Mitch Daniels has been named as Purdue’s new president. Several questions came to me when I heard the news.

-Will his million-dollar annual salary enable him to return contributions he received from convicted Ponzi schemer Tim Durham so the small-investor victims of Durham will receive a pittance of their stolen investments?

-Will the former governor be given a "pass" if he rides his Harley past the dorms during "quiet hours"?

-Will Mitch allow the capable people at the Krannert School of Business to keep the University’s check books away from Daniels’s aides, who seem not to have a handle on how to balance such things?

-Will he seek to lease out Mackey Arena to make up shortfalls in the Purdue budget (caused in part by his cuts to state funding)? If so, I know IU fans will likely chip into a fund to obtain that lease. I think they would change the colors of the Gene Keady court.

-Will he go near any pension funds? (Not a good idea.)

-Will he try to increase the number of on-line courses available to students? (25% of students at Purdue take on-line courses already; those things sure cut overhead.)

-Will he understand that Triple-X has nothing to do with pornography and everything to do with hangover-laden breakfasts? 

-Will Mitch hang out at The Chocolate Shoppe (a/k/a Harry’s)? Will he make a token appearance there? I would think Herschel would okay space be made at the bar on a Friday afternoon for the governor-now-University president.

   For four years I worked at Purdue University. I have a lot of good memories about the place. People used to make fun of it as a backward, agri-engineering center of boredom. I met a lot of good people there.

   I just do not see Mitch as a good "fit" for Purdue. Of course, I did not see him as a good "fit" for the office he soon will leave after eight years. The candidates the Democrats ran might have had something to do with his victories.

   At least, from what I have heard, he plans to live on campus. That is interesting. He has opted for University housing. His choice as Purdue president has been criticized for his lack of academic credentials. That does not bother me. He has a great background of leadership. Obviously, he met the standards of the members of the Board of Trustees in West Lafayette. Oh yeah—how many of them did he appoint to those positions? I am sure no consideration was given to that aspect of his application.