Issue: 

President Chicoine and Provost Nichols’ leaving will cause change across campus.

Stance: 

Change will be good for the university, but the transition will be not be easy.

At the end of last semester, both the president and provost announced their plans to step down from their respective positions. The question on most people’s mind is what happens next for South Dakota State University?

As a university, the next step is to recognize that change will occur in various ways. The first is new individuals will be filling Chicoine and Nichols’ empty positions, which may cause mixed emotions. 

Chicoine, after he retires as president, plans to continue working at SDSU in the economics department. Nichols is going to be president at the University of Wyoming. They both have future plans, but they have poor timing when it comes to deciding they both want to leave at the same time. Filling one of these positions is tough, but filling both of these positions has caused a mad rush to find a new president and provost.

In addition to losing two high-ranking administrative officials, we will also most likely lose the Dean of Honors College Tim Nichols. But before any of this can happen, the university has yet to choose a vice president of student affairs. This position is temporarily filled by Doug Wermedal. 

Basically, administration at SDSU is going to see some major changes by the end of this semester. 

This change might not be a bad thing, but the transition from old to new officials might be shaky. The individuals replacing Chicoine and Nichols will probably face a lot of criticism and will be carefully watched their first semester on the job. 

However, we at The Collegian believe that having new people in these high ranking administration positions is healthy. It will allow for a new set of eyes on campus that might find new areas to grow and bring fresh ideas. 

We still have to be wary of the new president and provost. There is a chance that these individuals could be completely unfamiliar with SDSU. If this is the case, then the new president and provost will have a tough time understanding the atmosphere of SDSU and what the student body, faculty and staff expect.

We at The Collegian believe that having new faces in the president and provost position will allow our university to grow through the implementation of new ideas, but at the same time, we know this change will not be as smooth as the current administration believes.

As these position are filled, it will be essential to remember that no president or provost is the same, and hopefully, the new individuals will eventually become a part of SDSU’s identity just like Chicoine and Nichols.

 

The Collegian staff meets weekly and agrees on the issue of the editorial.

The editorial represents the opinion of The Collegian.