There's no doubt about it. A new chancellor for the University of Arkansas' Fayetteville campus must relate to all sorts of people.
Whoever gets the job will have to deal with the faculty and staff, an ever-growing student body and a somewhat fractured public from which to recruit future students and taxpayer support, not to mention thousands upon thousands of Razorback fans and an increasingly conservative state Legislature.
UA System President Donald Bobbitt seems to understand just how critical a communications skill set could be. It is at the top of his list of characteristics for the man or woman who will replace retiring Chancellor G. David Gearhart.
Bobbitt said as much last week when he talked to the faculty about the pending search, which will apparently take a while.
Gearhart announced in January he will retire in July. As the national search for his replacement goes on, Bobbitt expects to name an interim chancellor, who won't be a candidate for the permanent position.
Answering faculty questions about what the right candidate for the Fayetteville job must have, Bobbitt cited "strong communication skills and being able to relate to a very, very diverse constituency." He also mentioned transparency and integrity as key attributes for the new chancellor, but expounded a bit more on this business of relating to diverse constituencies.
Among the most critical of them are the state's lawmakers, all of whom vote on state appropriations for this campus and for all of higher education.
As Bobbitt pointed out, the Legislature includes representatives who come from rural parts of the state who may have different outlooks than business people in Northwest Arkansas.
What he didn't say -- but didn't have to -- is that even within the confines of Northwest Arkansas, there are diverse constituencies. There are representatives for all of them. And not all are particularly helpful to the UA.
An easy example is a suggestion last week by state Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, to cut the state's higher education budget.
Mind you, the funding level recommended by Gov. Asa Hutchinson and built into the bigger statewide budget includes no new money for the state's colleges and universities.
But Hester wants to give them less. He favors using the money to give additional tax cuts or to provide more money to pre-kindergarten education.
There is at least an arguable relationship between choosing to educate young children or to put money toward higher education. Better early education might facilitate the latter. But reducing higher ed funding for any reason is tough to accept, unless you're Hester or other similarly minded lawmakers.
Chock his point of view up to having different priorities than others, including some if not most lawmakers from Northwest Arkansas, who would look somewhere other than cutting higher education to fund pre-K or anything else they might prioritize.
Where they'll find any loose money, given the level of tax-cutting that has gone on already this session, is anyone's guess. But at least some lawmakers representing this region wouldn't even think about undercutting higher education.
There was a time when lawmakers elected from Benton County and other Northwest Arkansas counties worked shoulder to shoulder to get and preserve funding for the UA and, more recently, for Northwest Arkansas Community College.
Such support was a given. The accepted argument was that what was good for the colleges was good for the region.
Lawmakers long recognized the UA in Fayetteville not only as the state's largest educational institution but also a huge employer and significant piece of the regional economy. NWACC has over time also become an increasingly important part of the local educational and economic package.
Leaders at both institutions have a responsibility not just to administer their campuses but also to help lawmakers understand the institutions' missions and their needs -- and how these budget decisions in Little Rock impact everyone in this corner and in the state at large.
That's definitely part of the challenge for a new UA chancellor, who must also deal with the rabid Razorback fans and all the different personalities within academe. And it is reason enough for Bobbitt to have those myriad constituencies in mind as he talked last week of searching for a new chancellor.
Citing Chancellor Gearhart's passion for the university, Bobbitt said Gearhart will be difficult to replace. And he will be.
Gearhart had his problems but he managed the job well, finding ways to bridge the constituencies that Bobbitt mentioned. But he had an edge new candidates most likely won't have.
Gearhart is a Fayetteville boy who grew into the job, having returned home after spending part of his career elsewhere. He came with an innate understanding of what makes the people of Arkansas tick, something that will be hard to find in any replacement.
Brenda Blagg is a freelance columnist and longtime journalist in Northwest Arkansas. Email her at [email protected].
Commentary on 03/22/2015