Just a general question about President Leath

[alarson]

Don't want VEISHEA cancelled? Don't ******* riot for no God Damned reason.

99% of people didn't.

And whatever damage happened at the various riots was dwarfed by the overall benefit VEISHEA brought, not just to the university, but to the city economy.

The individuals involved should be held responsible for their actions, but killing veishea was a knee jerk reaction that ignored asking the real questions as to how things could be prevented (ISU is not the only school to deal with such issues) , and what lessons from prior years had been forgotten.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Don't want VEISHEA cancelled? Don't ******* riot for no God Damned reason.

AND STAY OFF OUR LAWNS

 

[Cyclonepride]

Has to be VEISHEA, followed by Bubu (if I have my chronology correct). Everything from there had people ready to pile on for any reason.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

I always felt the dislike for him stemmed from the Bubu and Veishea situations.

Nope. But they didn't help.

 

[brett108]

I think it is a loss for Iowa State. Compare Iowa State's position today to 2012. It has grown into the state's most prominent school by enrollment. Fundraising is excellent. Jack Trice was bowled in. New buildings have gone up across campus. Tuition is still low relative to peers. ISU was one of the few schools in the country to add the number of faculty members that it did a few years back. For one year, I think Iowa State added the most faculty members of any power conference school.

I understand why people are glad that he is leaving. Bubu and VEISHEA were very visible examples that some disagreed with. "Planegate" was handled poorly regardless of whether you think it is overblown. But overall Leath was a good president. We could do far, far worse. I hope that we do not with his replacement, but I am not very confident after the BOR's hiring of Harreld at UI.

You talked about fund raising, but what would you say about fundraising that made him so great? I don't have a frame of reference for the talk, like how Geoffrey did in that department.

I think with states cutting higher education spending, ISU needs to work on growing its endowment. We currently have 740 million in the bank. Typical returns are 5%, so we are making about 32 to 33 million per year off this. Iowa has almost twice the endowment, so they are making twice the money from it, probably 60-70 million. They also receive the lions share of the appropriations from the state. If we want to improve our position as a university this endowment needs to grow since the regents refuse to change the funding formula. Did Leath do this and will it be a priority for the next president?

 

[CTTB78]

Wow, he only lasted five years?
Yes, he was good in a number of areas, including the support for the AD, but the biggest negative for me was the poor judgment he showed with plane gate. Obviously trying to work the system. Leaders with the public scrutiny he had can't do stupid things like that.

 

[ruxCYtable]

I know almost nothing about him. But to those who are happy with his departure, be careful what you wish for. We could end up with a president who doesn't support athletics at a very fragile time for two of our top programs: Football on the rise and basketball trying to maintain.

 

[brett108]

Nope. But they didn't help.

Love absolutist opinions like this, without supporting evidence. Care to share some insight?

 

[cyclonestate]

His departure is a good thing for ISU. He embodies everything that ISU is NOT - privileged, entitled, exempt from the rules, good ole boy network, etc.

True leaders lead by example, and he set the worst example possible. Now that his cronies Branstad and Rastetter have flown the coup, he knew there was nobody around anymore to cover his behind, so he bolted at the first opportunity.

Integrity means something, and I hope our next president is full of it!

 

[cyhiphopp]

Love absolutist opinions like this, without supporting evidence. Care to share some insight?

Well she works at the university, so she probably either had interactions or knows people who have.

I don't think it would be a good idea for her to go into specifics though, for her jobs sake.

 

[SoapyCy]

Gene Chizik.

*drops mic*

so he's gonna get an all-american VP of operations to do all the hard work and then that guy will leave and leath will get fired?

 

[brett108]

Well she works at the university, so she probably either had interactions or knows people who have.

I don't think it would be a good idea for her to go into specifics though, for her jobs sake.

I understand but she can be general. Like not a people person, never talked to the staff, longer hours less raises. Seems safe to make those statements. I somehow don't think there will be backlash for that. Bosses are unpopular amongst certain employees for a variety of reasons.

 

[SoapyCy]

Coming from the Ag side of me, he was good for the Ag college. He was a plant pathologist and did a lot of work on Northern Corn Leaf Blight. I know he was an advocate for getting a plant pathology farm established at ISU, but due to some building projects being over budget, well you can figure out were the plant pathology money went to.

plane repair?

 

[Cyched]

Only if you buy the assumption that JP was going to give it to Otz, which I don't think is 100% true.

From what I remember from the coaching search megathreads, Jeremy said something to that effect.

I don't believe that Pollard would just hand the job to TJ, but I'm sure that he was JPs favorite. Leath also had that quote about doing a full search.

 

[RedDog]

He took the time to take a selfie with us while we tailgated in the student lot a couple years ago. He has a nice smile ☺.

 

[CTTB78]

Only if you buy the assumption that JP was going to give it to Otz, which I don't think is 100% true.

I buy it. I thought from the bar photo of their rendevous in Seattle you could make out the terms of the contract on Jamie's paper napkin.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

Love absolutist opinions like this, without supporting evidence. Care to share some insight?

Nope.

I'm only speaking for myself here, in direct response to the comment someone else made.

 

[isufbcurt]

I think ISU is getting too big enrollment wise compared to campus space, so he was planning to slow it down. They need to up standards a bit to keep it good and big.

Disagree with this 1000000000000000000%.

ISU needs to strive to get bigger and stay the largest institution in Iowa. And the standards are fine and haven't been lowered (as proven earlier in a different thread).

 

[ImJustKCClone]

I know almost nothing about him. But to those who are happy with his departure, be careful what you wish for. We could end up with a president who doesn't support athletics at a very fragile time for two of our top programs: Football on the rise and basketball trying to maintain.

This, I can agree with, and not just in terms of athletics. In the current political climate and with our current leadership at the regents and state level, we may go from the frying pan to the fire...
So although I'm not sorry to see him go, the timing really sucks.

 

[cyclonespiker33]

Disagree with this 1000000000000000000%.

ISU needs to strive to get bigger and stay the largest institution in Iowa. And the standards are fine and haven't been lowered (as proven earlier in a different thread).

You actually can't disagree with something more than 100% I would expect an accountant to know that.