After Taking Heat in Louisiana, a President Moves to a More Moderate Climate

LSU

No one has ever accused F. King Alexander of being a shrinking violet.

For six years, since he took over as president of Louisiana State University, Alexander has been an outspoken advocate for public higher education both in that state and nationally. The native Kentuckian has taken on his own governor and state lawmakers, and has challenged national political leaders and even other university presidents during his tenure at the state’s flagship.

Now, Alexander, 56, will be leading a very different kind of institution. The Board of Trustees of Oregon State University announced on Friday that it had appointed Alexander president of OSU, in Corvallis, Ore., about 80 miles south of Portland.

“I have been fighting for advancing support for public higher education at all of our nation’s public universities, including Oregon State University,” Alexander said in a news release of his time at Louisiana State. “When I join OSU, I assure you, I will continue that advocacy for all public universities, including Oregon State and LSU.”

Rani Borkar, chair of Oregon State’s board, said Alexander “is the right person, educator, and higher-education leader to carry on the transformative impact that Oregon State University provides throughout our state, nation, and world.”

The news was something of a surprise, given Alexander’s rising profile and speculation that he was being considered as the next leader of either the California State University or University of California systems. Alexander began his career as a college president at Murray State University, in Kentucky, in 2001, and was appointed president of California State University at Long Beach in 2006.

In Louisiana, Alexander is president of the flagship campus, in Baton Rouge, and also the leader of the LSU System, which includes five other campuses and enrolls a total of about 45,000 students. The system also has two medical schools and a hospital.

The Baton Rouge campus is undoubtedly the state’s flagship institution and enjoys unrivaled loyalty from the state’s sports fans. That creates challenges as well, Alexander said, because of the pressure and expense of maintaining a top-notch football program.

Lure of the West Coast

Oregon State is, like LSU, a land-grant institution, but it enrolls fewer students, about 33,000, including 1,300 on a small campus in Bend, Ore. The university’s academic focus is agricultural and environmental sciences, including forestry, oceanography, and veterinary medicine. OSU also has an engineering school.

Oregon State attracts more research money than all the state’s other public universities combined, according to a university spokesman. But the Beavers of Oregon State are sometimes overshadowed by the Ducks at the University of Oregon, who have become nationally recognized in part because of the successes and occasional scandals of their high-profile athletics program.

Oregon State is also more racially diverse than is Louisiana State at Baton Rouge and has a much higher percentage of part-time students, according to data from the federal College Scorecard.

One big similarity, however, is that both states have struggled since the 2008 recession to maintain appropriations for their public universities.

Louisiana is still suffering the effects of budget cuts enacted under former Gov. Bobby Jindal, Alexander said. The reluctance of state lawmakers to undo those cuts was one consideration in moving to Oregon, he said.

“It takes its toll when you fight and fight and fight, and see other states starting to pull away,” Alexander said in an interview.

In contrast, state appropriations in Oregon are now on the increase, he said. The political climate in Oregon is “more balanced, less extreme,” Alexander said.

Another factor was that Alexander and his wife wanted to return to the West Coast, he said. He said they plan this to be his final appointment as a campus president before retirement.

Alexander will take office at Oregon State on July 1, but he will step down as president of Louisiana State University in just two weeks. He will remain as a faculty member at Baton Rouge in order to complete work on a forthcoming book, The American Higher Education Dilemma: State Disinvestment, Student Indebtedness, and the Decline of Human Capital Development, to be published by the University of Illinois Press.

His base salary at Oregon State will be $630,000, and he will also receive $75,000 in supplemental retirement income after five years.

Eric Kelderman writes about money and accountability in higher education, including such areas as state policy, accreditation, and legal affairs. You can find him on Twitter @etkeld, or email him at eric.kelderman@chronicle.com.