Iowa Press; 1619; University Of Iowa President Hunter Rawlings III

If I were Press show 16:19 like this twenty eight fifty years ago 2016 you know the. Major funding for this program was provided by friends of Iowa Public Television. From the cost of tuition to the courses taught to higher education in Iowa is coming under tighter scrutiny by those who hold the purse strings. Tonight on I will press I'll talk about the present and the future of one of I was three state universities with University of Iowa President Hunter Rawlings the third. This is the Sunday February 26 edition of Iowa price.

Good evening I'm David you have been sitting in for Dean Borg who is off this week. Hunter Rawlings has been president of the University of Iowa for just six months and already he has seen the university come under attack from anti-abortion pickets at university hospitals. Scrutiny from legislators over how money is being spent. More scrutiny from the Board of Regents concerning duplicate courses offered by the three state run universities. And he is facing mounting concerns from faculty over their future. He may certainly have expected a challenge from his new one hundred forty three thousand dollar a year job. But as Nancy Crowfoot explains Hunter Rawlings the third also came to Iowa with his own agenda. Hunter Rawlings became the university's 17th president on August 1st before coming to Iowa. He was a vice president for academic affairs and research at the University of Colorado since taking the helm.

Rawlings has made some of his intentions and ideas known. For example last fall he endorsed a tuition increase. And he wants to pursue minority recruitment of students and faculty. Black student enrollment comprises just over 1 percent of the student population at Iowa up slightly lower than 11 years ago. Rawlings also wants to enhance research facilities and equipment to become a leading institution of the future. And he wants to improve communication between faculty and the university administration. Rawlings had an opportunity to improve communications with his faculty just last week when about 100 faculty members gathered to push for a self examination of the university. The push followed a board of regents study that listed the number of potentially duplicate programs that I was three state run universities. Rawlings told the faculty that no formal recommendations have been made to do away with specific duplicate courses.

Rawlings has also had to deal with the wrath of some lawmakers who feel they were duped into financing a university laser center in return for probable development of jobs in the state. The jobs have not materialized lasers lawmakers and learning are just a few of the things we'll talk about tonight with our guest Hunter Rawlings the third president of the University of Iowa. He'll be questioned by Mike Glover a correspondent with The Associated Press and Eric Woolson with the Waterloo courier. Gawker I swear a lot of talk about new directions at the University of Iowa restructuring and when we hear of where things are going we usually hear things about a great public university maintaining traditions and nothing that anyone can oppose. Presumably you were hired to take the University of Iowa from where. Where were you hired. Take it. Well I think the Board of Regents has made it clear that they would like to have the University of Iowa be one of the top institutions in the United States. It already is in fact in an

elite category of institutions. We like to make it stronger primarily by increasing our academic excellence. The major way to do that of course is to try to find some programs that already are strong and make them even better and try to bring up some other programs to national strength. This is a very competitive time in higher education these days. But closer to home you've got the president of Iowa State University Gordon Eaton you've got Constantine curse that university Northern Iowa. They've been in place a lot longer. They've they've made plans for what they want to happen with their universities when we start to restructure. How are you going to protect your engineering school and your journalism school in your program. A From from what they want to accomplish at their institutions. Well I happen to have a very close relationship with Dr. Eaton and with Dr. Curtis as well we talk frequently and we do indeed do some of our own planning jointly with one another and we have a I think a very good relationship among the three institutions. One of the things

we need to do is to carve out the areas that we feel really are essential. The University of Iowa to move in and in many cases those who are already in place and it's a matter of trying to make them even better which which programs are going to live and which ones are going to die. Well that remains to be seen I think the study has not yet begun. Instead we've had some recommendations for areas that do need to come under scrutiny. Those areas are the ones you might well expect in fact engineering business education journalism home economics. Those are the areas that will come under the first consultant studies. And when those consultant studies are begun we'll get a sense of where they're going. Meanwhile we're working on our own strategic plan with a lot of faculty participation. And the main thing for us to do I think is to keep clearly in mind our own objectives. We've got plans all over it. You're having a plan. As Eric mentioned there's plans at Iowa State. You and I. Regents are having a study the governor's gotta long range study the legislature has a study and at what point do we tie all this together in this state and present to the people of Iowa sort of a program for the future.

