Facebook for President

June 11, 2009

Several years ago I noticed if you wanted to run for student government, there was a new requirement – a Facebook group.  After discovering this, I wondered if the number of members who joined the group was an indicator and predictor of success; and to my surprise, I found the results to be only a few percentage points off.

Facebook GroupsRecently, I saw a new Facebook group at my Alma Mater, Howard Payne University (HPU), rallying support for my former literature professor as the next university president. This is the first time I have ever seen a Facebook group used to rally support for a potential university president. (There are a lot of groups about university presidents, but not for positive reasons).  And as a person with ties to HPU, higher education, and social media, I am intrigued by this use of Facebook.

As I begin writing this post, I am a little nervous, especially since this is about someone who once graded my writing.  (I hope she doesn’t send me corrections or grade this!)  Dr. Romig is a great professor; she challenges and expects the most out of her students.  After finishing her PHD at Rice University in 1978, she started teaching at HPU and has been there ever since.  Audree Johnson, an HPU alumni, described Dr. Romig’s classes as “life changing.”  As Audree talked about her experience at HPU and Dr. Romig’s class, I thought she purposely giving me cliché answers, but the more she spoke, I realized that she genuinely enjoyed and had an amazing learning experience in Dr. Romig’s classes that really changed her life.  (Did I mention that Audree, or Ms. Johnson is a high school English teacher?) Dr. Romig literally changed Audree’s life, which is why when Audree heard her former professor was interested in applying for the vacant president position, Audree created a Facebook group to rally her support. Dr. Romig thought only a few people would join but it quickly grew to 447 members! Not bad for a school with a population of 1200 students!

ShareShare on TwitterPin It
Tags:
  • http://www.tikesbestfriend.wordpress.com Tim Dahl

    I’ve only heard good things about Dr. Romig.

    However, do you think that Dr. Romig would be a good fundraiser? I’ve spoken with about 4 university presidents over the past two years…asking them about what they really do. Their voices have been of one accord…they raise money for the institutions. Sure, they help grant tenure and other administrative duties…but, that is also why they have VPs and Deans. The VPs and Deans do the heavy lifting in those areas.

    In short, if Dr. Romig wouldn’t be an effective fundraiser for HPU, then we need to find someone else. A University President either lives or dies by the money s/he raises.

    Tim Dahl

  • http://www.twitter.com/annmwhite Ann White

    I have to admit that if this were happening at my school I’d be nervous. Unlike student government positions, presidents of colleges aren’t really elected through popular support. My concern would be that if the this professor wasn’t given the position, then it would be harder for the masses to support whoever was chosen. Then again, this is just the PR side of me coming out. :) I’ll interested to see how this goes!

  • http://twitter.com/jacksonj Jeff

    Tim

    You raise a very good point. Looking back on the recent HPU history both Dr. Don and Dr Hall were active in fund raising, but to different degrees. Dr Newbury had an exec VP in that area and Hall did not. Regardless the president will always be the chief find raise.

    I think she would be able to effective. Many alumni seem to be excited about this opportunity. I think a large part of the group is made up of the fb group consist alumni, many that have not been engaged to the campus in several years. I also think she has a great love for the school and a great personality which goes a long way in raising funds. During my time raising funds for college campuses I found that building authentic relationships is key to fund raising, and I think Dr R would be able to master it.

  • http://twitter.com/jacksonj Jeff

    Ann that is a very good point and one that I had not fully thought of. I am not sure if I stated this earlier but she did not actually create the group and does not control it in anyway. And I may should have said this in the original post, but they were encouraging students and alumni both to give their feedback in the process, so if anything this can increase other voices in the process.

    It will be interesting to see what happens.

« Return Home