With all the turmoil at California State University, Fresno, caused by problems in athletics, the huge successes on the acadmic side and the unprecedented connections the university has with the community have been overlooked by critics of Fresno State President John Welty. That got me thinking about Fresno State really having two presidents, at least in the public's mind, and I wrote about that concept in today's column.

Here are the key points in the commentary that you can find online here and in print in today's Vision section of The Bee.

There must be a co-presidency at Fresno State. How else can a rational person reconcile the two sides to John Welty's 16-year tenure at Fresno State? Throw out the athletic program and Welty is the best president the campus has ever seen. Throw out the academic side, and Welty is looking for a job.

Fresno State and Welty are again under intense criticism because they are defending their third gender-equity suit this year. The first will cost Fresno State $4.52 million for the firing of volleyball coach Lindy Vivas and the second turned into a $3.5 million settlement for Diane Milutinovich, the former associate athletic director who was reassigned against her will. Now fired women's basketball coach Stacy Johnson-Klein has her case before a Fresno County Superior Court jury. Will she deal the university its third straight mulit-million-dollar loss?