Senator Tim Flakoll Adds Name To List Of Prospective University System Chancellors

Yesterday we got news that no fewer than 19 candidates had applied to be the next chancellor of the North Dakota University System (Board of Higher Ed members were caught on tape last year saying that current Chancellor Larry Skogen pretty much hates the job during an illegal meeting). Today comes news of a late entry.

State Senator Tim Flakoll – a Republican from Fargo, an employee of North Dakota State University, and a member in good standing of the “Bison Caucus” – submitted an application at 4:06am this morning according to records obtained from the University System (see a list of the time/date of all applicants here).

The thing is, Flakoll’s application comes after the deadline for applications. According to the advertisement sent out by the NDUS for the Chancellor position (which I also obtained via open records request), all applications were to be in by March 17th for “fullest consideration.”

So I would assume that Senator Flakoll now would not be receiving “fullest consideration” for his application since his application was late. But can we count on that? Flakoll, after all, is an influential lawmaker with a long history of basically being the university system’s man in the Senate.

Let’s hope the university system treats Senator Flakoll’s application like anyone else’s. The last thing we need from an institution that is desperately trying to regain a sense of integrity and credibility with the public is evidence of political favoritism.