Being a college president is tough, but recruiting one can be tougher.
In addition to finding candidates with the right academic credentials, universities need leaders that have political savvy to tackle complex social challenges and build consensus.
Today’s leaders must navigate the end of affirmative action; balance free speech and campus safety; and respond to growing skepticism over whether a college degree is worth it.
Those at public schools face additional scrutiny over compliance with Texas’ new DEI ban and debates over the value of faculty tenure.
“You get pressures from the governor. You get pressures from the state Legislature, pressures from the surrounding community,” said Michael Harris, a Southern Methodist University professor who studies higher education policy and leadership.
In the last year, four North Texas university presidents announced resignations or retirements including Neal Smastrek of UNT, Bob Mong of UNT Dallas, Richard Benson of UTD and R. Gerald Turner of SMU. (UTD and SMU are supporters of the Education Lab.)
The University of North Texas’ new leader began recently. Meanwhile, the other schools seek new leaders who will contribute to shaping North Texas’ academic reputation, talent pipeline, workforce development, economic growth and more.
Presidents’ reach extends beyond their campuses as they often partner with nonprofits, facilitate college access for local students and work on community needs. UTD’s Benson, for example, oversaw efforts to bolster the arts that included bringing the Crow Museum of Asian Art to campus.
Still, today’s presidents must persuade families of college’s value as only 36% of Americans have significant confidence in higher education.
That means colleges need leaders who can manage relationships, budgets and crises as well as possess strong fundraising and communication skills – qualities not always found in lifelong academics.
For example, outgoing Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp was a state lawmaker, railroad commissioner, comptroller and partner at a tax firm before moving to higher education to guide the growing system. Sharp will be stepping down in June.
Harrison Keller, the new president of UNT, spent five years as the state’s higher education commissioner. Before that, he was a professor and administrator at the University of Texas and previously navigated politics working in various roles at the Texas Capitol, including as a senior education advisor. Keller also served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
Why would he want a job that is under heightened scrutiny? To support Texas students in reaching their goals, he said.
“There is just an energy on a college campus — with students and with faculty — that, frankly, I missed,” he said.
Outgoing college leaders
Turner is the rare college president who will have spent 30 years leading a school when he steps down at the end of this school year.
Turner is credited with growing Southern Methodist University’s endowment, landing the George W. Bush Presidential Center and securing the school’s Atlantic Coast Conference membership.
During his tenure, he also served on various community boards, including the Dallas Citizens Council, the Methodist Health System Foundation and the Salvation Army of North Texas.
“The 30 years have gone incredibly fast,” Turner told The News in August. “Everyday wasn’t fun, but everyday was enjoyable.”
Finding such stability is the exception.
The average college president is on the job for 5.9 years, according to a 2023 survey by the American Council on Education. That’s a drop from 6.5 years in 2016 and 8.5 a decade before that.
Leading higher education institutions is a complex and complicated job, said Hiro Okahana, assistant vice president of the American Council on Education – a century-old membership organization of higher education professionals.
In addition to offering degrees, colleges are often major employers in their area with some serving as the go-to local hospital and others operating large athletic enterprises, Okahana said.
“You’re covering many different grounds. Not to mention, you have many stakeholders, board members, community members and legislatures,” Okahana said.
Presidents nationwide are burnt out from the politics and aftermath of the pandemic, according to the survey. So they’re leaving for consulting jobs, returning to faculty appointments or joining nonprofits.
None of the North Texas presidents mentioned these pressure points when announcing their departures, and all were above the age of 70.
Mong was at UNT Dallas for nearly a decade. He took up the post after more than 40 years in journalism, including as the longtime editor of The Dallas Morning News.
Michael Hinojosa, the former Dallas ISD superintendent, pointed to Mong and Turner as examples of critical partners to local public schools because they helped “customize” services and offerings to the specific needs of the surrounding community.
Turner, for example, helped guide a partnership between SMU, DISD and Toyota in West Dallas for a STEM-focused campus.
However, no one has been as hands-on in neighborhoods as Mong, Hinojosa said.
A priority for UNT Dallas has been focusing on students from low income and underserved communities.
To do so, Mong met with parents, teachers and principals in local high schools to find solutions to not only the academic challenges students were facing but also the socioeconomic ones, such as transportation, Hinojosa said.
“He would go to meetings at Sunset High School and Lincoln High School in South Dallas and in Oak Cliff because he wanted to be there to understand how everything worked, " Hinojosa said. “And he wasn’t a threat. He didn’t come in trying to take over the meeting. He came just to participate.”
Political pressure
Republican-led states have made significant steps to address what some conservatives describe as the “woke left” in colleges.
That’s included moves to chip away at faculty tenure and bans on DEI initiatives at public campuses.
“One of the most difficult jobs in higher education today is to be a college president in a red state,” SMU’s Harris said.
Texas’ DEI ban that went into effect Jan. 1 is often considered the most restrictive in the country. It has impacted scholarships, faculty committees, employee resource groups, LGBTQ centers, resources for immigrant students and others efforts.
Republican state leaders often described DEI as an exclusionary practice that favors race or gender over merit. Democrats defend it as a way to foster inclusivity among those historically excluded from higher education.
“The woke left’s drive to divide Texans is never-ending,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a 2023 news release about banning DEI at state schools. “DEI hiring practices have caused division and must be stopped.”
Patrick laid out his priorities for the 2025 legislative session, which included monitoring schools’ compliance with the DEI ban to ensure “Texas college campuses foster equal opportunity and reward individual merit and achievement.”
He also wants to “review and analyze the structures and governance in higher education,” focusing on faculty senates and to monitor a bill passed last legislative session that makes it easier for tenured faculty to be fired.
Such scrutiny from lawmakers puts college presidents in the crosshairs of political fights over the role of higher education, Harris said.
Last year, one university president — Texas A&M University’s Katherine Banks — retired after only two years on the job. She cited the public criticism following the botched hiring of journalist Kathleen McElroy.
McElroy was offered a tenure position to revive A&M’s journalism program, but the offer later became a one-year contract position as the university faced outside pressure not to hire McElroy due to her past involvement with DEI efforts. The university later reached a $1 million settlement with the journalist.
“The negative press is a distraction from the wonderful work being done here,” Banks wrote in her resignation letter.
Another example of college presidents facing public pushback includes how they responded to protests over the war in Gaza last spring.
Nationally, some leaders resigned under pressure. Presidents Claudine Gay of Harvard University and Elizabeth Magill of the University of Pennsylvania resigned after testifying during a Congressional hearing on campus antisemitism.
In the months leading up to the University of Texas at Dallas announcement that Benson would be stepping down, the campus faced a student protest that resulted in state troopers disbanding an encampment and 21 arrests.
Texas political leaders praised UT officials for bringing state troopers in during protests at the universities in Dallas and Austin. Others criticized college presidents for being too harsh on protesters.
Such political pressures impact recruitment, Harris said.
However, private universities might have bigger applicant pools as potential leaders may shy away from public institutions because of perceived outside political influences, Harris added.
“Presidents are just tired of fighting. They’re tired of fighting with the Legislature. They’re tired of fighting with elected leaders. They’re tired of fighting with their faculty. They’re just tired of fighting,” he added.
Still, Mong encourages would-be presidents by calling the job hard but rewarding.
New leaders should build a trusting and honest relationship with state leaders, he said.
“Politics is a lot about compromise,” said the now-retired Mong. “Don’t go to the worst case scenario and live there.”
The heart of the job is about building relationships, being honest and “doing what you say you’re going to do,” he added.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
