Lance Twitchell, or Lance X̱ʼunei Twitchell as he is also known, is an associate professor of Alaska Native languages at the University of Alaska Southeast.
He’s also an expert on who should be chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage. In his assessment, if you haven’t been a university professor, you aren’t qualified. Even if you were governor of the state for five years.
On Twitter, Twitchell wrote, “Do white guys need to be qualified for the jobs they get, or do they just get to say, ‘I think I’ll be a chancellor today even though I have no experience doing anything like that’?”
Twitchell’s rhetoric referred to the selection of former Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell as chancellor of UAA, which was announced this week. Twitchell believes Parnell has the white male advantage.
Parnell, also a former state representative and state senator, will take over the Anchorage campus management in June. A lawyer, Parnell has political and state experience few can claim. Now, he’ll get a taste of academia’s Critical Race Theory politics before he even starts.
Read: class assignment: Parnell to be chancellor at University of Alaska Anchorage
In a truly ‘fair’ world people should only be allowed to use technology discovered by their race. Only white people should be allowed to use electricity, only Native Americans should be allowed to benefit from growing corn and using fertilizer, only Blacks get to use genetics, only Arabs get to use Arabic numbers. That is the only way to be ‘fair’.
Or we can all put aside the bickering of skin shade and regional origin and work together to advance mankind by putting the best people into jobs. We are all Earthlings sharing this big blue marble, and we will either cooperate and get along or we will destroy each other with our hatred.
To Lance X̱ʼunei Twitchell, as you lay on the gurney with heart muscle dying by the second, do you interrogate the cardiologist about his racial background and if his politics match yours before you allow him to save your body?
Sniff, sniff.
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I smell racism.
He is brilliant indigenous frustrated angry man whose democrat party choice control how high he and his gifted colleagues are elevated. All the work he and colleagues like Worl hasnt been fully appreciated by their political party of choice. Thats how I see them. The choice was either between Sean Parnell or another white woman Deena Bishop. Hahaha
However Parnell had the edge being a Republican. Deena Bishop would had just nail the last nail in a dying University. UA needs a Republican minded individual get them out of their business mess. Hahaha
Glad to hear Sandeen went to a place where she be appreciated commi-cali
Seems Twitchell is focused on race? Seems that running a state doesn’t compare to running a school.
I have to agree with Twitchell, what qualifies Parnell to be a chancellor? Does being a lawyer and politician mean that you can lead UAA? Parnell has no educational training whatsoever so I guess he is using Betsy DeVoss qualities.
Parnell only really claim to fame as governor in my opinion is that he kissed the butt of the oil industry whenever he could or they asked him to.
But we know that Suzanne will be giving Parnell as much favorable press as a former employee.
I take my coffee with liberal tears.
Hey Lance, the Civil Rights Act of 1946 is still in effect and works both ways!
This may be a “skunk at a parade” moment but there is a kernel of truth to Mr. Twitchell’s comment. He is completely wrong about the race part. The UA system has often installed political, rather than academic, people in to leadership positions. Remember Chancellor Fran Ulmer? And the current UA System president is not an academic. If the University wanted to stand itself up as a serious institution, it would seek and install academics as leaders. Several years ago, a talented UA academic departed for a university president position elsewhere after he was passed over for a similar position in favor of a military person. That said, I would hope that we could avoid left-wacko academics, of which there are many.
LanceX sounds like he’s worried about his department budget getting audited under Parnell
Being the CEO of a state as large and complex as Alaska qualifies one for most any managerial position, in my opinion. Bringing up his skin color is simply racist.
I wonder if the newly selected chancellor was a “person of color” with zero experience in education. (Or experience running a large organization for that matter?) Would he be just as outraged?
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Besides, what experience do you really need in “education” to run a university? Are they expecting the chancellor to teach classes? To adjudicate on all hiring decisions? University chancellor is an administrative position, it is about managing people, a large number of people, and it is about meeting a budget, a very large budget, supplemented by the State of Alaska, by the way.
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So, let’s see. Is a former Governor of Alaska qualified to:
A.) Run a large organization which is..
B.) Comprised of multiple departments, and staffed by…
C.) A lot of people, and be able to….
D.) Work a high dollar budget, and…
E.) Work the political system to the benefit of the University?
Yeah, you are right. Worst choice for chancellor ever. Should have picked some minority off of the streets.
I’m pretty surprised he was chosen considering today’s race charged atmosphere. Most of the people who end up in important positions these days end up there by virtue of race, gender or sexual orientation, and I don’t mean white/male/straight. Few of them are qualified to run anything. Best example of all was Obama
@CBMTTEK has a point here. Chancellor is an administrative position, and management has certain requirements which can differ dramatically from place to place.. Managing an institution such as a hospital or a university or a trucking company requires differing sets of skills. You probably don’t want someone managing an orange orchard in Florida running a hospital. You’re not going to take your dog to the people hospital or go to your local vet to get your own annual checkup. Just because Parnell was a pretty dismal failure as governor does not mean he will succeed as chancellor of a university.
I wanted to throw in that if a non-academic is to be selected for this job, Governor Parnell is an excellent choice. Smart, balanced, rational. I wish him every success and hope he is able to stop the dismemberment of UAA.
In my humble opinion, “university professor” is a disqualification.
More crying from Harborguy and Greg r, our resident canting fools.
Pure envy! Democrats and twitchy professors don’t like Republicans in top academic spots only because they are Republicans. Twitchy sounds like a racist too, as that’s the last place argument in order to capture any ground in a debate. Squealing racism doesn’t demonstrate a scintilla of intellectual horsepower. Harborguys’s appearance here at MRAK as chief apologist for Marxists and Lefties is further evidence of weak cerebral output. His posts are on par with 8th grade intellectualism.
As a native American who was raised white, I can tell you that this guy in the southeast is a jealous fool. He should know that anyone that has done what Sean has done is highly qualified to be a professor regardless if he served in that position or not. Just because somebody has never boiled water before doesn’t mean they don’t know how. The chancellor is an administrative position as some has said. As an administrator and attorney, Sean is highly qualified for the job and maybe even overqualified. Yep haters have to hate. That’s what they do. And, I have found over my 60 plus years of life, that most whites are more qualified than most natives even though I’m a native myself. We can go into the more education part, more life experiences that develop more brain synapses which allows for learning and on and on. But that’s an argument for another day. Part of my faith has been restored and UAA because of Sean’s selection to the position of Chancellor. I wish him well.
Well, the professor seems to be the racist. It is the natural way of the progressive class.
If one is an outstanding university professor, presumably that means he or she is deeply knowledgeable about the subject matter and has the tools, insights, and abilities to effectively pass that knowledge on to the students.
How does that translate into managing multiple departments, seeking for and allocating funding, managing a budget, developing strong career development tracks, and the myriad of other duties of the Chancellor’s office?
Have to agree with the prior post: Holding a teaching position in a university looks more like a disqualifying feature than a requirement.
Passed over were we, Twitch? Complaining usually makes you seem much more qualified to those that have already decided. You be you.
I disagree with Harborguy on some things, and agree with him on other things. I’m glad that he comments here.
Democrats of today ALWAYS play their Race Card first.
Harbor Bird,
What qualified Fran Ulmer for her University Job? Being a Democrat? It is well known that the UA system upper level Positions exist to find homes for Democrats.
A bit on the boring side and everything.
Mr. Twitchell’s comments are self denigrating and unfortunate. We have way too much of this going on today. I hope things get better for him and I hope Mr. Parnell can bring about good changes at UA. He is certainly capable if the staff will support him. If this is their reaction to him they will sink their own ship. Time for reflection everyone.
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