Come June, a decades-long reign will have ended. The retirement of Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Joseph W. Watson, after 25 years of heading the administrative unit most closely bound to student life, will leave a vacancy that could dictate the campus’ pulse in the coming decades.

While this board partly applauds Watson’s resume as an administrator, which includes pioneering efforts to increase racial diversity on campus, his dealings with the student body as a whole have been stiff and coldly parental. Watson’s opposition to beer gardens at Sun God has undercut the event’s capacity for both profit and fun. Last year’s Student-Run Television debacle, in which Watson governed station-content negotiations using Assistant Vice Chancellor of Student Life Gary R. Ratcliff as a mouthpiece, further demonstrated the parental mindset historically present in many campus administrators. The student affairs department cannot continue this tradition.

While he gives face time to students and student leaders, Watson lacks a will to compromise, preferring to make integral student-life decisions alone. This authoritative stance has damaged the campus’ reputation in nonacademic areas.

Watson’s exit will also leave behind unfinished business. As head of the group commissioned to address student complaints outlined in the Undergraduate Student Experience and Satisfaction report, the next vice chancellor of student affairs could improve a college life many students say is lacking. Under Watson’s watch, the committee has been mostly underused and insignificant, but this board hopes to see an incoming administrator that will be more dependent on, and aligned with, student opinion in molding campus life.