Was it only a few weeks ago that M. Peter McPherson was predicting that holding down the post as chairman of the Board of Directors of Dow Jones & Company would not interefere with his day job as president of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges?

Now, with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation maneuvering to buy the company, which publishes the venerable Wall Street Journal, it appears Mr. McPherson is knee-deep in the negotiations between Mr. Murdoch and members of the Bancoft family, who control the Dow Jones voting stock.

As reported today by the Journal, Mr. McPherson has been advocating, with Bancroft family members, for a deal that would provide for greater guarantees of independence for the newspaper than what Mr. Murdoch has proposed. —Goldie Blumenstyk