© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D.
“Friends come and go, enemies accumulate.” – Benjamin Franklin
New Mexico State University President Michael Martin is leaving next week after four years on the job. Parties are being thrown — some to say thanks and honor him and others just to celebrate his leaving.
Michael Martin’s friends came and went, while his enemies accumulated. This did not force him out; rather, some people think it made him uncomfortable and therefore receptive to moving on. We do not know for sure, though it is like the old west saying, “Only the cattle know why they stampede, and they ain’t talking.”
Why the conflict? For many years NMSU operated with a distributive management model where the deans had the final say in most of the affairs of their colleges. The last few NMSU presidents let those power brokers on campus get the idea that the president was essentially a figurehead. Enter Michael Martin, who used a top-down management model, thereby taking power from the deans.
Former NMSU President Michael Orenduff tried this management approach 10 years ago and was fired just seven months into his first year. Martin was able to grasp control where others dared not, but this is why some factions at NMSU opposed him so vehemently.
Martin is the 21st NMSU president in 119 years and I believe if he had stayed another four years or so he would have stood with the top four NMSU presidents: Hiram Hadley (1889-1894), Harry Kent (1921-1936), Roger Corbett (1955-1970) and Gerald Thomas (1970-1984). Alas, I think he left too soon to have such an enduring legacy.
I personally enjoyed Gerald Thomas the best of any NMSU president and knew Roger Corbett late in his tenure when he was very cranky with the students, of which I was one who served in the student Senate. When Martin first arrived, I interviewed him at length a number of times and felt he had the talent and vision to be another Gerald Thomas.
NMSU’s identity and mission
What Martin did most and best was deal with the identity and mission of the institution. As society changed, the face of education changed. The university was trying to be all things to all people in all ways and at all times. Martin worked to focus NMSU to where was most appropriate.
This included changing the name of a branch college and establishing a new enduring symbol of NMSU along with supporting the new convention center on NMSU land. Martin primarily worked to collaboratively combine areas of the university that previously had not worked together. Finally, he really boosted the long-term financial resources of the university.
The next NMSU president will signal what the Board of Regents think the identity and mission of the institution should be in the future. It seems the Board of Regents would have kept Michael Martin on for many years.
Educational institutions are not democracies. One person is in charge and that person is not on the university’s Board of Regents. Anyone who has served on a committee knows instinctively why one and only one person must be in charge. Everyone essentially serves at the pleasure of the person in charge, subject to their current contract.
What this means is people can sign a contract to serve the university and that contract can reach fruition, and legally, the person in charge can choose to not renew the contract. Such is the power of the university president.
This power is not exercised often, but is the stick that each leader has. I am talking philosophy here and not addressing specific instances. I raise this point to have people further understand the tension that is in each organization. Get on the wrong side of the Number One and you might have to tell your spouse that your only option is to find another job somewhere else.
Without that power, though, leading an institution as strong-willed as a university would simply be impossible. Michael Martin was a strong leader and that caused consternation in people who would have rather had a neutered president.
A mixed bag
For most people the presidency of Michael Martin and his leaving is a mixed bag of emotions. Most of us personally liked Martin very much. He is friendly, well-spoken and has a fine sense of humor that complimented his wide range of interests. The honeymoon was nice and only in the last two years has there been a discernable, continuous, low-grade attack on Martin on campus and in the press.
Part of this was because Martin seems thin-skinned about criticism. Many of us have gotten under his skin and were aware of his displeasure, myself included. I have not spoken to him in a year. Still, I believe we are better off for Martin having been here these years.
The measure of this educational leader is two-fold: first, how did Martin find, change and leave the institution? And, second, what did Martin do that other previous leaders did not to make the institution better long-term? We might not realize these answers for many years.
There is now a quiet power struggle at NMSU, desperate and all-encompassing. A friend says the long knives are all out, as happens when a leader leaves. I hope the next president is chosen swiftly but with due diligence to the identity and mission of this fine institution.
Swickard is a weekly columnist for this site. You can reach him at michael@swickard.com.