Last week, Ohio University hired a new executive director of Communications and Marketing - basically, a new spokeswoman for the university.
Renea Morris, a 20-year veteran of public relations who lists crisis management as an area of expertise, will certainly have her work cut out for her here - although she certainly will be thoroughly compensated at the incredible rate of $157,500 a year for the many headaches she will endure throughout her tenure. (That's about 6,847 bottles of Advil.)
Morris will have the task of walking the fine line of obligations to both the university and the public when doing her daily job. Ideally, she will straddle that line, rather than hop over to the university's side, as some public relations administrators are wont to do. Undoubtedly, she will butt heads with the public and the media some days. And that's understandable. But we hope in the next five years, Morris will foster a dedication to the flow of public information in Communications and Marketing.
Unfortunately, Morris' hiring - and exorbitant salary - at a time of economic troubles does bring the university's priorities into question. And while we understand the need for someone to lead a division that gives the university its face, it cannot neglect hiring leaders of colleges. The Honors Tutorial College currently relies on an interim dean, and last month its students were informed that the dean search has been put on hold. Yet the university hired Morris for $61,734 more than they paid the last HTC dean, Ann Fidler. The university has also suspended its search for a College of Health and Human Services dean.
Apparently, the university forgets that the true path to national prominence lies not just in making a show of educating its students, but in actually educating.
Editorials represent the views of The Post's executive editors.
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