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Updated: September 22, 2023 @ 4:47 am
Richard Myers’ tenure as president of Kansas State University wasn’t long, by the standards of that job. But it was certainly eventful, and we in Manhattan are fortunate that he was able to steer the university through those events toward a brighter future.
President Myers took over the university as its 14th president in 2016, after retiring from a stellar career in the military. He announced Monday that he’s retiring, effective at the end of calendar year 2021.
Just as his tenure as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff took a dramatic turn with the events of Sept. 11, 2001, his tenure at K-State became tangled up with at least three major challenges that he couldn’t have foreseen:
• First, rising racial tensions. Several incidents became perceived as race-related, despite the fact that they really weren’t. But at least one student used them, and pushed the limits of free speech, in order to provoke reactions, and that led to protests.
Myers and other university leaders responded with the right tone, and took substantive action, while still supporting free speech. It was a difficult moment, handled with relative grace.
• Second, a viral pandemic. The coronavirus forced the university to figure out how to do its business online, and also forced dramatic budget cuts. How that will all be sorted out remains to be seen, but we have to give President Myers and his people credit for navigating through it.
• Third, substantial leadership changes in the staff. The highest-profile shift was the retirement of Bill Snyder as the football coach, a moment that was likewise fraught with peril. But Myers also had to hire a new athletics director when John Currie left, and had to replace the legendary Pat Bosco when he retired. He had to hire a new provost, the university’s top academic officer.
Those positions are all filled with excellent people, and the university appears well-positioned for years to come.
There are, meanwhile, challenges that remain. Chief among them is the continued slide in enrollment, a problem that bedevils many universities but has been worse than usual here. President Myers didn’t create that problem, and certainly tried to address it, but it’s still an issue.
Whoever ends up replacing Myers — the person selected by the state Board of Regents as the next president — will have to confront that as a top priority.
But that person will also find an excellent university in far better shape than it might have been, if not for the leadership through difficult moments by Richard Myers.
As befits a former military leader, we offer our salute. A job well-done, sir.
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