Have you ever wondered what University President Steven Knapp does every day? There’s strategic planning, international trips and asking donors for money. He speaks at Colonial Inauguration, in front of Congress and to the Faculty Senate.

But in a column in the news site Inside Higher Ed Monday, Longwood University administrator K. Johnson Bowles writes that the modern university president juggles too much. He provides a sample schedule:

7 a.m.– Breakfast with state legislator
8:30 a.m.– Cabinet meeting
11 a.m.– Calls to trustees
11:30 a.m.– Meeting with university attorney
Noon– Scholarship lunch with students and donors
1:30 p.m.– Individual meeting with provost
2 p.m.– Drive to state capital
3 p.m.– Meet with Secretary of Education
3:30 p.m.– Drive back to campus
4:30 p.m.– Address faculty senate
6 p.m.– Maybe have dinner or answer e-mails, return calls
7 p.m.– Women’s basketball game
8:30 p.m.– Men’s basketball game

That’s a lot on presidents’ plates, sure, but Bowles continues:

“Are there only a few people who fit this bill? Is the job more difficult and more complicated? Are expectations too high? Probably, yes.”

And to a point, I agree. Being a college president is not an easy gig. And it’s important that applicants for the job realize that this career choice isn’t just a logical stepping stone for any dean or provost, but rather is a huge responsibility that only the best and brightest are cut out for.

But Bowles is wrong to suggest that expectations are too high. We should expect a lot from our university leaders: Yes, their schedules are jam-packed from sun up to sundown ­– but that’s why we pay them the big bucks.

Knapp makes over $1 million a year. With a salary like that, expectations should be high. If our tuition dollars help pay high-ranking university officials, then the value of our degrees is in their hands.