I don't really have much tea. My contact didn't even know who the new assistant was, just that there was one and that one of the reasons given was better alignment of resources to be on one team. The gossip piece was that they heard that the old Advancement VP was not always great at sharing/working across departments which is a thing I've experienced at one of my old places of employment when there were way to many higher level positions who became possessive and in competition with each other. Unfortunately administrative bloat is not something Higher Ed has a monopoly on.
I didn't notice that this had be reported on this message board before, yet the November update from Valpo says:
"We are pleased to share that Valparaiso University is currently in negotiations with a finalist for the position of president. While details are still being finalized, we look forward to introducing Valparaiso University’s 20th president in the near future. We are excited for the leadership and vision this individual will bring to our community."
Thanks for posting this. Somehow I missed it. Big news indeed!
The gossip piece was that they heard that the old Advancement VP was not always great at sharing/working across departments
Sounds like another great Padilla hire. I think I’ve shared before that Padilla was boasting at an alumni event some years ago about how many great hires he had made. I wonder if any of those hires are still on campus (CFO, admissions, athletics, and now advancement have all turned over since; I might be forgetting one or two). Almost makes me think of Padilla as the last guest at the party, turning out the lights on his way out.
Hopefully the new prez is a more gracious host with a better knack for hiring talent. My sense from the outside has been that Padilla was hiring yes-men rather than the best candidates for the job.
There has been another update - the President selection has been finalized and an official announcement is coming on Tuesday, December 2.
”Our presidential search has successfully concluded, and we have selected Valparaiso University’s 20th president. The Board of Directors will share the formal announcement on Tuesday, December 2.
Launched in March, the search was guided by a nine-member committee representing the Board, faculty, staff, alumni, and the broader community, with support from Academic Search. Through a comprehensive national process, we met with exceptional leaders and identified an outstanding president-elect for Valpo.
More information about the president-elect, including opportunities to meet them beginning Friday, December 5, will be shared soon.”
I'll admit I only casually follow administrative news, I mostly only follow Valpo sports.
But, it seems like there is a lot of animus toward Padilla. Again, I am not versed on everything that's going on, so I was just curious – can someone give me a cliff notes summary of why everyone hates him so much?
I haven't been following that closely, but while I think the University itself is a little stagnant, I haven't seen anything that gives me a particular feeling about him either way.
But like I said, I haven't been following closely. I would love to hear people's opinions about what specific policies they have not liked.
I know the IU Pres. has been a disaster, censoring the school newspaper, shutting down student protests, and not supporting teachers. Are we just in a bad university president era?
@cautioushorse1 — I think overall Padilla has been seen as an antagonistic force with no results to justify his “my way or the highway” attitude.
Perhaps the loudest mistake in his tenure was the art sale. Whether you believe the sale is unethical or not, Padilla’s response to the debate was to plug his ears, and the optics quickly became “university bullies 98 year old man.” This tended to alienate a fair few alumni, not a prudent course after alienating a different section with the mascot retirement.
The art became the loudest, but I would say not the most important. The most important thing was that Padilla did nothing to leave the school better than he left it. He presided over a decline in enrollment, a growing budget deficit, and stagnant fundraising. He talked a big game, but his hires were broadly inept (and many have already left), and we scarcely have anything to show for his time in office. He also earned the university’s first no-confidence vote from his constituents.
While I may have a different opinion than Kreitzer about the art sale, I fully agree with the rest of his synopsis. Pres. Padilla was a terrible senior execcutive. The board should have replaced him at the beginning of this year rather than having him another year AND as a lame duck. Nonetheless, the university can now move on...though I would not be surprised if the new president does not start until July 1st.
@vu84v2 — I guess what I was trying to articulate was that Padilla handled the art sale controversy badly. And if he’d had a competent fundraising VP, he could have raised the money in the time it took to litigate the art sale.
@vu84v2 — I guess what I was trying to articulate was that Padilla handled the art sale controversy badly. And if he’d had a competent fundraising VP, he could have raised the money in the time it took to litigate the art sale.
Indeed. He took an inflexible position from the beginning, saying the art sale was the only way to raise necessary monies for dorm upgrades and construction that had to be done within the coming year.
However, as it played out, the claim of immediate necessity was an overstatement, and a competent fundraising operation could've raised the needed funds within the time period it took to overpower the objections.
It all came at the cost of alienating some very loyal, longtime members of the VU community. And during that time, significant fundraising seemed to grind to a halt. I think he let his lawyer/general counsel side get the best of him. Even if he was determined to win the art sale litigation, he should've been simultaneously building a stronger development and fundraising capacity.
The art sale, while I thought at the time the right decision as $20M funding is easier said than done, was executed very poorly, almost in a methodology you would see in GoodFellas. If you look at it today and the enrollment down to 2100, you really wonder if this is as critical a need today.
Padilla is an egomaniac and in it only for himself. The inept performance and results show it. I can’t see many other than the schmoozers crying over his exit.
While (again) I think Padilla has had a terrible tenure, selling the art was the right thing. Further, I do not know of any other direction for selling the art that would not have likely ended up in the same space (a very vocal group against it, angst, lawsuits, etc.). Any other option that didn't sell the art would have had very little (if any) return for Valpo. David81 is right that he should have simultaneuosly built a stronger fundraising capacity.
Padilla and the administration framed the sale to fund dorm renovations very poorly. Valpo needs dorm renovations to stay competitive, but also desperately needs a new nursing/health sciences builing and needs to expand/modernize the business building (to stay competitive in growing disciplines...a plan for a new nursing/health sciences building by 2032 is ridiculous).Thus, the problem to solve (which the new President will face) is to get $60M to $100M to fund those capital needs. The art needed to be sold to fund part of that $60M to $100M. The new president also needs to reduce the gap in pay between Valpo faculty and their counterparts at peer universities. To achieve all of this, beyond vastly improving fundraising, the new President needs to make hard decisions on other assets (further art that Valpo owns, etc.) that may not contribute to the University's primary mission.
Looks like Valpo is going to announce the new President tomorrow.
https://www.valpo.edu/presidential-search/updates/
The fact that the announcement about the new President is tomorrow and that there is zero posted on the Valpo website or alumni site is flat out nuts. Is there going to be a press conference? Will it be online? If not, will the new person face the press at some point and if so, WHEN?
Once again, a most serious announcement like this has been botched and that is giving it too much credit.
