UConn Watch: Announcement of president imminent. Crisis of leadership looms over board as bureaucrats exert influence in search.

Trustees of the University of Connecticut are expected to announce their choice of a new president on Wednesday. Interim President Redenka Maric, sources tell Daily Ructions, has emerged as the frontrunner for the top public position at the state’s premier public university.

The choice of Maric will signal the weakness of the board and the continuing influence of UConn’s top administrators. A Maric presidency will confirm the sclerotic preferences of the board and their bureaucratic overlords. A new president from outside UConn would bring a new team and change. Power would devolve from the people who have made many errors to new ones who may usher in a new era of accountability. Preventing that new era is the chief goal of insiders manipulating the search. An outsider might require the administration to adhere to the state’s hiring practices.

Only a late intervention by Governor Ned Lamont could save UConn from a serious mistake by championing opportunity and renewal over the celebration of connivance and cementing family members of the influential into the extended UConn ecosystem. Lamont, a Harvard and Yale graduate, has shown little interest in the state of public higher education.

Published September 27, 2022.