GRAND FORKS - While meetings are being held across the state to see what people want to see in the next North Dakota State University System chancellor, two presidents of the two largest campuses weighed in on Friday here.
University of North Dakota President Robert Kelley and North Dakota State University President Dean Bresciani cautioned a task force looking in the role of the State Board of Higher Education that university presidents need the autonomy to make decisions on their own campuses while working with the chancellor. The task force, however, didn’t approve any motion.
Interim Chancellor Larry Skogen said the current chain of command, approved by the task force in 2006, has university presidents answering to the chancellor, who is on the same tier as the North Dakota University System office. The chancellor and system office then answer to the SBHE.
"My singular concern here is that we not adopt an organizational plan that will prohibit a president from a campus from taking an option to the board directly," Kelley said. "We've been through the experience where the chancellor was not only a filter, but a veto, a block."
The task force also discussed meetings the SBHE has been hosting at college campuses across the state to find out what stakeholders want the role of the system's next chancellor to be, as Skogen's term is up this coming summer.
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"I'm impressed with the engagement of the community and the campuses," task force Chairwoman Kirsten Diederich said. "Good questions and good suggestions all around."
