The numbers come from the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. Before now, college presidents in the CCCU have often stayed at universities longer than their counterparts, but as the pressures and complexity of university operations have increased, the number of years Christian presidents serve has decreased.
Gordon College President D. Michael Lindsay said he plans to end his 10-year job as president because he felt God was calling him to another task. He will leave his position this year. During his presidency, he has seen the field of higher education change.
He told The Christian Post – “Time horizons for expectations in the presidency have really shortened. Higher education used to be a sleepy field where change came very slowly and gradually. But for most of us, you now have to be nimble and responsible to a marketplace that changes year by year.”
In past generations, college presidents navigated less market pressure, smaller technological change and fewer layers of government bureaucracy,. Today, these factors all complicate a president’s work significantly.
Today, once a president joins a college, he starts a relatively brief “honeymoon period.” Eventually, the president makes controversial decisions that anger some people. People stop wanting to work with the president. Eventually, he becomes a scapegoat.