NU Regent Kenney, Sen. Ricketts react to NU President Ted Carter’s departure

KEARNEY, Neb. — Prominent Nebraska officials are reacting to the departure of University of Nebraska President Ted Carter to Ohio State.

The news came as a shock to many, including NU Regent Paul Kenney. He was out irrigating Tuesday morning when he got a message to call Carter.

“He said, ‘we’re having a news conference at 11:30 so I wanted to call everybody and let everybody know before they saw it on the news,’” Kenney said.

His reaction to the news?

“We’re disappointed. We had a really good relationship and things like that," Kenney said. "We wanted him to stay and he’s moving on, so we have to move on too.”

NCN talked with U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts at his campaign event in Kearney. Ricketts said he didn’t speak with Carter about longevity while he was governor. He praised Carter’s work and wished him well at Ohio State.

“I think that he’s tried to set the University on the right track to get spending under control," Ricketts said. "There are obviously differences we had on things like critical race theory, but I would say, in general, President Carter did a good job for the university.”

Kenney said Carter made remarkable changes to the university. He isn’t sure yet if the board of regents will be able to find a new president by the  time Carter leaves at the end of the year.

“We’re not going to set a timeline yet but we’re not going to drag our feet," Kenney said. "If there’s candidates out there interested we’ll move just as fast as we can and not miss a step.”

The board of regents will discuss setting the search process at a meeting on Friday.