Well it's true there are indeed a lot of studies underway and sometimes I feel that the major duplication in the state is duplication of audits and studies. So we do have a little trouble keeping track of it all. But the main thing for us I think is to pay attention to our own university faculty is the best group I think that planning for the future. They do indeed embrace the planning process that we've established at the university which is primarily aimed at focusing our strengths through strategic planning and the faculty. I'm pleased to say has decided to really devote its attention to those objectives in the next few months. You think it's possible for a faculty to do surgery on itself. I wouldn't say surgery surgery because I don't think surgery is what is needed. I've not seen an institution Get Better yet just by cutting out some things. And I think all of this emphasis upon elimination tends to miss the real point the real point is to build quality. We have some very strong quality now. We like to focus it even better. Studies are a way that politicians have not doing anything to study the problem and study it study it study it and you look like you're doing something but you're not really doing anything. There's an element

of that going on at the University of Iowa. I think the main thing we want to avoid is just that kind of problem. I agree that sometimes you can study things to death. What we would like to do is to come up with plans that will indeed be implemented not plans that are going to sit on a shelf like so many academic plans but ones that will become a living part of the institution. We have pushed for that within the faculty by saying we'd like these plans not only to be realistic not just wishlists But secondly by asking the factory to come up with specific strategies for accomplishing the goals they set out and the strategy is not always more state appropriation has to be based upon private fund raising based upon research contracts and grants which our faculty happen to be very strong at attracting right now. Dr. Alling speaking of tracking Why should university by within a couple of million dollars to recruit minority students four times the level of the state's population. Because I feel it's one of the most important objectives for the 21st century. We have a society where soon the minorities will be the majority and not to have all students exposed to one another's backgrounds to one another's

cultures. I think it is a serious limitation of the student. So one of the most important reasons for doing this frankly is to have Iowa students who traditionally do not get exposure to many other cultures and languages get that opportunity. Your athletic department has been taking some heat lately because of the drug treatment that was provided for several several of the athletes on the basketball team. Why should the university be spending thousands of dollars to take care of a couple of players when when everyone recognizes that you've got problems with the student general population why not spend that money on the general population. Fortunately we do provide that kind of opportunity for other students as well and I think since very little attention is focused on those other students it's important to keep in mind that they have opportunities too but these particular students are sometimes put under enormous public pressure. They're brought in and they do face great public pressure and we think it's important to give them the kind of help that we can under these circumstances on the other

hand. We also feel it's important to put in a tough testing program that makes it clear that this kind of thing will not go on at any length. And I think that message has gone out very clearly to the entire academic community certainly not saying that it just the average student would receive that same level of treatment as the athletes did and do the athletes deserve special treatment. I think in some cases they certainly do because we asked them to come under special pressure and that kind of thing I think can wear on a young person people who are exposed so vividly I think to this kind of public attention do need help and we provide it but as I said a couple of seconds ago it's also important to get the message out that one will be tested. One will be coming under that kind of scrutiny and we will impose a tough program. Lastly on the show we talk about collegiate athletics. Including one of the coaches or to you and it was clear an issue there is who runs wood at a university. You run the University of Iowa athletic program or do they run you alternately.

I think it is the president's responsibility and one of the problems with collegiate sports at the national level is that the presidents have not given sufficient attention to it. I think now you're seeing a change you're certainly seeing in the Big Ten which is known as a conference that has received a good deal of presidential attention. But I think across the country as you look at the Oklahoma's and so forth you realize that things can get out of hand so the president ultimately has to be responsible but the president can't be dealing day in and day out with those issues. And obviously you hire a lot of directors and coaches whom you put a great deal of faith in. Are you confident that there's nothing going on in Iowa that such as has been alleged to be going on in Oklahoma. I'm very confident and I put a great deal of faith in athletics directors Christine Grant and Elliot and we've got two of the best in fact all over this state. People have emphasized that to me and it's something that I certainly appreciate. They hire a good standard of good coaches. They put in good standards and we do indeed

