Washington State University lost an extremely important person in June of 2015—Elson S. Floyd, former president of WSU. Floyd was president of WSU for eight years. He waited as long as possible before taking medical leave just a few weeks before his death.
Floyd was a pillar in the community. He was widely considered one of the most respected and admired educators in the country. One of the themes of his time at WSU was broadening access to higher education, making WSU more accessible to as many students as possible. According to the Seattle Times, he was known to give his personal cell phone number to students. His students nicknamed him E Flo. It's safe to say that the next WSU President had a lot to live up to.
Immediately after Floyd’s death, Daniel Bernardo took over as interim president. After a long nation-wide search Kirk Schulz was named the 11th president of WSU. He took office in March of 2016. He previously served as president of Kansas State University and was the unanimous choice of the WSU Board of Regents.
Of course, there was a huge welcome from across every branch of WSU to both Kirk and his wife, Noel Schulz. Quite quickly they moved across the country and settled into WSU’s presidential residence with their first dog Cayenne. Sounds simple, picturesque, and even quaint.
Well since then, President Schultz hasn’t done much to reach out to the WSU community. He makes lots of public appearances, reminiscent of the celebrity that doesn’t seem truly there and in the moment when appearing at events. He’s extremely, almost aggressively, active on Twitter, especially for someone of his generation. However, his connection and response to WSU in crisis are truly where the problem lies.
If you’ve been following the WSU news recently you’ll know that we’ve experienced quite a few losses recently. A professor and three students died commuting to and from Pullman this winter break. Schultz’s reaction to this shocking and horrible news was upsetting to not only myself but many in the WSU community.
Monday morning, the first day of spring semester, Schulz, who was not in Pullman at the time, tweeted a funny GIF and a good luck note to students. If he had checked the news, his emails, or probably even texts before Twitter he would have been aware that five WSU students were involved in a car crash where one person died and the other four passengers were handicapped. He would have known that there were over 100 cars spun out in ditches across the highway headed to Pullman. Apparently, Schultz didn’t know any of these things so he thought it was appropriate to Tweet a funny GIF.
By the next day, he clearly knew about all of these problems and was even receiving backlash on, of course, Twitter. Yet instead of making any sort of personal comment he elected to let WSU as a university make a statement. For a President so active on social media, ignoring the death of students who attend your university is unforgivable.
Neither Schultz or his wife publicly attended any of the candle light vigils held for the students.
Schulz, his wife, and their dog all have ridiculous Twitters and are frequently made fun of on the social media platform.
While it’s understandable wanting to connect with students in the modern age, there needs to be a balance between community outreach online and in person. Attending student-run events or fundraisers, meeting with students personally, and doing your best to understand the daily lives of those in your community is an important part of governing any institution.
Schulz is also rarely in Pullman. He spends the majority of his time traveling not only across the state of Washington but also globally. While WSU is a major research university, the president should establish a connection with his students and community before leaving it behind for expansion.
Hopefully, Schultz and his family can regain their professional composure, get off Twitter and get into the WSU community.
If not we might soon feel like this K-State Fan.
