Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux both want the job with a base salary of as much as $345,000 and free housing in an on-campus mansion.
But the possibility of a politician for president of the 30,000-student university was not without controversy as one member of the selection committee, university benefactor Dick Schmidt, warned that the university’s attempt to mend its public image could backfire.
“If we fill this thing with politicians, in my opinion, this process will get ugly,” said Schmidt, a retired real estate and aviation executive who gave $75 million to the college to build a teaching hospital on the campus.