have trust in them. Ultimately however I do feel that the president has to be responsible. You mentioned earlier talk about drug treatment for the rest of the student population. Do you consider athletes at University of Iowa student. Absolutely and in fact our athletes have a very fine record not only in the classroom but in terms of graduation as the football records this fall make particularly clear our players have actually graduated at a rate that's higher than the normal student body. So we're very proud of the program that we've got at the university. We want to make it even stronger. Also in the interest of this program there is discussion of anti-abortion protesters picketing university hospitals for privately financed abortions are performed it's become something of a political issue in the gubernatorial race. Should university clinics at the University of Iowa perform privately financed abortions. I think that on this particular issue the rules now in the laws are very clear it's clear this is also an issue that generates a great deal of public passion and heat. And we faced some of that just a month or two ago and will continue I'm sure to see

that kind of thing occur. But I think for now our policies are clear. We do indeed follow the law and we would intend to continue to do so. You've been up on Capitol Hill the last several times the last couple of weeks. What kind of signals are you getting from the legislature. I mean you have Don Amundsen telling you we're going to keep our hands off the bill HUTCHENS saying the legislature has ultimate say in what goes on. When you talk to them what. What are they telling you. Well pretty much the same thing that you just outlined. I find generally that the government system in Iowa was extraordinarily clear and clean. That is we have only three public institutions of higher education and we have only one board. For me that's a very pleasant change from Colorado where in a state about the same size as Iowa we had 14 public institutions and six governing boards and a super board on top of the six governing boards. So we spent a great deal of our time on that kind of thing in Iowa it seems to me the tradition is the Board of Regents govern the university that's appropriate. We've got a strong board of regents and I

think in general the legislature while requiring the necessary oversight for any kind of public accountability leaves matters to the Regents which you're confident you're going to be able get through this restructuring with the legislature keeping its hands off of it. Well I would say that we're going to get a lot of legislative attention as one would expect during any sort of auditor general study. And of course the legislature now has its own task force which is studying higher education not just the region's institutions but the community colleges and to a certain degree even the independent institutions well would put yourself in the place of the legislator. They were sitting up there where they were have to spend a lot of money for a laser center they had a lobbyist up there saying thousands of jobs they took on a much better turnaround it simply hasn't happened. Why should they trust you. Well I'm always one who prefers to look forward rather than back. We have a laser center that is indeed being built now. It's going to be a top facility. We have a first chaired professor in place. He's winning some major grants that to me represents a very strong program for the future. I understand that indeed this has been

controversy in the past. Indeed there are people whose feelings were hurt who felt they were misled. But I'm They're trying to build the strongest laser center that I can with the help of an excellent faculty. And I think that's where our attention will be pointed. Beyond that are you prepared to make any guarantees tonight that you can produce so many jobs by the year 2000. I don't make guarantees of that sort and I think that indeed to expect too much from academic institutions in terms of economic development is a real mistake. We don't provide a quick fix. That's not our job that's not our expertise that's not our primary role and mission. Is that what Marvel Palmer has when he were hired because they have made it very clear they want to universities to be a part of the state's economic development program and tell them that universities you know put physics the University of Iowa is already a major part of the state's economic development we bring in over 100 million dollars a year most of it from Washington because of the superb quality of our faculty. That kind of economic engine is a terribly important aspect of Iowa's economy. In addition we've just initiated the research park which we have high

hopes for. Again because of the quality of our faculty it's through a high quality faculty that you attract first class industry and business but you don't do it overnight. Generally research projects take a long time the perfect example is a research triangle in North Carolina. Everyone points to that now as the great symbol of success for research parks. But year after year went by when that park was founded with no tenants no success. People of North Carolina could well have given up during that process and forgotten about it but instead they stuck with it. They didn't let the controversy get to them and now they can point with enormous satisfaction to a tremendous success there. But it didn't take one year or two years or three years. It took eight or nine years before it really did begin to pay off for that state however. The state's residents stuck with it because they felt they had fine research universities and they were going to help develop that kind of industrial growth eventually. And now they have. You see the job is not to offer any quick fixes did the universities make any mistakes did they oversell

themselves over and over promise the last couple years. It's tough for me to comment on that since I wasn't here. And I think you all are probably much more familiar with that history than I am. On the other hand certainly there is a certain legacy you might say that we live with and deal with when it comes to those projects. And again my my own philosophy is point forward rather than back dwelling on the past. Never has helped anybody. There's another issue that's come up and that's to issue the Board of Regents has made it clear that after a few years of extraordinary tuition increases tuition is now going to rise at roughly the level of inflation. Prepares their players and their kids to school. How long is that promise good for. I don't know because again I don't make guarantees but my view is that this is a very public issue that the public has seen enough of high tuition increases over the last few years and that we will indeed see a real moderation in tuition increases. But those tuition increases have been put forward at a time when state appropriations were very low as the only way of helping to build quality in a state that was going through hard economic

