I, too, will gladly consider becoming president of College of Charleston

20 Replies

I figured I might as well put my name out there in light of this report:

The Associated Press

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Former South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford says she’s interested in the president’s job at the College of Charleston.

Sanford tells The Post and Courier of Charleston (http://bit.ly/15JmNz8 ) she would be crazy not to look at the opportunity. And she says that not all schools need to be led by someone with strictly an academic background.

The 50-year-old Sanford says she has management skills from running her former husband Mark Sanford’s campaigns, and working in the governor’s office gave her an understanding of higher education budgets and other state issues….

If Jenny Sanford is at any point seriously considered for the job, and those are her qualifications, then I feel obliged to point out:

  • My own management skills have been honed over a period of 29 years supervising reporters, editors, and others involved in different aspects of producing several different newspapers in three states. This means I’m very much accustomed to supervising extremely independent-minded, egotistical people with intellectual pretensions, which I submit is far, far more like supervising a university than bossing a team of volunteer true believers who agree with you about everything. As head of the editorial board, I daily convened a group of strong-opinioned people and led them to reach agreement on an unlimited variety of extremely controversial issues, agreements written out and published within 24 hours — which is quite different from telling people, here’s the party line and stick to it.
  • I have obtained a far broader — certainly less ideologically narrow — working acquaintance with “higher education budgets and other state issues.” Not only that, but I have demonstrated over the years that I actually believe in public higher education and its importance to our state’s future, unlike certain other possible candidates I could name.
  • I’m well known to state political leaders and many key business leaders, and despite all those critical opinions I’ve caused to be written over the years, have probably done less to permanently irritate them than the team of people of which Jenny Sanford was a part. These folks know me as someone who has strongly advocated well-considered, pragmatic policies for our state, even if they didn’t fully agree all of the time. Among them I have some detractors, but probably not as many as my worthy competition.
  • I get along great with the mayor of Charleston, for whom I have the greatest respect. For what that’s worth.
  • Two of my children have attended the College of Charleston, with one of them graduating just this summer, which gives me a passing acquaintance with the institution.
  • I know at least one former president of the institution pretty well, and can call on him for advice.
  • I’ve actually done consulting work for two college presidents in South Carolina. It’s not a huge part of my resume, but it’s something I don’t think she has.
  • I’m very comfortable wearing bow ties, and own no fewer than four seersucker suits, one of which currently fits me.

I could go on, but this should be sufficient to persuade the trustees to consider me — if they’re considering her. And if they really, you know, don’t care about academic qualifications…

20 thoughts on “I, too, will gladly consider becoming president of College of Charleston”

  1. Bart

    “•I’m very comfortable wearing bow ties, and own no fewer than four seersucker suits, one of which currently fits me.”…Brad

    That did it for me, I officially support Brad Warthen for President of the College of Charleston. Where do we send the petition?

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  3. Silence

    Actually, you’d probably be a very good college president, and are way more qualified than Jenny. Put me in the Warthen camp.

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    1. Silence

      Yup, if you can pull down enough donor bucks, everything else takes care of itself. Of course that’s pretty much the job description for every non-profit as well.

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  5. Steve Gordy

    I’ve personally known half a dozen college presidents and I’ve received lots of funding appeals from colleges. I know those aren’t the only qualifications, but they’re a start. If I can’t get the job, then I think Brad should.

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  7. Silence

    Of course once the state legislature merges CofC with MUSC and CSOL, it’s going to really catapult CofC into being a much larger and more prominent entity than it’s ever been.

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          1. Silence

            I really, REALLY, think that you’d be a better choice than either Jenny Sanford or Glen McConnell:

            1) Are there any pictures of you in full Confederate regalia, or with black people who are dressed up as slaves?
            2) Do you own a store that sells Confederate memorabilia?
            3) Are you generally believed to be “cold” or an “ice queen” by members of the male sex?
            4) Is your recent professional experience limited to being “in the governor’s office” or running campaigns?

            If you answered “no” to all of these questions, you might be the best candidate.

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          3. Brad Warthen Post author

            That’s just one of those photos that makes me think I had to BE there to have even the slightest inkling how it came into being.

            What combination of circumstances caused all three of those folks to think posing for it was a good idea?

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          4. Silence

            Brad – the fact that you WEREN’T there, and WOULDN’T have been there indicates that you could never have the slightest understanding of how that party and the resulting photos came into being, and how it could ever have seemed like a good idea.

            But it is fun to think about how that photo might have been made.

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    1. Silence

      I’ll bet that Ms. Paula Deen is available for the gig, and she’d probably do a better job than any of the “leading” candidates for this job.

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