Chancellor Limbaugh will stay at Northern

Montana State University-Northern Chancellor James M. Limbaugh said Thursday he won’t be going to Nicholls State University in Louisiana and he will be staying in Montana.

Limbaugh sent out an email to the university staff and faculty at 11:30 a.m. Thursday saying that he is no longer a candidate for president at Nicholls State.

“I am looking forward to continuing our partnership as we establish Montana State University as the university in Montana taking the lead to proactively address the cataclysmic changes that are enveloping higher education today,” Limbaugh wrote in his announcement.

In another email statement to the Havre Daily News, Limbaugh explained why he withdrew from the race at Nicholls.

“A successful university or college presidency has as its foundation the intangible concept of ‘institutional fit’: Does an interdependent relationship exist between the culture of the university and the skills and experiences of its chief officer that allows the successful achievement of mission and goals?”

Limbaugh said that in his visit to the university, he found that this “institutional fit” was missing, though it was a wonderful institution.

Limbaugh was in Louisiana earlier this week.

Limbaugh told the search committee in charge of choosing Nicholls’ next president that “the decision to pursue a presidency when you’re a sitting president is not an easy one,” according to a Louisiana newspaper.

“(My wife) and I went through long conversations about the impact on my own campus.” he said, according to the Daily Comet newspaper. “There’s been some resentment on the part of my home institution, but we took the risk knowing that perhaps there is something in my credentials that could contribute to the institution.”

In the schedule of interview times, Limbaugh had his interview at 10:15 a.m. Tuesday. According to The Daily Comet, in addition to the interviews, the candidates also spent the day meeting faculty, staff, administrators and community members.

“Both (my wife) and I are very pleased to continue to be a part of the MSUN community — and the Hi-Line — as we work collaboratively to make MSUN the best small college in the west,” Limbaugh said in the second email.