Harreld more than qualified to lead

To the editor:

It is time to move away from the misconceived notion that academics are the only ones who can successfully lead a university. Sure, it might make some aspects of the job more natural, but coming from a mostly business background should in no way disqualify someone from the race.

Critics have put J. Bruce Harreld under an unfair amount of scrutiny following the Board of Regents' decision to hire him as the next University of Iowa president. He has had an incredibly impressive career in the corporate sector and deserves more respect than he has received. Instead of allowing past norms to cloud our judgment of Harreld, we should keep an open mind and honestly evaluate his impressive executive experience. We should be willing to accept positive change, because if we don't we will find ourselves quickly fading into irrelevance.

Del Block

Cedar Rapids