COLUMN: Albrecht a ‘true-blooded Aggies from Utah’
With all of the hoopla as of late over the announcement of our new president, I couldn’t help but notice no one criticizing the promotion of President Stan Albrecht.
It seems most anywhere conformity in decisions just doesn’t occur. Sometimes I even think we disagree just for the sake of disagreement.
But did anyone disagree with the hiring of President Albrecht?
Apparently not.
Talk about a tribute to the man. I don’t know him, but when those closest to him come out in his unanimous support, something must be going right. After hearing of President Kermit Hall’s leave, the Faculty Senate drafted a resolution asking that Albrecht be selected as the university’s next president. When it looked like Hall was headed to Tennessee last year, the Board of Trustees was already preparing to suggest Albrecht as a possible replacement.
Those who know him best are as loyal to him as a fat kid to an ice cream truck. They just love the man.
And yet with all this support from the powers that be on a university campus, he’s turned his attention to us, the students.
His goals as president are laced with student-based objectives. Heck, even his first morning as university president was spent out meeting with student government leaders.
Once, I attended a Board of Regents conference (the governing board of Utah higher education). I decided to count how many times the word “student” came up in their meeting. Well, it wasn’t hard counting; it only took one hand.
At times, I think our priorities are backward.
But not with Albrecht. I believe that with a student-oriented atmosphere, the fund-raising, the alumni relations and all that other jazz will soon follow.
In the end it all starts with students.
And, symbolic or not, I found it fitting that he would begin his tenure amongst little people like you and me.
I love how in searching for a new president, we would look within the existing infrastructure of the university. Too often for the sake of diversity or the glitter of newness, we go searching for some distant and unknown figure in hopes that he or she will save our lowly university.
Too often, what we get are presidents anxious to jump ship at the slightest sign of greener pastures. Three other colleges in the state are still president-less having suffered similar fates. But not Utah State.
You see, this time we stuck with a local.
Upon accepting the position of Utah State’s top job, President Hall made the promise that he would milk a cow in each of Utah’s 29 counties. Apparently, he did.
I could never figure that one out, but it sounded pretty cool to me. Maybe he was just trying to get the motion down for when he sang the school fight song.
But I wouldn’t be surprised to find that Albrecht has already milked a cow or two in his day. He’s a farmer and a “true-blooded Aggie from Utah.”
Who needs greener grass, when you “love the spot where the sagebrush grows?”
This isn’t a stepping stone for President Albrecht. This is it.
“This for me is a capstone of my career. This is not a position that will lead to something else,” he said upon accepting the position. “It really is a dream opportunity.”
He tried for this job once before, and came up one slot short. Under such circumstances, most would have left the university, upset at being chosen second best. But not Albrecht. The institution was bigger than the man, not the other way around.
I am convinced he will strive to better the university, not just make a name for himself.
I do not envy President Albrecht in the least. He is coming into a difficult job with unfairly high expectations. He’ll have his work cut out for him.
The honeymoon will likely be short-lived. Conformity will undoubtedly give way to disagreement.
But hey, in the meantime, I like this guy.
Jon Cox is a junior majoring in print journalism. Comments can be sent to jcox@cc.usu.edu.