Editorial: Chancellor’s dilemma The South Texan |
Despite the Kingsville community’s lack of awareness to provide the chancellor the information he initially came for - names of potential candidates - the open forum was not at all meaningless. |
When Michael McKinney, Chancellor for the Texas A&M University System, first walked into the Memorial Student Union Building on Tuesday, Feb. 18, he knew what was in store for him as he prepared to state his case for the search of a new president for Texas A&M University-Kingsville.
After a lengthy and heart-warming speech about the importance of the selection for a new university president, the Kingsville community reacted to the A&M System’s chancellor with questions left and right about the decrease in enrollment and overall improvement of the university.
McKinney was considerate about the voice of concerns made by the Kingsville community, despite their failure to truly address the situation at hand - selection criteria for the new TAMUK president.
While McKinney was there to receive feedback from the public regarding the characteristics for the next university president, the public was more concerned about the reasons behind the resignation of University President Rumaldo Juarez, Ph.D., the addition or remodeling of buildings, the decrease in enrollment and the name change from ‘Texas A&M University-Kingsville’ to ‘Texas A&I.’
What started out as an open forum turned into an un-needed debate between the Kingsville community and the A&M System chancellor.
Over and over, he stated that he was on the offensive side not on the defensive side and yet he continued to be caught between his initial reasons for meeting with the Kingsville community and the problems he faced as the forum continued.
Though the university and the A&M System are aware of the changes that need to be made, the situation at hand is still coming up with a list of names to be considered for evaluation for candidacy of the university president’s position. Despite the Kingsville community’s lack of awareness to provide the chancellor the information he initially came for - names of potential candidates - the open forum was not at all meaningless.
Rather than arguing about name changing, residential halls and the past, the Kingsville community should have gone into the open forum open-minded. We need a new president. Dr. Juarez has stepped down. And, the debate over the name A&I is over.