UW Steven's Point chancellor resigns -- Earn headed North?

This article appeared in the Journal-Sentinel yesterday.  The Stevens Point chancellor, Linda Bunnell resigned, primarily because she was involved in an accident in a state car.  She didn't report it and had been drinking at a private club before it occurred.

She had apparently already made plenty of enemies, so this was the straw that broke the camel's back.  

I doubt Provost Earns will be leaving again, since they appointed their own provost to be the interim chancellor.  It seems like a good way to tie the story into our own campus.

The incident, however, raises the continuing question as to why these leaders think they live in a different world than the rest of us.  Dr. Bunnell didn't feel like laws applied to her.  I have complained about the way that academia has aped the worst of wall street in insisting that their leaders have to be grossly overpaid to be effective.  They also seem to have imbibed the spirit of being untouchable, no matter what they do to their institution.  

The average pay for presidents is $427,000 a year.  Now I know that UW system does not pay nearly that much, but they insist that they need to increase the range to "stay competitive."

Perhaps the economic downturn will bring some sanity back to the pay scale for administrators and a bit less arrogance. 

Finally, I might put in a good word for our own Chancellor Wells.  He has avoided such crazy scandals and has worked hard defending our insititution in Madison and in public.   There are things that could be better, but thus is life.