Students should take active role in provost search
  Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Dan Fogel accepted a job as the University of Vermont’s new president this week, leaving many students with two questions — what’s a provost anyway and why should I care?
All joking aside, for those of you unfamiliar with administrative hierarchy and jargonish titles, here’s a crash course.
The chancellor (Mark Emmert) is like the president of LSU and the executive vice chancellor and provost (Fogel) is like the other, less-powerful president. All of the vice chancellors (Neil Mathews, Kevin M. Smith) are the governors of their different domains, and the deans and directors (Debora Baker, Kevin Price) are mayors of their subunits.
Some would say the provost is like a vice president. But in reality, Fogel does much more for LSU than Dick Cheney (always off in an undisclosed location) does for the United States. Fogel does the dirty work. He’s much more than just a “fill-in chancellor” when Emmert isn’t around.
Now that you understand the basics of LSU’s administrative hierarchy, we’ll move to the second question — so, why should you care?
It’s simple. Ever been upset by something the administration did?
As students, you should care because Fogel’s replacement will continue to help make decisions for the campus and work to improve upon or replace current campus initiatives. As a student, you should want his replacement to understand the problems we face here, such as overcrowding, and be able to align the needs of the students with the future of the University.
When LSU opted to privatize the Union Bookstore with Barnes and Noble, Fogel was there, leading the pack and paving the way for the corporate takeover of the bookstore’s services.
Many students who opposed the privatization will tell you they felt the administration didn’t listen to them during the process.
What about the Freshman Residency Requirement, where LSU officials would require all freshmen live on campus? LSU students voted in a past Student Government election to oppose the requirement, yet the administration still is pushing forward.
Do you want enrollment increased to 35,000 students? What about this mythical 1000-seat classroom LSU is building, will this benefit students? Why does it take many students five years to complete degree programs that LSU says can be finished in four?
If you feel that students aren’t being heard on these issues or others, you should be concerned about LSU getting a new provost, because this person will help guide the future of LSU.
Undoubtedly, the University will appoint a student or two to sit on the search committee to fill this position and then later hold open forums for students to meet the potential provosts and ask them questions.
It is our responsibility as LSU students to speak up during this process and make sure that the administration hires someone with our interests in mind. The issues facing college students are complex and range from academic dishonesty to economic inequality to social pressure. If students don’t speak up, our important concerns could get lost in the shuffle.
Obviously Fogel will spend the last months of his more than 25 years at LSU trying to finish the programs he’s started. And he’ll also be working with the committee to find his replacement.
I’m not pushing him out the door and I hope he has a fond last semester at LSU. But it’s time for the campus community — and especially students — to quickly work to find his replacement before we’re bogged down with interim provosts and numerous search committees.Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Dan Fogel accepted a job as the University of Vermont’s new president this week, leaving many students with two questions — what’s a provost anyway and why should I care?
All joking aside, for those of you unfamiliar with administrative hierarchy and jargonish titles, here’s a crash course.
The chancellor (Mark Emmert) is like the president of LSU and the executive vice chancellor and provost (Fogel) is like the other, less-powerful president. All of the vice chancellors (Neil Mathews, Kevin M. Smith) are the governors of their different domains, and the deans and directors (Debora Baker, Kevin Price) are mayors of their subunits.
Some would say the provost is like a vice president. But in reality, Fogel does much more for LSU than Dick Cheney (always off in an undisclosed location) does for the United States. Fogel does the dirty work. He’s much more than just a “fill-in chancellor” when Emmert isn’t around.
Now that you understand the basics of LSU’s administrative hierarchy, we’ll move to the second question — so, why should you care?
It’s simple. Ever been upset by something the administration did?
As students, you should care because Fogel’s replacement will continue to help make decisions for the campus and work to improve upon or replace current campus initiatives. As a student, you should want his replacement to understand the problems we face here, such as overcrowding, and be able to align the needs of the students with the future of the University.
When LSU opted to privatize the Union Bookstore with Barnes and Noble, Fogel was there, leading the pack and paving the way for the corporate takeover of the bookstore’s services.
Many students who opposed the privatization will tell you they felt the administration didn’t listen to them during the process.
What about the Freshman Residency Requirement, where LSU officials would require all freshmen live on campus? LSU students voted in a past Student Government election to oppose the requirement, yet the administration still is pushing forward.
Do you want enrollment increased to 35,000 students? What about this mythical 1000-seat classroom LSU is building, will this benefit students? Why does it take many students five years to complete degree programs that LSU says can be finished in four?
If you feel that students aren’t being heard on these issues or others, you should be concerned about LSU getting a new provost, because this person will help guide the future of LSU.
Undoubtedly, the University will appoint a student or two to sit on the search committee to fill this position and then later hold open forums for students to meet the potential provosts and ask them questions.
It is our responsibility as LSU students to speak up during this process and make sure that the administration hires someone with our interests in mind. The issues facing college students are complex and range from academic dishonesty to economic inequality to social pressure. If students don’t speak up, our important concerns could get lost in the shuffle.
Obviously Fogel will spend the last months of his more than 25 years at LSU trying to finish the programs he’s started. And he’ll also be working with the committee to find his replacement.
I’m not pushing him out the door and I hope he has a fond last semester at LSU. But it’s time for the campus community — and especially students — to quickly work to find his replacement before we’re bogged down with interim provosts and numerous search committees.
Christina Stephens