Duane Nellis was inaugurated as the University of Idaho’s 17th president on Oct. 16, though in actuality he is the 21st person to serve in the position — two interims and two acting presidents who only served one year each aren’t counted as official presidents. However, whether or not the title is given to an interim, the fact remains that leadership changes hands and continuity is lost. Counting everyone who has served as the head of the university, Nellis will be the sixth person in 14 years to sit in the President’s Office. This gives us an average term of 2.3 years (unless Nellis holds out for a bit longer). For an institution as large, important and old as UI, that sort of turnover is damaging. We can’t expect stability when a typical student stays in town longer than two or three presidents/Benjamin Ledford, UIdaho Argonaut. More here.

Question: Why do UI presidents turn over about as often as Vandal football coaches?