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October 12, 1995

New chancellor should be more attentive to regionals, search committee told at hearings

GREENSBURG — Conversation overheard on Pitt's Greensburg campus:

Student: "Hey, did you hear the honchos from the 'O' will be on campus next week?"

Another student (impressed but confused): "Really? The Original Hot Dog Shop?" No, these "honchos" were from Pitt's chancellor search committee. And the "O" in this case referred to the main campus — Oakland — which some faculty, staff and students at the four regional campuses regard with the same mixed emotions a child feels for a distant, uncaring parent.

Greensburg campus alumna Rita Whatule, who repeated the students' conversation to search committee members who held an open hearing at UPG Oct. 6, said the students' confusion was understandable. "We don't get a lot of opportunities for you [Pittsburgh campus officials] to touch base with us," Whatule said.

Other speakers at the hearing agreed that they often feel cut off from Pittsburgh.

Jennifer Borrasso, president of the UPG Student Government Association, said she hoped the new chancellor will be committed to closing what she called the "chasm in communications" between Pittsburgh and Greensburg. She cited this example: Last year, when the University adopted a new code of conduct for students — regulations that covered regional campus students as well as those in Pittsburgh — Greensburg students weren't told of the change until after the new policy had gone into effect.

"Over the years, we in Greensburg have been not so much an embassy [for the University] as a third-world country," said English professor Norman McWhinney. He said the UPG administration has accomplished "marvelous things with a barebones budget, but it's been almost in spite of Oakland, not thanks to it." McWhinney continued: "Our next chancellor should recognize the value and worth of Greensburg and the other regionals. He or she should give us as much attention as our previous chancellor (J. Dennis O'Connor) gave to the athletics department." Like McWhinney, UPG history professor Mark McColloch complained that Greensburg faculty salaries are unfairly low compared with faculty pay at the Pittsburgh campus. "I don't believe everything should be even. There should be differences in salaries according to market factors and one's academic specialty. But the current salary differentials between Oakland and Greensburg are utterly out of control," McColloch said.

He told committee members that their top priority should be picking chancellor candidates who are skilled in working with state lawmakers. "Most of the financial problems of this University have to do with the ever-declining percentage of revenue we receive from the state government," McColloch said.

"The only way to turn around the University's fiscal crisis is to improve our relations with the state, especially with the legislature. That should be the new chancellor's central, paramount task, not an onerous chore to be done once or twice a year." McColloch said Pitt's chancellor also should respect "the democratic right of faculty and staff to unionize. I'm not saying the chancellor should favor it [unionization], only that he or she should stop obstructing it, as our past two chancellors have done." Several speakers criticized Pittsburgh campus administrators for overemphasizing graduate education and research at the expense of undergraduate teaching. "The new chancellor should be committed to continuing to improve undergraduate education at this University," said communications professor Larry Whatule. "We [at the regionals] should be looked at as a vital part of Pitt's undergraduate programs." UPG library director Pat Duck said she would like to see "a little humility" and less arrogance from Pitt's next chancellor. "He or she doesn't need a mahogany desk and a golden parachute," she said.

English professor Judith Vollmer, director of UPG's writing program, said the new chancellor should be willing to increase funding for cultural activities at the regional campuses. Vollmer said she is often forced to ask UPG's student government for funds to support cultural events.

Greensburg campus advisory board members Jack Robert-shaw and Tony Paracelli said they favored a chancellor who is skilled in business and who understands the missions of the regional campuses. William Martin, director of Computing and Telecommunications at UPG, said he believes poor business practices, rather than a shortage of funds, are chiefly responsible for Pitt's fiscal problems. "Academic credibility may have to take a back seat to business credibility" in hiring a new chancellor, Martin said.

Speakers disagreed on whether the new chancellor should be from western Pennsylvania. Several persons argued that the region is so distinctive that only a man or woman who has resided here for years can fully appreciate the educational and public service needs of its people. But Vincenne Wax-wood, of UPG's speech and theatre arts faculty, said she hoped the search committee would not let "parochialism" dissuade it from recommending qualified candidates from outside the state. About 35 people attended the UPG hearing, which was scheduled for two hours but was twice suspended when no more speakers came forward; 21 persons made statements to the search committee, although several had to be coaxed by committee chairperson James Roddey.

One of them was UPG President George Chambers. Asked by Roddey to describe the Pitt regional campus system, Chambers said the four campuses were founded as "stand-alone organizations. They have been allowed to mature according to what the surrounding community wanted. As a result, three of the four campuses [Bradford, Greensburg and Johnstown] have moved from being two-year feeder institutions to four-year degree-granting campuses." The Titusville campus is the exception.

Chambers contrasted Pitt's system with that of Penn State. "The one thing we don't want is the Penn State structure," he said. "You have to fight like tigers for your budget here, but once you get it, at least you are reasonably allowed to spend it" — unlike the PSU system, in which the main campus exerts much more control over branch campus spending, Chambers said.

He noted that Pitt regional campus faculty are granted appointments and tenure at the individual campuses, whereas faculty at all PSU campuses are tenured at the main campus.

In addition to visiting Greensburg and holding a Sept. 21 open hearing at the Pittsburgh campus (see report in the Sept. 28 University Times), chancellor search committee members held hearings at Titusville (Sept. 29), Bradford (Oct. 2) and Johnstown (Oct. 9).

Paul Ferraro, a pharmacist for the Student Health Service and a graduate student representative on the search committee, was one of two committee members who attended all four regional campus hearings. He said the UPG hearing was typical, both in terms of attendance and issues raised by speakers. "There was a strong feeling that more attention should be paid by Oakland to the regionals, to their special missions and to undergraduate education generally," Ferraro said. "Another overriding theme was the need for honesty and integrity in the new chancellor."

Editor's note: Because of time and staffing constraints, the University Times was able to cover only the Greensburg campus chancellor search hearing.

— Bruce Steele

Filed under: Feature,Volume 28 Issue 4

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