The first 100 days of a person’s job reveals a certain level of success and failure that is somewhat indicative of how they will be judged in that position.  We’re happy with the Chancellor’s performance and extend our thanks for his hard work.

However, he isn’t the superhero we would have liked. Unfortunately, our chancellor has the misfortune of being imperfect in our eyes, but those imperfections are overshadowed by the difficult, yet good decisions he has made.

Our favorite proclamation was the hiring of Debbie Yow for the position of athletic director. After the last couple of years of disappointing sport records, moral is low. This move for the new director is a definite boost to our hopes for better years to come.

However, we don’t like the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, Thomas Stafford, has been bumped down in the hierarchy under the athletic director. Stafford must report to the provost, who then reports to the chancellor with issues. The athletic director, on the other hand, reports directly to the chancellor. By allowing the issues of sports to be reported to the chancellor in a more seamless fashion than the affairs of all students, the University is sending a message. They think it is more important for sports issues to be resolved before student issues.  All students – not just a minority – should come first.

This issue of departmental dominance would probably be resolved if a permanent provost would be hired. The hiring of an athletic director before the hiring of a new provost showed another emphasis on sports over other issues. The provost deals with issues directly involved with things like classes and curriculum. This school is a training place for academics, not sports.

As we’ve pointed out, we like that Debbie Yow was chosen swiftly. But we wish the provost would be chosen just as quickly, and we wish Thomas Stafford would have a more direct route of providing information to the chancellor than the athletic director.

The main point of contention against the chancellor is the 19 percent increase in tuition. For most students, the inner workings of the University bureaucracy are a far-off issue. And though we think that attitude should be changed, the tuition increase is a direct impact on the wallets carried around campus. The direct nature of the increase will render it as the most memorable decision of his first 100 days.

Though we acknowledge students will remember the tuition increase and will not like the new hierarchy, we want to remind them that under Chancellor Woodson, we have relatively more good news than usual. He has led us out of a tough transitional period with no scars, and we appreciate it.