Written by Pranav Satyal
\nThe hunt for a new college president is almost over. On May 30th, the new president of Concordia will be announced. Students should be able to insist on traits their leader should have. Prior to making their decision, the Board of Regents must know which traits and characteristics the next president should have. To run a diverse student body, the president must have a clear mission and vision, but it is also critical that he or she have business experiences in how to operate an organization efficiently, generate strategic plans, hire and guide administrators, raise money and awareness, and recruit educators who promote critical thinking. Of course, the primary mission of an academic institution, the reason for its existence, is to promote critical thinking, educate individuals and groom students to become leaders of tomorrow.<\/p>\n
A college president must be in harmony with students and faculty because our campus includes diverse individuals from all over the United States, from various countries, and from diverse religious denominations. The president must be comfortable facing our diverse student body and faculty. The president must be empathetic and sympathetic about issues, especially towards the ones that he or she may personally disapprove. A gospel centered approach demands a loving approach to all.\u00a0 A president should not express hostility towards and negatively target any group of people.<\/p>\n
The president must understand that a university is a place where marginalized opinions and voices have a forum. After all, a true education is one where students are exposed to a wide range of ideas to develop an understanding of the principles that back their beliefs. A president should encourage and empower students to voice their opinions and create a dialogue. A president should help students to reach their highest potential academically and personally. If the new president discourages free flow of information, but prefers to shield students from ideas that circulate in the world, does student education get replaced by indoctrination?<\/p>\n
I personally believe the ideal college president must be a progressive thinker who promotes social justice, by encouraging the exploration of social conditions that create inequality.\u00a0 I believe the president should promote good Christian stewardship that would help end\u00a0 the social problems of poverty, homelessness and illiteracy, along with gender bias, racial discrimination and ignorance.<\/p>\n
One quality that seems crucial is a president who has substantial experience working in the academic world. It may be very difficult for a person to lead Concordia successfully if he or she does not understand how a higher academic institution works. This is vital because a new president must understand that a university has to be a safe place for the free flow of ideas. A president should encourage dialogue about intellectual, moral and theological disagreements. I do not want my school to be a place where the president fears that information can corrupt people. No topic should be too taboo to talk about.<\/p>\n
I’m concerned that if the new president doesn’t support academic freedom, then many students may leave Concordia.\u00a0 If this becomes the case, I will miss the diversity of opinions on campus.\u00a0 It would also be a concern from a financial point of view.\u00a0 I hope the Board of Regents actively seeks a president who will help maintain enrollment.\u00a0 If we loose large quantity of students, Concordia’s doors may have to close due to a lack of sufficient funds.<\/p>\n
What do you believe? Please express your opinions about the new president by writing Rev. Dan Gilbert, Chair of CUC Board of Regents, and let him know what traits you want your leader to have. Send your letter to Gerry.Schalk@cuchicago.edu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Written by Pranav Satyal The hunt for a new college president is almost over. On May 30th, the new president of Concordia will be announced. Students should be able to insist on traits their leader should have. Prior to making their decision, the Board of Regents must know which traits and characteristics the next president […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":1247,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spectator.cuchicago.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}