Spring Break
Murano steered A&M into the future
Although she was controversial, she moved the University in the right direction.
By: Kaitlyn Drinkwater
Issue date: 6/15/09 Section: Opinion
As our president, Elsa A. Murano has had her fair share of ups and downs. From the shady appointment of General Weber to the both hailed and hated Aggie Assurance plan, it's been nothing if not an interesting 18 months.
Through it all, she has consistently confused "enlightened governance" with tattling via e-mail to the Board of Regents, or even the entire campus, when she feels someone has wronged her.
I dislike Murano as much as most Aggies do, but I can't say I'm thrilled to see her go. While I won't miss watching her little soap operas play out in my inbox, I think that her influence pushed A&M in a new direction, one we needed and still need to explore.
With the Board of Regents watching her every move and the often overwhelming disdain of the student body keeping her in check, it isn't like Murano ever had a leash long enough to do whatever she pleased, which is good because I think what she wanted for A&M was wildly different from what Aggies do. Still, she pushed and prodded and finagled and sometimes dealt under the table to get us to try something new.
The times they are a changin'; A&M welcomes a new 'largest freshman class in history' every fall. We can no longer be just a quaint, rural university, a novelty in a state that the rest of the country already finds hard to take seriously. We have to keep our traditions and what makes A&M itself, but we also have to try new things and make campus welcoming to students from all backgrounds, all faiths and all walks of life.
Unless even the "damn Yankees" feel, perhaps out of their comfort zone, but inexplicably at home at A&M, we will not only fail to attract the students necessary to be a top university, but the students who do graduate will find themselves unacceptable to the outside world and their employment options will be limited.
There are, I'm sure, plenty of people who want to say "good riddance" to Murano's goals of being a serious competitor nationally and cultivate a homogenous student body of good ol' boys in jeans and cowboy boots.
Maybe not too many people would admit to it, but there are a lot who think it. If we go that route, we may have our traditions, but A&M won't be able to call itself a top-tier university for long.
Yes, Murano has been at times less than honest, a drama queen and a petulant child, but apparently that's what it took to make us look into the future realistically, dragging our feet all the way. We've won for now, whether or not that's a good things remains to be seen.
I hope A&M officials consider what Murano was trying to get us to see as they search for a new president and a new direction for our University, if not we will only find ourselves here again and the last two years will be wasted.
Through it all, she has consistently confused "enlightened governance" with tattling via e-mail to the Board of Regents, or even the entire campus, when she feels someone has wronged her.
I dislike Murano as much as most Aggies do, but I can't say I'm thrilled to see her go. While I won't miss watching her little soap operas play out in my inbox, I think that her influence pushed A&M in a new direction, one we needed and still need to explore.
With the Board of Regents watching her every move and the often overwhelming disdain of the student body keeping her in check, it isn't like Murano ever had a leash long enough to do whatever she pleased, which is good because I think what she wanted for A&M was wildly different from what Aggies do. Still, she pushed and prodded and finagled and sometimes dealt under the table to get us to try something new.
The times they are a changin'; A&M welcomes a new 'largest freshman class in history' every fall. We can no longer be just a quaint, rural university, a novelty in a state that the rest of the country already finds hard to take seriously. We have to keep our traditions and what makes A&M itself, but we also have to try new things and make campus welcoming to students from all backgrounds, all faiths and all walks of life.
Unless even the "damn Yankees" feel, perhaps out of their comfort zone, but inexplicably at home at A&M, we will not only fail to attract the students necessary to be a top university, but the students who do graduate will find themselves unacceptable to the outside world and their employment options will be limited.
There are, I'm sure, plenty of people who want to say "good riddance" to Murano's goals of being a serious competitor nationally and cultivate a homogenous student body of good ol' boys in jeans and cowboy boots.
Maybe not too many people would admit to it, but there are a lot who think it. If we go that route, we may have our traditions, but A&M won't be able to call itself a top-tier university for long.
Yes, Murano has been at times less than honest, a drama queen and a petulant child, but apparently that's what it took to make us look into the future realistically, dragging our feet all the way. We've won for now, whether or not that's a good things remains to be seen.
I hope A&M officials consider what Murano was trying to get us to see as they search for a new president and a new direction for our University, if not we will only find ourselves here again and the last two years will be wasted.
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