State Media Spanks Big Education

Just as North Dakota’s higher education system seemed to have found solid ground after more than a decade of scandal and controversy, it’s been sent reeling again — this time by action of the system’s own leadership.

Chancellor Hamid Shirvani has surely overreached by claiming an office for himself in a new building on the UND campus that was intended to house the system’s technology staff.

Last week UND President Robert Kelley objected to the change in plans and set up a three-sided confrontation that the chancellor probably can’t survive.

There’s a legalistic way in which Shirvani’s action can be justified. It is a system building, not a UND building.

But that won’t get past the politics.

Already the Senate Appropriations Committee has scheduled hearings about the change. It’s charged by Ray Holmberg, who represents a Grand Forks district.