As late as the mid-20th century, university presidencies were launching pads for the White House. Dwight Eisenhower’s decision to accept the presidency of Columbia University was designed to convey the impression of intellectual heft. Likewise, Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen’s occupancy of the presidential chair at the University of Pennsylvania was calculated to position him for a White House run. Going back as far as James Garfield’s leadership of Hiram College in Ohio, a university presidency was a crown jewel on the résumé of a presidential hopeful. Making a White House bid today from the top position on a U.S. campus would be justly viewed with puzzlement or even amusement.
While there is much debate over the value of political endorsements, top executives at American universities would probably be among the last people sought out to provide testimonials for a presidential aspirant; a Republican hopeful would do better getting the nod from the pastor of a small evangelical church and a Democrat from the leader of an obscure labor union. The political coinage of the university is debased.