On a president's mind

Money is everywhere at any university, especially at a big one like Penn. And I would never deny that universities need money, and a good deal of it, to operate in today's world. But should it be the first thing on presidents' minds?

The Chronicle of Higher Education just released a special report on university presidents that is getting a lot of attention. It raises important questions about what purpose a university should serve and how it should actually serve that purpose. What the article suggests is that college presidents spend a large chunk of their time asking for money.

In fact, the Chronicle reported that "when asked about their single greatest challenge, presidents put fundraising and fiscal management at the top of the list." No wonder. Schools like NYU have goals that involve raising the equivalent of a million dollars every day.

It's not an easy job. And it's not necessarily what candidates for college presidencies are expecting. The Chronicle reported that "presidents also listed fundraising first when asked what they were most unprepared for in the job."

Should presidents worry about the budget and the endowment? Or should they worry about the twin objectives of a university: teaching and research?

Instead of worrying about finances, presidents should focus on faculty, research centers and courses. The pursuit of knowledge, in short, and not of dollars.

Managing the money should be the concern of professionals. Most college presidents come from the scholarly side of the university world and are unequipped to deal with fundraising on a daily basis.

The same level of expectations should extend from academics to the business side of the university. Financial professionals need to make their institution competitive with comparable ones. And some institutions are falling behind.

Ronald Ehrenberg and Christopher Smith, a teacher-and-student team at Cornell, found that financial situations vary greatly between Ivy League schools. Those with large endowments see large growth in absolute terms, while those with small endowments do not grow nearly so much. The less-endowed also charge higher tuition and spend less money per student.

This might not seem to affect students on a basic level, but it does. Richer schools are able to eliminate loans from their financial-aid packages, an important equalizing step. Being free from the constraint of debt allows students of merit from many backgrounds to pursue all their options and reach their highest potential. These schools can also meet the financial needs of international applicants, enhancing both the diversity and the talent pool of their student body.

Improved financial aid isn't the only benefit of a well-managed endowment. Faculty salaries rise, allowing universities to keep talented faculty members and to acquire new ones. In the absence of this luxury, the atmosphere becomes super-competitive and financial aid and faculty pay are based solely on merit. This may seem smart, but it ends up leaving a lot of intelligent people out in the cold.

So a university needs large amounts of money to pursue its educational mission. But this fundraising should not come at the expense of the people it is supposed to serve. The Chronicle article suggests that college presidents might be neglecting some important resources. In fact, one of the most important resources is right under their noses: alumni.

Maintaining good relations with alumni, who may then contribute funds, is an essential task. But while 53 percent of presidents say they participate in fundraising activities every day, only 9 percent say they interact with alumni every day.

And yet spending time with alumni is something that most presidents are good at. Peyton Helm, president of Muhlenberg College, says, "Successful presidents are in love with their institutions, and so are the alumni. Meeting with them is like bragging about your children to the grandparents."

For everyone to win, presidents should stick to a role in which they are comfortable and can produce results. Hard-core fundraising should be left to competent professionals. And students, faculty and researchers should get on with their work, knowing that their university has their best interests at heart.

Edith Mulhern is a senior French, international relations and history majorfrom Ardmore, Pa. Voice of the Sparrow appears on Fridays.

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