CLICK ABOVE TO LISTEN TO MAX STEVENS’ INTERVIEW WITH FRITZ ERICKSON
Former Northern Michigan University President Fritz Erickson is speaking out about the reasons for his being fired after seven years as president.
In an interview with the Radio Results Network on Wednesday, Erickson said his dispute with the Board of Trustees centered on Board members trying to make policies that the president should be in charge of, including whether to require a COVID vaccine on campus.
“We didn’t always see eye=to-eye on things,” Erickson said. “I felt, though, at the end of the day, my responsibility was to the 9,000 lives that are part of Northern Michigan University. You had to be in a position where one person decided. And that was my responsibility. For some board members, the issue of requiring vaccines was a critical piece. For some board members, other kinds of issues were critical to them. So, I don’t think it was so much one thing as each board member may have had their different thoughts and different reasons.”
While micromanaging on the part of the board was the main reason for the dispute, Erickson also said that when it was clear they would not be able to work together, he could not stay on for the rest of the year and then resign, which is what the board wanted him to do.
“When they came to me six weeks ago, and they said they’d like to make a change, I was like, OK, let’s see if we can work our way through that to make kit workable,” Erickson said. “In the end, I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my principles on it.”
Erickson also wanted the university to pay his salary to his wife if he passed away, and the board refused to do so.
Many have speculated that the high-profile contract dispute with the faculty union was the biggest issue, but Erickson ssys it wasn’t.
“Negotiations are really between the union and the Board of Trustees,” Erickson said. “That’s because the Board of Trustees lays out a set of parameters. Our role in the administration is to try to get to a deal within those parameters. I don’t know if the board is going to change their parameters going forward or not.”
In announcing Erickson’s firing last Friday, Board Chair Tami Seavoy was vague about the reasons for the move, saying “we expected more thoughtful and critical action from him on many issues. For these reasons, we have lost confidence in his ability to effectively lead the university.” Erickson, though, says he’s leaving the president’s office with his head held high.
“The community needs to understand that Northern is in a great place,” Erickson said. “Marquette is in a great place, and there are so many wonderful things happening across the Upper Peninsula. That connection between university and community is so very, very important.”
Erickson is moving out of the president’s house on campus and will live in his lakeside home in Gwinn. He will continue to be paid by the university for the next year, so he will take that year off. Then he plans to return to teaching, as he is a tenured member of the NMU faculty.
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