Journal Star editorial board – Jan 13, 2026 – LJS

My cmnt: This whole, sordid liberal affair reflects badly on UNL and the state of Nebraska. Mr. Bennett was UNL’s first chancellor of color. As part of their virtue signaling it was important to hire him. Now they show their true colors (no pun intended) by forcing him to resign. The Libs of UNL show they are racists for doing this. For shame.

Monday was Rodney Bennett’s last day as chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, capping a tumultuous past few months for the university. 

Bennett, whose two-and-a-half-year tenure is the shortest by any UNL chancellor, will not leave empty-handed, as the Journal Star’s Chris Dunker reported.

NU has agreed to pay Bennett roughly $1.1 million as part of a “resignation agreement and release.” The university noted the severance will be paid through discretionary funds, not state appropriations or tuition dollars. Higher education observers have noted that legal documents spelling out these kind of generous agreements are increasingly common.

Regardless, the hefty price tag is a tough pill to swallow, especially weeks after the NU Board of Regents voted to eliminate four academic programs to help close a $27.5 million structural budget deficit. 

Those cuts were put forward by Bennett, who was in some sense a fall guy for the university, becoming the target for those rightfully opposed to phasing out the programs — Earth and Atmospheric Sciences; Educational Administration; Statistics; and Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design (TMFD).

It was not a great position to be in. Bennett became the first chancellor to receive a no-confidence vote from the UNL Faculty Senate — and now he’s gone, which should come as no surprise.

If Bennett was hired, in part, to make these decisions and take the blame, then that job was accomplished.

But this doesn’t solve the budget crisis facing the university. And now a new chancellor must be hired, who will likely face similar headwinds but who hopefully can provide stability.