news-record.com

After less than two years on the job, N.C. A&T Chancellor Stanley F. Battle is leaving.

In a stunning development that seemed to take the whole community by surprise, the university announced Tuesday that Battle will serve through the end of the school year, then walk away.

His last official day will be June 30, at least giving the school time to begin the search for a successor. But no matter how orderly the transition, this is a serious blow.

First, there is the sudden, mysterious nature of his departure. A university news release said Battle is leaving "due to family and personal reasons."

In a written statement UNC President Erskine Bowles said he respected Battle's decision and praised him for "his ongoing contributions to A&T and the Triad region."

But neither Bowles, nor A&T officials, nor Battle himself would elaborate, leaving it to the rest of us to fill in the gaping blanks. Battle left campus without speaking to reporters. Presumably he will at some point. Both the A&T and Greensboro communities deserve a fuller explanation than they got during Tuesday's awkward dance around transparency.

Meanwhile, the timing of the announcement is far from ideal. It comes during a time of economic uncertainty, with all UNC system campuses required to make painful cuts to their budgets.

It also continues an unsettling degree of turnover in A&T's top job. Counting interim Chancellor Lloyd Hackley, A&T has had three chancellors in less than three years.

No sooner had Battle chosen his top lieutenants, learned the community and begun his pet initiatives, than it seemed he was gone.

Battle certainly had set his sights on the right priorities:

* He backed off on ambitious enrollment goals to concentrate on raising admissions standards and improving graduation rates.

* He conceived a visionary partnership with public schools, "Cosby Kids," that would prepare students as early as fourth grade for college careers -- and he recruited the program's inspiration, comedian and actor Bill Cosby, to perform a benefit concert.

* And the school received a prestigious, $18 million Engineering Research Center grant on his watch.

Battle had seemed a promising fit for A&T: stern, passionate and committed.

Now the search soon will begin -- again -- for A&T's next leader.

As for the curious circumstances of Battle's resignation, who knows? What we do know is that A&T needs both effective and stable leadership at the helm.

Stanley Battle, we hardly knew ye.