Because he is sure to be fired now, if the UNC system is consistent. UNC officials have for years opposed any attempts to open their executive searches to the public, not even letting them see the names of the finalists. As The Fayetteville Observer‘s Corey G. Johnson wrote last year, “North Carolina is the only state in the nation that selects the top leaders of all its public universities in secret.” (Yes, UNC is a public university system; why do you ask that right now?)
Why so secretive? Well, because, um, the publicity of an open search can cause troubles for the leaders back home, yeah, that’s the ticket; they’re putting their careers on the line, see; they could be spooked and so forth.
Poor Steve Ballard! The News & Observer reports this morning:
The chancellor at East Carolina University has withdrawn as a finalist for the president’s job at Kansas State University.
Steve Ballard’s decision Thursday to pull out of the selection process leaves just two finalists vying for the position. Still in the hunt are University of Maine President Robert Kennedy and Kirk Schulz, a vice president at Mississippi State University.
No doubt his troubles at home are already beginning. Either Kennedy or Schulz will need our pity at some point, too. Gracious, it must be terribly upsetting to have a chancellor that other people want.
(We have to say that, you know, because otherwise we’d have admit shame at the knowledge that Kansas could teach UNC a thing or two about openness.)
