Provost

Is being a Provost a natural stepping stone to becoming a college president?  The answer is a resounding “NO”.  I say that because I want people to understand that the evolution of executive vice president and present Provost, John White, former Dean of the Boyd law school into the presidency of UNLV simply won’t work.  Let me explain.

John has all the intellectual qualifications necessary.  He is a graduate of Yale law school, the number one law school in the United States, which takes only the intellectual giants.  He’s been in academia for years as a professor in the most complicated, complex and sophisticated areas of the law.  There can be no question that he is intellectually capable of understanding all of higher education’s problems and solutions.  But John has one fatal flaw.  He is not aggressive, not a good communicator, does not handle himself socially very well and, from what I understand, he has done an absolutely horrible job in engaging the monied people of Southern Nevada to support The Boyd School of Law.

Business development, that is partnerships with the local business community, fundraising capabilities, high profile conduct are essential to the presidency of any university, especially UNLV which is desperately in need of money.

I’m discussing John White at this point in my Tweets because I hear rumblings that the road map has already been developed for Don Snyder to make ready the ascendency of White into the Presidency of UNLV.

I am a little tired of the “fix” being put in place in everything we do.  I’d like to see a legitimate horserace with the fastest and best horse winning.