Sunday, April 26, 2009

The story behind Carlos Santiago's decision

The Miami Herald's coverage of UWM's Carlos Santiago's unsuccessful candidacy for the presidency of Florida International University (FIU) could not have been more different than the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's.

When Santiago pulled his candidacy at the last minute, the Journal Sentinel breathed a sigh of relief, quoting local opinion makers as being "shocked" and "thrilled" that Santiago would not be leaving UWM.

Milwaukee's Mayor Tom Barrett even suggested that Santiago's commitment to Milwaukee was the determining factor: "At the end of the day, it wasn't a situation where I thought he wanted to leave."

The Journal Sentinel ends its coverage with a transparent call to sweeten Santiago's $300,000 contract by Jean Dowdall, vice president with the executive search firm Witt/Kiefer that had recruited Santiago for FIU.

The Miami Herald had a very different take on Santiago's candidacy reporting that: "FIU failed to attract truly powerhouse candidates," and that Santiago's abrupt withdrawal had less to do with a commitment to Milwaukee and UWM and everything to do with the fact that:
"He had his name removed from consideration ...after it became evident that he did not have enough votes to get the job."

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