Chancellor search should bring in fresh leadership

Many people know me for my provocative and sometimes controversial commentary. I guess this semester I will be stepping on a couple of toes with a new column that will run periodically. No topic would be better to start other than our upcoming chancellor search.
Stephen Covey, a renowned leadership guru, once said, “An empowered organization is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill, desire and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective organizational success.”
I believe this quote to be ideal in describing the environment that a chancellor should foster. Leadership is a very precarious area in which you have the steady responsibility of ensuring wide spread forward progress.
I have spoken to a variety of individuals that have worked under the leadership of former Southern University Chancellor Emerita and System President Emerita Dr. Dolores Margaret Richard Spikes, and the wide spread perception of her was indicative of the leadership that this campus is in dire need of.
A leadership that is capable of uniting this campus, a leadership that has a positive outlook and a leadership that has a VISION.
Dr. Spikes has a regality about herself that commands the respect and admiration of her faculty and understands the importance in student involvement on the campus. She brought this school from a state of financial exigency, successfully renegotiated the Consent Decree and brought new degrees to this institution. This was LEADERSHIP at its best and this is the type leadership that we clearly are missing.
Forward progress is something that focuses on the institution as a whole, while empowering the division vice chancellors and directors to carry out policies without breathing down their necks is paramount in achieving their goal. I have seen the bureaucracy on this campus, as a former SGA official, and it seems like nothing can get approved without crossing the desk of the chancellor.
It is my personal opinion, after visiting the campus of Xavier University, that by empowering your leaders you make it possible to let their creative juices flow.
For example, how could a person with a doctorate in English tell a person with a doctorate in biology how to properly conduct a biology experiment?
This practice exists on at Southern and it stifles the academic forward progress that the only HBCU system in existence should be invigorated with.
A leader should surround themselves with people that have knowledge of their subject matter and can be trusted to make the right decisions without constant observation. Dr. Norman Francis, President Xavier, once said you must surround yourself with people that are smarter than you.
This is what we need; we need a chancellor capable of doing the job of chancellor and letting his/her subordinates run their respective divisions. This is a very pivotal part of the theory of leadership.
I recommend getting an outsider simply because it seems that the need for a objectivity is necessary. The potential on this campus is vastly unexplored and the true academic growth on this campus seems to be muted with the consistent problems of pay, financial aid, retention and overall general dissatisfaction.
The chancellor should be walking the campus and talking to students. Students barely know the names of our current administrators and this is horrible. They should not only know these people but also have confidence in their capabilities. I think that this is a pivotal missing piece of the puzzle. The least that can be done is a monthly town hall meeting to talk to the students, field their concerns and report the status of pending projects.
My biggest concern is this silent question of should a chancellor of a doctorate granting institution have a terminal degree. This is meant as no disrespect, but if you don’t have sugar at your house, how then you can give me any? I find it awkward that a person can stand at graduation and confer a doctorate yet not have one.
As a leader, you should have the credentials necessary so the question of qualification never comes to the forefront.
A doctorate solely does not make one qualified to be a chancellor, but it should be apparent that in leading an institution of higher education that it should always be one of the requirements. How do you lead from the front, yet have not reached the top in your respective discipline?
I was having a conversation with someone one day and they told me, “This is Southern University and these problems were here during my time, so don’t expect Southern to change.” I wonder what kind of predicament we as blacks would be in today if our ancestors would have thought that we would never see change during the times of affirmative action. We need someone that can change the dynamics of an institution that seems stagnated by complacency. This complacency serves as a cancer that is slowly deteriorating the very foundation of what I believe this institution was founded upon.
We need fresh leadership to cure this disease of complacency.
The Bible says the fervent availeth much, so I will pray without ceasing that we can get leadership possible of bringing this institution to another level, because we are clearly lacking.
I hope that in reading this that you realize this is nothing-personal just business.
As always the students deserve better.