Monday, 15 July 2013

North Dakota University System Doesn?t Seem Intent On Healing

?There?s a lot of healing that has to occur, and it has to occur now,? interim Chancellor (and Bismarck State College President) Larry Skogen said after replacing former Chancellor Hamid Shirvani. The newest member of the State Board of Higher Education, student representative Devin Hoffarth, echoed that sentiment saying the board needs to ?make peace.?

But peace doesn?t seem to be in the offing. Since Shirvani left there?s been a concerted effort to clean out many of his hires (ironically something Shirvani was accused of during his tenure), including those who alerted to the legislature to NDSU possibly avoiding an open records request by deleting tens of thousands of emails from President Dean Bresciani?s inbox.

Governor Jack Dalrymple put a halt to those shenanigans, something his office won?t explicitly confirm but which other sources in the capitol say is true, but now the university system is thumbing their noses at the legislature again.

Former University of North Dakota Chief Information Officer Josh Riedy stood accused of working to undermine Chancellor Shirvani during his time as chancellor. A legislative committee, chaired by Rep. Bob Skarphol, presented no small amount of compelling evidence for Riedy?s involvement, and shortly after that evidence was presented in a hearing (audio here) Riedy resigned and announced he?d taken a job out of state.

But now Riedy is back, and not only back, but occupying what seems to be a brand new position created just for him at UND called ?chief strategic officer.?

The title is fitting, given Riedy?s foray into political gamesmanship previously:

Josh Riedy will return to the university in a new role, UND said Friday. His new title will be vice provost and chief strategy officer.

His appointment comes after an April announcement that he would be leaving his post as associate chief information officer for the North Dakota University System to become vice chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He was scheduled to start that job Aug. 1, until the new UND position came up.

?It?s a great opportunity with new leadership,? Riedy said of his new position at UND. ?(Provost Thomas DiLorenzo) has an infectious personality, and he is very data-oriented. I?m very excited as being able to come in to the provost?s office and help him there, along with other administrative areas.?

Unless you?re a newspaper editor, or a university system employee, trust in North Dakota?s University System is quickly approaching zero. Given the open records/meeting fiascoes of the last several months the ?system? (or loose confederation of academic city-states, which is how the universities seem to see themselves) hasn?t earned an ounce of trust from taxpayers, students or elected leaders.

Bringing back someone like Riedy shows they care very little about gaining that trust.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SayAnything/~3/w-oneVcuXZo/

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