He’Ll Compete, Ewu Candidate Vows Keith Pretty One Of Four Finalists For President’S Job At Cheney School

If Eastern Washington University wants a competitor in the president’s office, then Keith Pretty said he may be the best candidate for the job.

The former Green Bay Packer with a Jack Kemp haircut arrived on campus Monday with an impressive resume and sports metaphors on competition for every occasion.

The Western Michigan University vice president said Eastern needs to re-enter the fight for students and state dollars.

“It’s a competitive world out there, whether on the football field or in the classroom,” said Pretty, his towering frame dwarfing the podium. “Competition drives everything we do.”

Pretty is one of four finalists for the top job at Eastern, a Cheney-based university with 6,900 students. The position is critical to the university in a year when it must persuade a state education board to retain certain programs in downtown Spokane and Cheney, while pounding out a plan for growth.

Pretty said he would tap 11 years of experience as the chief lobbyist and lawyer for Western Michigan to ensure that Eastern gets more than its share of students and money. The vice president for external affairs and general counsel said he would create an integrated marketing plan for Eastern and support private fund-raising and student organizations.

Pretty compared Eastern’s competition for students in Spokane to Western Michigan’s battle for students in Grand Rapids. In that city, he said, Western Michigan has reached a compromise with other schools to offer its best degree programs in the city.

During a two-hour public forum, Pretty answered questions about managing an institution where supporters want money spent on everything from publishing research papers to football helmets.

Pretty said he supports shared governance with faculty, but is not afraid to make an executive decision to break an impasse. He would urge faculty to do research, but would veto spending on programs if there was agreement that they were no longer necessary. He advocates stepping down from expensive athletic divisions if university ball teams cannot routinely win a championship.

Pretty, who was a fraternity member as an undergraduate of Western Michigan, promised to promote campus diversity and openness at the highest level. He said he would schedule regular hours for anyone to visit the president’s office.

“My basic tenant of management is management by walking around,” he said, promising to be a president visible on campus and in the community.

Pretty is the third candidate to travel to Cheney, following visits last week by Lee Vickers, president of Francis Marion University in Florence, S.C., and W. Michael Easton, president of the University of Maine at Presque Isle. Stephen Jordan, executive director of the Kansas board of regents in Topeka, will arrive Thursday for interviews.

Pretty was injured shortly after joining the Packers in 1973 and became a high school social studies teacher and coach. In 1978, he earned a law degree from Thomas Cooley Law School in Lansing, Mich.

Pretty worked for the Michigan Legislature before joining AMOCO Corp., the energy concern, as a senior lobbyist in Washington, D.C. He returned in 1987 to Western Michigan, a Kalamazoo-based university of 26,500 students.

Pretty’s wife, Gretchen, also spoke at the public forum, saying she holds a master’s degree in business administration. The couple has four children, including 3-year-old twins.

“Eastern is an institution I can get my arms around,” Keith Pretty said. “I want to be part of making something happen here with some tangible results.”