The University of Southern California has been very popular in 2010, and we are only a few months into the year. USC is once again in the news as they name the 11th president of the university, C.L. Max Nikias. Currently Nikias is the executive vice president and provost, but he will officially become the president on August 3rd as reported by USC. Nikias is going to succeed Steven Sample, who decided to retire last year in November. Sample has been president of the university since 1991, and he will be leaving the university in good hands with Nikias at the helm. Over his educational career, Nikias has raised millions for USC and the Viterbi School of Engineering where he was previously the dean. Students and faculty welcome the change, and think that the university will be led well by Nikias.
USC, as well as other UC schools in the state, still has a big battle ahead of them due to budget cuts. Because of this, having people like Nikias as president is a smart move as California colleges and universities need to make sure that they do everything they can to bring in revenue, including raising money for their endowments. Nikias has been with USC since 1991, so he has an intimate knowledge of all of the inner workings of the school which should help him as president. He even beat out 75 other educators from around the U.S., that the USC trustees also considered for the role as president. Later this year we will get a chance to see what Nikias does with his first few months in office.
This morning I looking at an article from this sports journalist named Mike Florio, I believe he covers football for Profootballtalk.com. He was trying to make the arguement for why Reggie Bush and Pete Carroll need to be penalized in some form, for what they did during their stint at Univ. of SoCal.. Personally I don’t sense Reggie Bush ought to be penalized in any manner whatsoever, as the student athlete that he was, I need to believe that he merely did what he was told to accomplish, or offered the “green light” to perform, by his superiors. I feel that the majority from the blame really should be given to Pete Carroll along with the athletic director. The ones that I think most sorry for are Lane Kiffin plus the current roster of players. These poor guys are going to have endure the full repercussions for the actions of their predecessors. As for stripping away the Heisman trophy that Bush won, I feel that’s utter craziness. He won that honor, his on the field abilities and being the best athlete for that period.