LSU’s main campus hired its first chancellor in 1965, and more than 40 years and seven chancellors later, the University will see former New Mexico State University President Michael Martin take over. “It’s a great honor,” Martin said about his new job. “It’s going to be a great challenge.” Martin stepped into LSU’s view during the Chancellor Search Committee’s third meeting in mid-May. The Committee was very confident in it’s choice after Martin’s two-day visit to Baton Rouge. One week later, LSU System President John Lombardi and the LSU Board of Supervisors officially picked Martin to serve as the University’s eighth chancellor. Lombardi said the Committee did a “terrific job” finding Martin and convincing him to become an official candidate during the search. “He’s going to be a terrific success,” Lombardi said. “He has great experience … He has a sense of what first-rate quality is about.” Acting Chancellor William Jenkins said he was “favorably impressed” with Martin. “Jack [Hamilton] and the Search Committee really made me feel as though whatever the technical terms of the contract are, I could fit into a place and be comfortable not only being a colleague and a chancellor, but also as a friend,” Martin said. Martin officially takes over as chancellor Aug. 1, but said he is in no rush to make drastic changes to LSU. “First thing I want to do is get a feel for what people want from or expect from the University,” Martin said. “Then I want to learn about how the place operates – what things are done extremely well and what things can be done differently.” Jenkins said he will do everything he can to help Martin’s transition be as smooth as possible. “I’ve asked the provost and vice chancellors to develop a plan that [Martin] can review,” Jenkins said. The plan will help Martin get to know the campus and find out what major issues are facing LSU. “I’m going to be there and we’ll spend time together when an issue comes up that he thinks I can help with,” Jenkins said. “What I’m not going to be is at his right-hand side because that is inappropriate.” Jenkins said his help in the transition will be more toward external affairs. “It’s externally that perhaps I have the greatest scope and experience with this University,” Jenkins said. Martin comes to LSU with a great deal of experience with land-grant universities. He spent his entire academic career with land-grant universities such as University of Wisconsin, University of Minnesota, Oregon State University, University of Florida and New Mexico State University. “One of the reasons why I took the job, and why LSU is appealing, is because I do believe the 21st century vision of a land-grant university,” Martin said. “I believe in the importance of land-grants as transformational institutions that themselves are always in a state of transformations.” A new chancellor at a flagship university usually does not come without controversy, and Martin is no exception. During Martin’s presidency at NMSU, The Associated Press reported in March that two tenure-track professors at NMSU were denied a renewal to their teaching contracts. Yelena Bird, one of the professors, was quoted as saying her denial was because she was “too educated to be considered black.” Martin told The Daily Reveille he asked NMSU’s Regent’s professors – the senior-most professors at NMSU – to review the process and determine whether the decision violated NMSU’s policies and procedures. “They delivered to me a report last week that confirms, in their judgment, we handled this entirely appropriately,” Martin said. “Had it been determined that those who made the initial decision, which is at the [department] level, had somewhat violated our policies and procedures, we would have convened.” Martin was also quoted in the Las Cruces Sun-News as calling a protest a “sewing circle.” He said when the reporter called him about the protest, he did not know entirely what it was about. He said he was told that there were only three people protesting. “I [told the reporter] if there’s really racism on this campus, if that’s what they’re accusing us of, everyone should be out on this campus, including me,” Martin said. “If it’s only three, it’s much more like a sewing circle than a protest.” Lombardi said there is going to be controversy everywhere. “If he hadn’t had any controversy, he wouldn’t have been doing anything,” Lombardi said. “We looked at all those controversies.” Lombardi said the Committee did not find anything that would lead them to believe the incident was anything beyond the normal controversy that surrounds all university activity.
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