Two recent open forums hosted by the Presidential Search Committee served as outlets for gathering information about desired attributes in Bradley’s next university president. Discussions at the events went beyond looking forward, however, as they centered primarily on frustrations of faculty, staff, community members and students.
On March 26, the committee hosted a forum in Westlake Hall. With just a few more than 10 students in attendance, the majority of comments were made by faculty and some staff members.
Although discussion at the forums provided feedback about issues at Bradley that will aid in the search process, most comments did not directly relate to the four questions about presidential qualities listed as a guide for the forums.
For current issues, forum participants said the university’s transition state, including vacancies for many high level positions, has created an uncertain environment.
“I think you perhaps underestimate the concern or the vacuum of leadership that exists when we are absent a provost or absent a president, and we’re in a very difficult budget situation,” associate accounting professor Stephen Kerr said. “There is a tremendous amount of anxiety and rightly so; there isn’t leadership in place.”
A candidate with strong fiscal responsibility and a focus on academics was a common request from forum attendants.
“We need a president who knows that they need to give the provost the academic budget,” interactive media professor Ed Lamoureux said. “We can’t run the academic program with the Provost running up to Swords Hall asking for money; it slows everything down. Part of the slide away from academics is that the person with that authority doesn’t have that authority.”
Students echoed this sentiment.
“Instead of bleeding $8 million into athletics, maybe we should make our priority academics; that’s the primary goal of the institution, and that’s what we should strive for,” junior political science major William Bessler said.
Bradley legacy Mackenzie Payne said she still believes in Bradley as a worthwhile university, but she has significant financial concerns as a student.
“The rate of tuition goes up higher than the rate of inflation every year,” the sophomore English major said. “But here at Bradley, the scholarships we are offered as we came in as freshmen don’t change at all, which is kind of like we are being punished for various budgetary problems that Bradley might have…I come from Wisconsin, where I can get a public education for $12,000 a year, but I’m here at Bradley because I think it’s better. Raising tuition to make up for not having enough students is just like punishing the students you have here.”
Last week’s forum was followed by another on Monday, which was held in the Hayden-Clark Alumni Center Ballroom and welcomed community members to share their thoughts.
“As a parent who has done this college search for six children in the past, I know that the neighborhood is very important, and I know that you tend to live in an isolated situation where you feel you just go from building to building and classroom to classroom, but that isn’t the truth,” community member and Moss-Bradley Residential Association member Marjorie Klise said. “That isn’t what parents are looking for when they come to town. They want to know how their children are going to walk from their off-campus housing to their classrooms. They want to know where they’re going to go jogging at night. They want to know where they’re going to walk for their entertainment, and I think when a school administration doesn’t have a good town relationship, I think it’s not to your benefit.”
Despite being a community forum, Monday’s discussion was still dominated primarily by internal concerns. The importance of being aligned with the culture, mission and values of Bradley were main topics stressed at the forum.
“If a change agent were to come, I would like to be very clear that that change agent knows who we are because there are very few places like us,” psychology professor Tim Koeltzow said. “As a consequence, we have to do things based on an authentic knowledge of who we are, and sometimes that means doing things very differently than what everybody else is doing.”
Beyond describing attributes of an ideal presidential candidate, forum participants highlighted some of the challenges facing the next university president.
“I see morale as the lowest it’s ever been since I’ve been here,” associate professor of marketing Matt O’Brien said.
Although students primarily expressed satisfaction with their Bradley experiences, they did identify with some of the frustrations of university employees.
“When we don’t have the faculty returning [and] when the faculty aren’t being taken care of, the students aren’t being taken care of,” Charlie Cohen, a sophomore political science and public relations double major, said. “Without the students and without the faculty, there isn’t a Bradley.”
The university’s fiscal health and budgeting decisions were highlighted, not just by employees, but by students as well.
“We keep funding things that have proven unsuccessful, and our successful programs are not [getting] funding,” freshman health science major Sarah Bujold said, describing the speech team and engineering department as examples of “amazing programs” that lack appropriate funds. “We’re not putting money into this thing that people will look at Bradley for, and I want to see a president who will do that.”
When wrapping up discussions, Presidential Search Committee Chair Calvin Butler said he had two main takeaways from the forums: they were overdue, and people are passionate about Bradley.
“To be honest, I didn’t hear anything that I hadn’t heard before, but it reinforced what we thought as a search committee,” Butler said. “It gave us a sense we are heading in the right direction, and that’s the great part about it. It also maybe reinforces the need that we look at a way as a board to connect more often, because I don’t want gaps in what we’re trying to do.”
The questions provided to guide discussion at the Presidential Search Committee open forums were:
• What are the major challenges and opportunities the next President will inherit? Both immediately and long term?
• If these are the challenges and opportunities, what kind of person do you feel is best equipped to address challenges and utilize opportunities?
• What kind of experience, management/leadership style, world view and personality is the best fit to lead the University?
• Figuratively, if you can draw the picture of the ideal candidate, what’s the best background, experiences and behavioral competencies they will possess?
Those who still wish to express their thoughts are encouraged to contact faculty members of the committee Jobie Skaggs, Chuck Stoner and Mat Timm or student member Jason Blumenthal. Their contact information is available via the Bradley Directory.
