Chancellor must follow Wells' lead

Sunday marked the one-year anniversary of the death of longtime University chancellor and president Herman B Wells. \nWells, the man who would dress up as Santa Claus at Christmastime and walk around campus, the man who hand-signed every graduate's diploma, is immortalized with a statue and a scholarship program. \nBut there is something else the University should do to remember Wells --continue to hire administrators with the admirable qualities he possessed.\nThe most visible and important place this can be put into effect is in the search for the new Bloomington chancellor. IU President Myles Brand should keep Wells' visions and managerial style close in mind when choosing the new chancellor. \nThe new administrator will replace current Bloomington Chancellor Kenneth Gros Louis, a man who has been compared to Wells on numerous occasions. \n"I have great heart for the University," Gros Louis told the IDS when he announced his retirement. "It was my first job after graduate school. Herman B Wells had a great influence on me, and I tried to do what he did as an administrator. I will miss working with the student groups, and I will also miss being able to help individual faculty bring an idea to fruition."\nThe three finalists for Gros Louis' position -- Sharon Stephens Brehm from Ohio University, Richard Edwards from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Cora Bagley Marrett from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst -- hopefully can take some lessons from Wells and Gros Louis.\nBrand needs to keep in mind the kind of leader Wells was, including showing a genuine interest in students and a humility rare today, when interviewing the three candidates. Wells brought IU into the forefront of American universities, desegregating it, nearly tripling the student body, encouraging the School of Music and building the IU Auditorium.\nFormer students, faculty and administrators remember Wells and Gros Louis as father figures to the University. This is a tradition of excellence that must be maintained by future administrators. \nEither Brehm, Edwards or Marrett will have the task of following in the huge footsteps of Wells and Gros Louis. But if the administration and Brand keep with the traditions of the two great IU administrators when deciding on a new chancellor, the University will be a better place. \nIt would be the best way to keep the vision of Wells, IU's "Man of the Century," in tact for future generations.