years.

Politics aside, the affair highlights some important higher education governance issues.

First of all, should chancellors (the top administrative position, akin to a college president) of public universities be required to have academic backgrounds? That appears to be the claim made in a letter from the AAUP to the chair of the FSU Board of Trustees (quoting the FSU faculty senate): “Mr. Allison…lacks the requisite academic experience necessary to serve as the leader of an academic institution.”

That raises the question of whether the position of college chancellor or president requires skills that can only be acquired by being an academic? In its primer on shared governance, the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB)—cited as an authority in the AAUP letter—lists the primary duties of a college president to be:

[Verginius Rufus]

NCCU is an historically black university. I don't know if Mr. Allison is historically black but I would guess so.

The university was in the news a few years ago because the woman who falsely accused the Duke lacrosse players of rape was a student there.

[TBP]

We need to learn how to play that game.

[sauropod]

.