Just more than a year and a half ago, James L. Oblinger was installed as the 13th Chancellor of North Carolina State University. As Chancellor, Oblinger is the top administrator for 31,129 undergraduate, graduate and doctorial students. Within his 60-plus-hour work week his duties range from meeting with staff, traveling downtown or to Washington D.C. and representing the University. There is the occasional, but rare, personal time … However, as the chancellor, Oblinger must not lose sight of the University’s focus: students.

As students, it is a must that we maintain an open dialog with our chancellor and that the chancellor do the same. Within this past year and a half, students have wondered about the commitment that Chancellor Oblinger has in regards to being accessible and present within and around the campus community.

Oblinger is doing some good things in relation to student access and campus visibility, but not enough. A chancellor must balance his or her time between students and the other external duties that come with the office.

Oblinger recently spoke of his perspective on the role of chancellor, saying, “I think it is important for the chancellor to stay in touch with the pulse of the student body.”

As a way to take the pulse of the students, the chancellor has taken the time to eat lunch with students at Clark Dining Hall, walk through campus on the weekends when free and on occasion pass by the Brickyard. As Oblinger said, “Something that I don’t publicize often is that I like to go to Carmichael gym and work out with students and talk to them.”

These visits out into the campus community are beneficial to the chancellor-student relationship, but there must be more of an opportunity for students to talk directly to him. He attends the Chancellor Liaison meeting, but often it may be hard for a student to directly speak with the chancellor one on one. To his defense, he has a busy schedule and often directs students to the people who can best answer their questions. As Oblinger said, the “chancellor does not know everything [about the University].”

Holladay Hall should welcome students — especially the chancellor’s office. If there is an issue that a student wishes to express his or her opinion about, then the door to the chancellor’s office needs to be open if at all possible. As Oblinger commented, “I have what I would describe as an open-door policy; however I don’t have 36 hours in a day.”

Chancellor Oblinger should continue to instruct his staff to place student appointments as a high priority. I realize there are days when the chancellor has no available time for students (I have his personal schedule from the last three weeks), but he needs to attempt to hold time slots for students to come by and air their concerns.

When it comes to Oblinger he is “always open to suggestions.” That being said, one suggestion I would make to the chancellor is to attempt to raise his public profile to students on different areas of campus. The chancellor should schedule lunch once every week or two at the different dining areas on campus (not always Clark Dining Hall) such as Talley Student Center, the Atrium, Fountain or Case Dining Hall.

I see many plausible options that Oblinger could implement to engage students. Holding a town hall meeting with students one or two times each semester would be a wonderful way for a free exchange of ideas among students and the Chancellor. Another could be for the chancellor to walk around student tailgates prior to a football game. This way he can still maintain the pulse of the students like he says he wants to. Former N.C. State and current University of California, San Diego Chancellor Mary Anne Fox has online chats with her students.

In sitting down with Oblinger on Tuesday, I got to see what he has on his plate when it comes to workload. He was nice to cancel two appointments so I could interview him. While Chancellor Oblinger’s campus visibility, interactions and access are good, they can and should be better. He is doing his best to meet with students, but we need to ask for just a little more from our chancellor.

With that, Oblinger can go from good to great.

E-mail Matt at [email protected]