economic times. So a greater proportion of the burden has fallen on students and their parents. I think what the students and parents are saying now is that's enough of a proportion it's time for state revenues to assist in the way they used to. That's what the parents and students are saying is that what you're saying as well are students bearing their full share. I think they indeed are and in this particular state which has a history of providing real access to the citizens of the state to the major universities we want to continue that tradition. One of your predecessors Howard Bowen always used to say he should pay who benefits. So while the economics given how much students benefit from a college education shouldn't they be expected to pay more so that you can pay your faculty more so that you can do some of these things you're talking about you got the lowest tuition to begin. It's a balance. And how do you balance that out. Well what I think is happened is this the last 10 years have seen tuition increases that have been going up faster than the rate of inflation the preceding 10 years so it's a wish and rising at a very moderate rate much less than inflation over the 20 years things have now reached a balance. And my guess is for the next few years we'll see

inflationary or lower increases intuition because it's become a concern for the public. Do you have any objection to the legislature writing that into law. I don't have any objection to the legislative legislature doing anything since it has a great deal of authority in those areas. On the other hand I hope that the legislature would leave this matter as it does many others to the Board of Regents say don't cross the border regions. I think in general they do trust the board of regents after the laser center episode to get it back to Mike's question earlier that their real question about mistrust. There may be some of that element but I think in general it's not so strong in this state and I think the board has gotten the message very clearly from the public and has given assurances that in the next few years in fact it will hold tuition increases. But what's wrong if you if you're saying it would bore to say that tuitions should increase no faster than inflation. What's wrong with Legislature writing a law that says tuition should not increase special inflation are you saying that you want the option to have big increases. No what I'm saying is I think these matters are best left to the governing board. I was tradition is

one that is treasured in the state and as a model for other states and that means that the board governs and the legislature gives it that authority on the other hand the legislature quite properly watches the way the board governs and oversees that. Why should parents send their kids to the University of Iowa right now. You just said there are really no guarantees you don't buy into guarantees on raising tuition. You're in the midst of a big audit. A lot of change and and turmoil there and should a parent who is or a student think about going to the universities stand back and say wait a minute maybe take a couple years and. See how this all sorts out. Well I think first of all that to call this a period of turmoil is a misnomer I think there's been a great deal of that kind of over emphasis on dramatization you might say in the press. We don't see that kind of turmoil in fact on the campus. And students have been voting with their feet for quite a while now on the University of Iowa has been enormously popular. In fact one of the remarkable statistics that I've learned while I've been in Iowa is that while there's been a great decrease in the high school

population in Iowa there's been an increase in population at the University of Iowa. It's a place where students want to go and it has been for some time graduate students and undergraduate students primarily because it is a high quality faculty that we have. What we have seen in fact now is the student body outstripped the faculty size. And we need to have I think a more fair and that status as they have their risk of getting it. And see to a commercial. Seriously if a parent is watching all of this is maybe the word turmoil is too strong. But but there is nevertheless a period of change going on at the university where you can you assure the parents of this state that their kids are going to get good educations while you're going through all of this. I certainly can most of the programs at the university are not only secure they're excellent. There are a few that are coming under scrutiny just as they are the other states institutions. That's quite appropriate. It's a good thing for a state. Institutions to come under public scrutiny on occasion but I wouldn't overemphasize it at this point.

The doctor answered the question that it is underlies what Dave is asking if my child wants to go to a school of journalism or to a school of engineering. I'm going to pay a lot of money for her to go to the best engineering school best journalism school that you can find. Why shouldn't you tell the people of Iowa we're going to focus on journalism. We're going to focus on engineering or what are we going to focus on so that parents can make those decisions. Well indeed in the near future we will be saying exactly where we're going to focus through our strategic planning process and next month. In fact I'll give a talk to the faculty on where I would like to see us go with an invitation a challenge to the faculty to respond to those ideas. I think that's quite appropriate. But if you want to know where the best. Journalism Program is where the best engineering program is. Ask the students I met with a number of them yesterday and they voted with their feet for the University of Iowa and they will continue to do so. Our programs are immensely strong and know not only regionally but nationally. Along those lines you've got parents wanting to make sure that they get what they pay for and they want to know that their students and that their children are getting the

