Interim (?) IHL Board president named - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Nov 19, 2004

Interim (?) IHL Board president named

Date: Nov 19, 2004

That should be Board *commissioner,* Potter's replacement.

Date: Nov 20, 2004

http://clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041120/NEWS01/411200363&SearchID=73190525927245

Date: Nov 20, 2004

An obscure little quote, probably means nothing.

Editorial excerpt from The Missoulian 6/20/2003:

"Montana's Board of Regents has taken another step in the right direction with the hiring of Sheila Stearns to serve as commissioner of higher education. Stearns, president of Wayne State College in Nebraska, is a familiar face to many Montanans. She's the former chancellor of the University of Montana-Western and a former vice president for university relations at the University of Montana.

It's not exactly fair to compare Stearns to the man she replaces, Dick Crofts, who resigned last winter, but let's just say the Stearns we know is not aloof, arrogant, secretive, confrontational or controlling, and that she will be an improvement in that office. From her we expect a more congenial, open and consultative administration of the state's university system."

Date: Nov 20, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: Montana Sky
"... It's not exactly fair to compare Stearns to the man she replaces, Dick Crofts, who resigned last winter, but let's just say the Stearns we know is not aloof, arrogant, secretive, confrontational or controlling, and that she will be an improvement in that office... "

Oh, good grief!

Date: Nov 20, 2004

One story does not a horror prove. We need more information. A google search for "Dick Crofts" and "Montana" produced over 300 hits. Here are some of them:

His own words on the Montana system:

http://www.montana.edu/wwwbor/Commissioner'sReport11-02.htm

Some news items sounding positive (listed first on google, for whatever reason):

Concern for faculty salaries:

http://www.billingsgazette.com/region/20000211_reg00.html

Encouraging quotation: "Crofts worries that if more money isn't invested in Montana higher education, the loser will be the economic well-being of the state. What attracts businesses, he said, is a strong educational system turning out a qualified workforce and performing critical research."

And also: http://www.missoulian.com/bonus/balance/bal27.html

Encouraging quotation: "Crofts said he does not believe that tuition is out of line compared to Montana’s competitor institutions, but if it continues to climb, he believes that Montana will lose students to better-funded schools. The fallout, he said, will be this: If the university system does not prosper, the state won’t either."

Concern for university community (i.e., after 9/11)

http://mtprof.msun.edu/Spr2002/Crofts.html

Concern for adequate funding:

http://www.matr.net/article-4564.html

Concern that lawmakers not merely pass the burden on to students:

http://www.kaimin.org/viewarticle.php?id=3581

But also see

Denial of same benefits coverage to same-sex couples, with his rationale:

http://www.billingsgazette.com/region/20000226_reg10.html

Increase of adjunct hires at larger universities:

http://www.matr.net/article-4486.html

And so forth. One can only google so long. Other results?