Faculty, students pose questions to URI presidential candidate at open discussion

04/24/09 - The second of three finalists in the selection process for the new University of Rhode Island president visited the Kingston Campus yesterday.Current URI President Robert L. Carothers is stepping down in June, after 18 years at the university.

Robert Newman told students and faculty gathered for an open forum in the Memorial Union that he was honored and grateful to have been chosen to continue in the selection process.

Newman is dean of the College of Humanities, associate vice president for interdisciplinary studies and professor of English at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah.

"My interest in university administration grew from the desire to help make administration a more productive instrument of change rather than a protector of antiquated institutional boundaries and bureaucracies," Newman told the audience of about 75 people.

These boundaries have inhibited improvements in teaching and research, he said.

The product of a Philadelphia working class family and a first generation college student, Newman said his parents instilled in him "a love of education as a pathway to a better and more fulfilling life."

As an educator and administrator, Newman said he enjoys the challenges of making a difference in the lives of students, faculty and the community and of raising money.

Newman said he believes that instilling intellectual curiosity and creativity is the root mission of higher education, and that both of these are qualities he brings to the table.

"The president's role to my mind is the role in which an individual can make the biggest impact in enhancing that mission," he said.

Newman also spoke of social obligations as a central university mission.

"As a first generation college student, I believe passionately in the social contract between public higher education and our state and national citizens," Newman said.

Later, Newman told the audience he has no problem with "gradually elevating tuition for those who can afford it," as long as aid to others is proportionally increased.

Newman also focused on the idea of multilateral decision-making as an important leadership approach.

This is the approach he would take to budget decisions as president, he said, citing his experience at the University of Utah. There, he said he worked with department heads and students to "trim the fat," eliminating unsuccessful academic programs or folding them into others.

In response to a question by computer science and statistics professor Choudray Hanumara, Newman addressed what he called the "gory details" of a lawsuit brought against him by a Utah professor.

Hebrew studies professor Harris Lenowitz filed suit after Newman removed him and another professor from leadership positions at the Middle East Center last spring.

The action came following careful consideration and a thorough investigation of allegations that the center presented a toxic environment for female employees, Newman said.

Newman believes strongly in diversity and gender equality, he said. "It would have been counter to my personal beliefs not to take action in this regard."

An internal audit at the center also found evidence of gross financial mismanagement, Newman said.

The decision was one of his most difficult at the university, he said, but since that time faculty participation in the center has increased substantially, and student involvement has seen a 30 percent increase in one year.

Newman commented on URI's controversial dry-campus policy in response to a question from language professor Mario Trubiano.

"It seems to have turned you from a reputation of being just a party school to being taken more seriously as an institution," he said of the dry campus.

Newman also said there may be instances where it would be advantageous to have some flexibility in the policy, but concluded that he would have to wait until he had a more thorough understanding of the issue before making any concrete pronouncements.

Responding to other questions, Newman said he is a passionate believer in sustainability initiatives, and described what he said was a "false dichotomy" between academic and research goals.

"We need to be thinking more along the lines of a dialogue, a conversation ... between the pedagogical mission and the research mission," he said. "And the two should be viewed as mutually enhancing rather than mutually exclusive."

The final candidate, David Dooley of Montana State University, will visit campus on Tuesday April 28. The forum will be held at 1:40 in the Memorial Union ballroom.