best education. What steps are you going to take to make sure that you've got some full time faculty in those classrooms rather than teaching assistants teaching the students what more you're going to be able to do in that area. Well let me say first the teaching assistants are often very fine teachers. And I've had a number of students tell me that teaching assistants and some cases are even better than full time faculty. So we don't want to make a generalization that won't stand up. I think it's essential to stick to what we really do see in terms of the facts. But I think you're right in part it would be important to get more full time faculty members for the university. We've seen explosive growth at the University over the last few years with no consequent growth in the faculty. And that's a challenge for us. And in this year's budget request we've made that a very high priority and I'm happy to see that there's been very strong response to that priority from the governor in the legislature. So you have specific steps underway to get more professors into the classroom so that they have to be fewer teaching assistants. Yes and in fact we'd like to go back to a time when teaching assistants were used

primarily as assistants to faculty members by taking sections after faculty members have completed lectures rather than having the teaching assistants teach courses themselves. Some of that of course will continue to be done and some of it will be well done but we'd like to reduce that ratio a bit. Do new technologies provide you with some opportunities here. I tend to sense some resistance on the part of some faculty members to that traditional lecture form of teaching but nevertheless there is a lot of discussion in the legislature about having professors tape their lectures and beam them out over microwaves and fiber optic networks to students all over the state and then put the faculty members on the road and send them to the students. How do you how do you feel about those kind of changes. I think some of those changes are warranted and in fact we do have technologies that will assist us in doing that and by the way those also offer offer opportunities for us to combine programs in some cases with the other regions institutions. To get the best faculty strength in front of students on the other hand I think we have to be a little careful in our use of the technology it's well-known

that the best way of teaching is to have students right there in the classroom answering questions dealing with issues themselves personally involved in their education. If we can do some interactive interactive links over video. I think it would be important to look at those opportunities and in fact back to our faculty not a way of looking at the opportunities but they're conducting them now. Isn't there a way out of all this. We're talking about restructuring the state governor just going through a big restructuring. You're asked to get more teachers into the classroom to pay your teachers better to streamline to refocus yourself. You've got more staff that doesn't teach than does teach. Isn't the bureaucracy a place where you can cut in. Why shouldn't universities make the same kinds of cuts that the rest of state governments had. We'll make some cuts I'm sure. We will indeed focus. I think that an important aspect of strategic planning but we don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water. We've got a very strong set of programs. Many of those staff that you're referring to are there because of research grants and contracts won by our faculty. These are people who are employed who are

assisting students in many cases in laboratories. That's why we have such a fine college of medicine for example because we're bringing in 65 or 70 million dollars a year in research grants and contracts that helps drive the Iowa economy. It helps provide first rate research and first rate teaching. And I think it's essential to keep our eyes on that. I have a philosophical question. Does University exist for students or for the faculty. Well I think universities exist for two basic purposes. Carry forward knowledge and transmit that knowledge. It takes both faculty members and students to do that. But in the great conflict between those two goals which is your first priority I don't think there is any conflict between those two goals in fact those two goals are absolutely reciprocal in their relationship. The best faculty are the faculty members who are engaged in first rate research and who are also engaged in first rate teaching the best. Reference to that that I've heard in this state is the countless number of people who have said to me the finest experience they have had in any academic institution

is taking a freshman class from James Van Allen at the University of Iowa. There you've got students studying but how are the finest faculty member who's available in the field. But how many full professors like Van Allen are doing that isn't that an anecdotal example No. Quite a number of our senior faculty are doing that and in fact we even have special programs that make certain that freshmen and sophomores work directly and independently with those faculty members on research projects through our undergraduate research program. That's an opportunity for students at a public university which they often don't get even in a private institution. I myself attended a private college and I got a first grade education. But I was not exposed to the broad range of first rate research and teaching faculty that you can find in a major university like the University of Iowa. I have to cut you off there. Thank you Dr. Owens for being our guest this week. Thank you. Next week on I will press will discuss a myriad of labor issues including a legislative proposal to raise the minimum wage. So until next week for Mike Glover and Eric Olson

David stay tune for Morgan however and take one. Major funding for public television.