NC (Irksome Bowels) *Ping*
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Posted on 04/22/2005 6:11:29 AM PDT by southernnorthcarolina
On the day the University of North Carolina officially began its search for a new president, former U.S. Senate candidate Erskine Bowles said he wants the job of leading the 16-campus system.
Bowles, a Charlottean whose resume includes the White House, Wall Street and now the United Nations, called the UNC system presidency "the one job in the world I would really like to have."
"It presents an opportunity to have as significant an impact on shaping the future of North Carolina in a positive way as anything I can think of," Bowles told the Observer. "If you have an interest in public service, it would be an enormous challenge and honor to lead this valued enterprise."
UNC system President Molly Broad announced earlier this month that she'll retire by the end of the next school year. She has led the system since 1997 and makes $312,504 a year.
The university's board of governors, meeting Thursday in Boone, approved a process for finding the system's fourth president since 1972. The process will include a series of public forums across the state, beginning May 4 at UNC Charlotte.
The board approved a 13-member search committee and agreed to make public the names of the final candidates.
"This will be a very open, public process," said board chairman Brad Wilson of Durham. "And we are going to err on the side of conveying more information rather than less."
Wilson and other members of the board declined to comment on Bowles' candidacy. Wilson has said the board could choose finalists by fall. But Thursday he declined to set a deadline.
"We're going to move forward deliberately and expeditiously, not driven by any artificial deadline," he said.
Bowles is the first candidate whose name has become public.
A 1967 graduate of UNC Chapel Hill, he's a former investment banker who served as President Clinton's chief of staff. He was twice a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, losing in 2002 to Republican Elizabeth Dole and last year to Republican Richard Burr.
Now he's serving Clinton again as deputy special U.N. envoy to the region of Southeast Asia devastated by December's tsunami. His six-month appointment ends in August.
Despite his partisan credentials, Bowles' candidacy already has received a boost from an unlikely source -- the state's Republican senators.
"Mr. Bowles has the stature and business acumen to properly manage the complex financial requirements of this important institution to assure academic excellence," Sen. Robert Pittenger of Charlotte wrote Gov. Mike Easley and other leaders on March 31. The state's 21 Republican senators signed the letter.
Bowles doesn't come from a traditional academic background. But his experience in some ways mirrors that of at least two previous university leaders.
Broad's predecessor, Charlotte businessman C.D. "Dick" Spangler, brought to the job a background in business and experience on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board, as well as the state board of education.
"On anything like this, you look at the person and determine the person's love for the state, love for what happens in the state, in this case education," he said Thursday. "I never felt for myself it was a handicap."
Like Bowles, Gordon Gray, UNC president from 1950 to 1955, had government experience. He was secretary of the Army and later served as President Eisenhower's national security adviser. After World War II, General Eisenhower himself served as president of Columbia University before being elected president in 1952.
"It depends upon the ability of the individual to immerse himself or herself in the traditions of the institution," said Bill Friday, UNC system president from 1972 to 1986. "You can't do it by issuing orders. That was one of the frustrations of President Eisenhower at Columbia. An institution like the University of North Carolina is filled with independent spirits, and they're going to remain independent."
Neither Friday nor Spangler would comment specifically on Bowles' candidacy. But former Charlottean D.G. Martin, a former UNC system vice president, said Bowles "would be very much in that tradition (of Friday and Spangler), both of solving problems in a businesslike fashion and reaching out to identify new problems and challenges."
Two members of the board of governors declined to comment on the search, or what effect Bowles' interest might have on other potential candidates. Privately, they said the system should attract as many top-quality candidates as possible.
"It's real important that all prospects be recruited and examined so the board can declare that they did the very best job and didn't go to someone who seemed like the most obvious candidate early on," Martin said.
"It would be a great disservice to any president for that person to be looked at as the anointed candidate of a few."
Bowles Traveling as U.N. Envoy
Erskine Bowles is nearly three months into a six-month stint as the U.N. deputy special envoy for tsunami relief.
He has traveled to Southeast Asia to survey damage and relief efforts and met with leaders of other U.N. agencies and nongovernmental groups in Geneva. His job: to help get the international response "organized, structured and focused."
Next month he's scheduled to travel for five days with former President Clinton to India, Sri Lanka and Maldives. Says Bowles: "It is the most heart-wrenching, totally consuming but personally rewarding work I've ever done in my life. ... I've had some unexpected free time this year. And this is an opportunity, as my dad said, to add to the (community) woodpile. And this is a pretty big woodpile."
And now this. Erskine Bowles was Bill Clinton's most intimite advisor (other than Monica) -- he was White House Chief of Staff. The good people of North Carolina had enough sense to soundly defeat him in two bids for the U.S. Senate, but it seems we can't get rid of him. Bowles' second Senate race was a real beauty; he all but claimed, late in the campaign, that his opponent, then-Congressman Richard Burr -- was against all breast cancer research. Despite that smear -- or perhaps because of it -- Burr was elected by a 52-47 margin, despite Bowles' wife's fortune, plus massive infusions from the DNC, Hollywood, and Bowles' northeastern and DC connections. Two sound Senate defeats -- I thought we'd seen the last of him. What will it take?
Unlike Edwards' cozy setup, the job Bowles now openly covets, though based in Chapel Hill, is the presidency of the entire UNC system. So the Chancellors of UNC, N.C. State, East Carolina, UNC-Charlotte, Appalachian State, and others would report to him. It would particularly be interesting to see the reaction on the several "historically black" campuses, given that Bowles, prior to becoming a clinton toady, was a member of quite an impressive string of white-only country clubs up and down the east coast. But I'm sure that will be explained away.
If they don't actually hold a vote, he might have a chance. :-D
Too bad DDT has been banned.
Con, if you deem this to meet the standards of the N.C. Ping List, fire away.
I was actually going to post this myself, but you've saved me the time!
I'll hit the list in a sec. Thanks.
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Erskine Bowles says he wants to lead UNC system
"Mr. Bowles has the stature and business acumen to properly manage the complex financial requirements of this important institution to assure academic excellence," Sen. Robert Pittenger of Charlotte wrote Gov. Mike Easley and other leaders on March 31. The state's 21 Republican senators signed the letter. Despite his partisan credentials, Bowles' candidacy already has received a boost from an unlikely source -- the state's Republican senators.
I find myself at a loss to explain why they support him. Ideas?
Pittinger's statement was one reason why I believe this is a done deal. It's called getting out in front of the parade.
I suppose you're right.
If he gets the job, he won't be running against Dole in the next Senate race, either.
Donna Shalala got the same job at the University of Miami, and Summers was doing his thing in Harvard until recently.
I wonder how many other Clinton goons are running our universities.
Oh no! Bowels is liable to lead UNC to the extreme left. (Do I really need to denote sarcasm, here?)
Poor chap, he still hasn't found a job?
:-)
Personally, I think UNC and Irksome deserve each other.
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