A sad day in Aggieland. This was expected but am surprised it happened so soon.
Elsa Murano steps down as A&M president
By JEANNIE KEVER Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
June 14, 2009, 9:20PM
Elsa Murano’s resignation as president of Texas A&M University capped two weeks of drama on the College Station campus, leaving faculty members, students and legislators worried about the school’s future.
More after the jump...
I'm currently a student at Texas A&M University. When I first came to Texas A&M, the University President was Dr. Robert Gates. He was generally well liked by everyone in the Texas A&M University system and very popular and respected by the student body. Dr.Gates resigned in 2006 when he accepted the nomination as Secretary of Defense position, replacing Donald Rumsfeld. I was lucky enough to meet Dr. Gates personally a few times and he came across as very genuine and friendly.
I was surprised as was most of the student body when Dr. Elsa Murano was selected as our new President in late '07. She was relatively an unknown to most students. This was a huge change at A&M. This was in the Dallas Morning News:
Texas A&M poised to name Elsa Murano as president
08:21 AM CST on Saturday, December 8, 2007
By HOLLY K. HACKER and BRIAN DAVIS / The Dallas Morning News
hhacker@dallasnews.com; brdavis@dallasnews.com
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – First woman. First minority. First person under 50.
Elsa Murano is poised to make a lot of firsts as president of Texas A&M University. Dr. Murano, a vice chancellor and dean of agriculture there, was named the sole finalist Friday by the Texas A&M System's governing Board of Regents.
College officials and faculty members say that Dr. Murano, a Cuban immigrant who once held a top job at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is all but certain to win the job. But campus reaction to the announcement was split.
The grumblings of dissatisfaction began shortly after she took over from Gates. Granted she had big shoes to fill, as Dr. Gates was extremely popular throughout his time at A&M, but she was never really given a chance. While I think that she was not a standout leader, she did care deeply about our school and tried to do what was best for A&M as a whole.
Murano tendered her resignation Sunday, one day before the school’s governing board was to convene for what had been widely regarded as a possible decision on whether she would keep her job.
Regents now plan to meet Monday to address her resignation.
She had not been universally popular during her 17 months in office, but both her supporters and occasional critics say they fear the looming period of instability will hurt A&M’s academic stature.
"Everyone is in a state of great concern," said Ray Bowen, who served as president of the university from 1994 to 2002. "It’s extremely damaging."
Legislators and some alumni said Murano’s resignation raises questions about whether A&M — founded 132 years ago, it did not admit women or minorities until 1963 — had truly changed with the times.
"It makes you wonder, What happened?" said state Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, and vice chairman of the House higher education committee.
full story here
It speculated that current governor Rick Perry had other motives when he and the Texas A&M Board of Regents selected her for the post. She was touted as a historic change to the image of Texas A&M, a university where historically, diversity has lacked and has not been reflective of the state population. Now this ugly resignation mess will only serve to reinforce the feeling of some minority students that Texas A&M is a unwelcoming place. This is sad because this is not the case.
Dr. Murano was a placeholder, a puppet, only to be ousted(strongly pressured) by Mike McKinney, Texas A&M University System Chancellor and former legislator who served as chief of staff to Governor Rick Perry. She only served as President for just over a year. It was well known that Dr. Murano and Mike McKinney did not see eye to eye after it became clear that she was not going to be a rubber stamp for Perry and McKinney. McKinney conducted a first year evaluation in which he was harshly critical of her decision-making and initiative. He even questioned her integrity. More recently he even suggested that the role of President be merged with his current role as Chancellor as a "cost cutting measure". Could this power play be anymore obvious? Dr. Murano knew that she had to resign or be ousted. She has been classy throughout this entire ordeal and I thank her for her selfless service to Texas A&M.
This is my first diary and I'm sorry if I'm rambling but I had to vent my frustration with the situation here and with Governor Rick Perry (Texas Politics in general yuck!). All this seems to be tied to Rick Perry who appointed many of the Texas A&M Board Regents through his "good ol' boy" network.
Many people here have told me that Perry is probably looking for a plan B as Texas A&M President due to the likelihood that he will be swept out of office next year and wants to remain relevant. It will be interesting to see if this scenario actually plays out to see if Perry is really this power hungry and worried about losing the Governorship. What do y'all think? Any thing to add or am I out on a limb here?