Texas A&M suffers another self-inflicted wound with the resignation of President Murano

When Elsa Murano was named the president of Texas A&M University 17 months ago, I didn't like the move. Seventeen months later, I still don't--but I like something else even less. The way she was removed.

Yeah, sure, she "resigned." Does anyone believe that? Her ouster was the result of a bungled, moronic coup led by a dithering idiot who probably got his marching orders from Austin. It's a disgrace, a travesty, and another black eye we Aggies must endure. We deserve better.

I don't know what it is about us Ags, but when we screw up, we have to do it front of as large an audience as humanly possible. We never do anything behind closed doors; nope, we gotta bare our ass in public. And, with the departure of Dr. Murano, we've given the haters something else to laugh about.

Dr. Murano did not do a good job. She also didn't do a horrible job. In fact, her sample size was way to small to say she did much of any job. But Mike McKinney, the chancellor of the A&M system, wanted her gone.

McKinney, for those of you who don't know, is good at breeding offensive linemen. Outside of that, I'm not impressed with anything he's ever done. In fact, while serving as the chief of staff for the Governor of Texas, he punched someone out during a brawl after the 2001 Texas A&M-Texas Tech game in Lubbock. To make matters worse, he punched out another Aggie who was coming to his aid. This alone should eliminate him from making any decisions of consquence regarding my beloved university ever.

But it didn't, and he's screwing up royally. After all, who does McKinney want to replace Murano with? Early returns are...himself! In a "cost cutting" measure, McKinney has proposed to the Board of Regents that the Chancellor and A&M-College Station presidency be consolidated. That would save $400,000--out of a budget of $1.2 billion.

McKinney's "budget cuts" are the same as Ahmadinejad's "landslide": they're both a bunch of crap. And A&M looks stupid. After all, Murano's ouster was done with the tact and grace of Ahmadinejad's theft of the Iranian election--that is to say, it was transparent, it was stupidly done and now those involved (McKinney and nine members of the board of regents) are sputtering around looking like they went to Baghdad Bob's charm school.

In his review of Murano last year, McKinney essentially said she was hard-headed and didn't play well with others. After concerns were raised about his sudden desire to toss Murano out with yesterday's leftovers by the faculty senate, McKinney told them to screw themselves, that he was exercising "joint governance." In other words, he was hard-headed and didn't play well with others. Sounds familiar, don't it?

The biggest problem with this whole deal is that it stinks of politics. As in, Austin politics. As in, a friend of mine who is the class of '72 and may need a job next year. As in, McKinney's old boss. All nine members of the board of regents are Rick Perry appointees and are beholden to him. Rick Perry did not want Elsa Murano as president of Texas A&M; for that matter, he didn't want Bob Gates either.

Someone else, however, did. His name was George W. Bush, and he held just a wee bit more clout than Rick. Murano was a Bush Administration appointee and Gates was the Director of CIA when 41 was president, not to mention the head of his graduate school at A&M. W is gone from the scene now, so Rick can get his way; after all, one former president bitching to another former president doesn't hold as much sway (and, for that matter, I think 41 is too nice a guy to pick a fight with Perry. 43 would.) And I think he has.

So it all looks like this--if McKinney's the guy, he'll do what Perry wants. He may even be a placeholder for Perry, who may well lose the GOP governor primary to Kay Bailey Hutchison next spring. If that's true, higher education just got a lot more political, and that's not good.

Even if it's not the case, the way this has been handled is an embarassment to our great university. If Mike McKinney wants another job, he should go back to breeding offensive lineman. He excels at that. Coups...well, he sucks at them. And Gov. Perry needs to back up and leave A&M alone for the time being, because he's doing more harm than good. We're going from a school with a world-class reputation to one that's a pawn for a bunch of good ol' boys--something we've tried to get away from for decades.

And, if our football team sucks, it's a rap we can't afford.