Gu Trustees I Know Are Caring, Giving And Committed

Like many in the Gonzaga community, I have been disheartened by recent events at the university and the inability of the president and board of trustees to see eye to eye on their mutual relationship and responsibilities.

I recently returned to Gonzaga University, having been away since mid-September 1996. My original plan was to be gone six months to allow the new president time to establish himself without his predecessor looking over his shoulder. Six months became extended to nine when I underwent quadruple-bypass heart surgery in Florida in mid-December.

It was from a distance, then, that I learned of the tensions that arose early on between the president and the board of trustees but which only recently came to the public’s attention. People ask why I made no comment. In keeping with my original conviction that a new president needs time to establish himself, I was not involved in board discussions or university governance over these months.

Now that my comments no longer can affect the president’s ability to govern, I feel a responsibility to share with you my views of the board of trustees as I knew it over 22 years.

The Gonzaga board of trustees is a lay-Jesuit board (seven Jesuits and 22 lay trustees). Meetings begin with a prayer. Over the years of my presidency, the agenda frequently included presentations on the history of the Jesuit founders and the educational philosophy of the Jesuit order. Lay members on the board have a genuine interest in, and strong support for, the Jesuit mission of higher education.

University bylaws require that, in addition to the president, the academic vice president and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences also must be Jesuits. From time to time, the board has discussed whether the bylaws should be revised to open up the latter two positions to laypersons. But lay board members invariably have favored retaining Jesuits in these positions. The board recognizes that the Jesuit educational character and philosophy make Gonzaga unique and that a strong Jesuit presence is essential.

During my 22 years as president, the board never micromanaged the university nor sought to do so. It has been keenly involved in the university, and I fostered that involvement. Board commitment, in my view, is essential, and I promoted a sense of colleagueship among the trustees. I relied on the financial, investment and business experience and smarts of the trustees.

The board respected my position as CEO and spokesman for the university. The members recognized that I had a loud voice on the board; at the same time, I recognized the board as my boss. Board discussions were free, frank and respectful. While most votes were unanimous, some were not. But everyone had a chance to be heard, and however heated the exchanges, we always came away united in the conviction that, whatever the agenda, we had done the best we could for the university.

I have described it as a strong board. It is not a rubber-stamp board. I wanted a strong board - they make for strong universities. The board evaluated me regularly, especially in my early years. It approved the annual budget, including tuition and fees; it oversaw the endowment and the performance of financial advisers; it approved building programs; and it was the major force in the university’s fund-raising success.

As the board grew in numbers, on several occasions over the years, we asked: Should we have an executive committee? After much discussion, the trustees have preferred a board that functions as a committee of the whole, where everyone has a voice.

Another question we asked was: Shall we have fewer meetings? Trustees are busy people who not only receive no compensation but also pay their own costs of coming to meetings. This, too, was voted down. These were signs of the board’s exceptional commitment to the university.

I never witnessed anything even slightly resembling a grab for power by any board member. Members gave generously of their time and talent. I never asked a trustee to take on a job and was turned down.

Fund raising? It is the rare bird who likes it. So, one duty of a university president is to coax, cajole and convince the board that it must be involved in fund raising. Over time, Gonzaga developed a board that recognized that if we were to be successful, the trustees, with the president, must be the university’s major fund-raisers. What’s more, that means board members themselves must step up to the plate. They did, and they do. You don’t ask others to support your university unless you support it yourself. That’s Rule 1 in fund raising.

I never saw trustees’ generous financial support - and it has been generous - as a grab for power. In the years I was president, I never heard anyone suggest that the board members’ giving to Gonzaga was anything other than commitment.

It’s not unusual that there are tensions between a president and his or her board of directors or trustees. Some tensions are healthy; others are not. The important thing at this time for everyone who loves Gonzaga University is to pull together and get on with the continued progress of the university.

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