Murray State University held its first of four town hall meetings Monday for campus and community members to meet one of the finalists to be the college’s next president.
Monday’s meeting featured finalist Chad Tindol, who currently serves as the chief administrative officer at the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama system, where he has worked for nearly two decades.
During the town hall, Tindol said his draw to MSU started with the strengths he saw on campus.
“Why Murray? I looked at this institution before I made [an] application here and I found several things that attracted me, and this visit has done nothing but affirm those thoughts and what I saw.” Tindol said. “The first are the strengths I see at this campus - strong numbers, strong budget, strong dedication and love for this place.”
Tindol, who said he is a first-generation college graduate, earned his bachelor’s degree from UA in 1994. He then attended Yale Law School, where he earned his juris doctor in 1997. While attending law school, Tindol served as treasurer for the college’s chapter of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization whose leadership played a key role in appointing multiple U.S. Supreme Court justices under President Donald Trump.
After working in private legal practices, Tindol started working at UA in its legal offices in 2006 and held other offices at the university and the university system before assuming his current role in 2019.
As chief administrative officer, Tindol currently serves as a liaison for the university president and leads and supports some strategic and operational projects. Additionally, according to his curriculum vitae, he chaired a group in 2020 in the COVID-19 pandemic that was designated to help implement plans to return the campus to full operations.
At Monday’s town hall, Tindol said he valued MSU being a public university and highlighted his commitment to first-generation students.
“People here believe in this institution, they believe in the purpose of the institution, and they want it to advance,” Tindol said. “That’s not to lose sight of what it is, a place that serves 43% first-gen students, like myself, a place that cares for those students and thinks they matter.”
Tindol also spoke about some trends he sees as threats to higher education, such as the projected decline of college-age students in the coming years and political disagreements.
“Higher ed at times seems unpopular with the entire spectrum of political views and that’s a threat. We have to prove our worth to society, our worth to parents, our worth to our students - and I see Murray working to do that.”
Three more town hall meetings featuring other Murray State presidential finalists take place in the upcoming weeks. The board of regents is expected to make a hiring decision before the start of the next academic year.
