A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.

1 December 2016

UM President Engstrom told to walk the plank;
Petition started to replace him with Denise Juneau

University of Montana Royce Engstrom, who presided over, and perhaps was responsible for, a massive, indeed crippling, decline in enrollment, was asked to resign this week. His tenure ends on 31 December. Former Commissioner of Higher Education Sheila Stearns, 70, will replace him on an interim basis while the board of regents conducts a nationwide search for a new UM president.

Missoula resident Tyler Gernant believes no nationwide search is necessary. He believes the ideal replacement is Montana’s superintendent of schools Denise Juneau, who will become available in January. Gernant has started an online petition supporting appointing her as the university’s new president.

I’ve signed the petition — and I urge that my readers give signing it serious consideration.

University presidents usually have doctoral degrees, often in prestigious fields of study, but that’s a tradition, not a predictor of success. More than anything else, university presidents need political skills that enable them to deal successfully with the public, the legislature, with micro-managing regents, with donors and alumni, with community leaders, and with faculty and students. Juneau has those skills. In addition, she has a quiet charisma that would make the university an exciting place again.

Engstrom may not have been responsible for all that ails the university, but he clearly lacked the vision and personality to arrest and reverse the staggering decline in enrollment that occurred on his watch. He had to go — and should have been dismissed a year ago.

His successor faces a formidable crisis. Montana’s great liberal arts university has become a laughingstock, a hotbed of athletic scandals, an alleged den of sexual predation. It’s cursed with a growing reputation as a school of business, and a declining reputation as an outstanding academy of liberal arts. Juneau, I believe, can restore hope and make the university interesting again while she begins the long task of sweeping out the last of the dry rot and rebuilding the institution and its reputation.

Again, you can join the petition to support Juneau to replace Engstrom.