Editor's note: Alligator Writer Alexander Klausner interviewed UF President Bernie Machen on August 18.
Q: What are the newer issues and challenges that face the university?
A: This is somewhat of a hopeful prophecy: that our budget issues are behind us. We're going to focus on the academic issues of the university: delivering good courses and academic programs to students [and] faculty's research activities. We'll be basically getting back to the business of the University of Florida that's really been parked for the last few years as we've waded through. You probably saw some of it from your home or from watching it. We've been through a difficult time in terms of the budget issues we've had to face, and it's somewhat been distracting, I think, to the university. Hopefully, our budget issues are behind us. We can get back to the best teaching, the best research. The stuff we like to do most. It's all predicated upon the economy holding together and the state's economy holding together.
Q: So you would say the goal of this year is to get back to business as usual?
A: Perfectly said.
Q: In addition to bringing in new faculty, what is the university going to be doing? Are you going to bring back any programs that may have been cut?
A: The new thrust that was started last year, probably before you were thinking about it, but distance learning. And it involves in some ways Santa Fe College. You know, that "Gator Den" we're building over there. And having online degrees available. One of our dilemmas is that the campus is packed. Some people think we have more people than we can accommodate on this campus. And yet the demand for our programs continues [to be] pretty high. So we're going to try to emphasize distance learning. We have goals to increase the number of - last year, for example, we had 3,500 students enrolled in distance learning. In 2014, we hope to have 7,000 students taking distance learning courses.
Q: In addition to increasing diversity in faculty, is there anything being done to increase the diversity of ideas?
A: Very good question. One of the ways you do that is you hire people from different backgrounds. You know, some people criticize universities for not hiring our graduates, but if you go through a graduate program here, you will learn from the faculty here and your ideas will be influenced by them. . . . The handicap has been we haven't been hiring many new people. So that drops the potential there, but we are focused on that, and I think any great university tries to seek diversity of ideas.
Q: How many more years do you see yourself being president of the university. Once you're done with the presidency, in a perfect world, once you've left your mark and instilled all the ideas that you want to promote here, what would the campus be like?
A: It'd be a large, diverse campus, and a public university in north Florida ... I'm going to be right here. My game plan is pretty clear. I'm going to serve whatever time the Board of Trustees want me to serve as president, and then I intend to go back on the faculty of this university because it's got everything I want. It's got diversity of ideas, it's got lots of interesting programs and it's got a great future in that sense. No one's ever asked me that before, you know that?
Q: What are the things that you personally really want to promote here?
A: I think the key for us is academics. That's who we are. Our Board of Trustees recently has re-affirmed our preeminence in academic endeavors. And the unique part of University of Florida, not the only part, but the thing that separates us from other universities, this state and elsewhere, is our graduate education, and our professional education and our research. So that's why Florida's different than all the other universities in the state. We have a more developed set of programs in graduate education and professional education. . . . That's what I want to see us continue to move out on, and that's the kind of campus that I would like to be affiliated with.
Q: With all the responsibilities you have being the president of the university and everything that goes along with it, how do you stay in touch with the needs of the students?
A: Yeah, it's really hard. The notion that one individual can connect with 50,000 students is a false notion. You can't do it. So we try to get inputs through other ways. I meet with the president of the student body at least once every two weeks, preferably during the year every week. And she brings to me the agenda of student government. Now, that doesn't represent all the students, but it's a representative sample of the students. Then we have the Office of Student Affairs, which has connections to all student life-the dorms [and] the Greek system. And their tentacles are out there, and we try to keep in touch through them as well. And finally, the colleges have their own academic agendas and they're much closer to the students than are we. And all those ideas funnel up to the administration, so I at least know what's going on. A little sidebar is that my e-mail inbox is always packed. I mean I get between 100 to 200 e-mails a day. And it's as mundane as, "I got a parking ticket that I don't deserve," or, "I couldn't get in a class that I want to get in," or something more laudy [sic], like "I want to talk to you about my plans for the future." And while I don't always respond to those, it gives me a sense of things they want.
Q: Through all those methods, do you feel that you are in fact able keep in touch with the needs of the students?
A: No. I've accepted the fact that I'm always running behind the car, and I can't ever catch it. So I think it would be a mistake for me to assume that I've got it figured out. It's really somewhat of a guilt problem because I can never catch it. I keep running after it, but I never catch it.
Q: Do you believe that the success that our athletic department has been experiencing has helped build the reputation of the university, attract more students and increased the prestige of the university?
A: No, I don't. There are some cases where notoriety from athletics causes increased student applications in the following year, but our student application has been somewhat flat for the past three or four years. It's plenty high, but it's not growing. A couple colleges report 10 or 15 percent increases in applications after they've had some athletic success. I don't think that's the case for us. I think we're already well known for academics. I think what athletics has done [is] provide an incredibly fun experience for students and alumni.
Q: I've heard that there's a debate within the university whether or not the university should become the flagship university in the state. Do you think it should, and why?
A: Well, most people think we are the flagship university in the state. The thing that's hanging there is that we don't have an official designation of that. We're the oldest, the largest, arguably the most prestigious; so most people will tell you that we are the flagship university. In my opinion, we're past that argument. We are what we are. Our goals are set on a national and international set of standards, not on a state-wide set of standards. So it's not that necessary that we make it clear to everybody in the state that we are the flagship university. I think at one time, it may have been important. To a lot of alumni, it's still important, but I don't think it's that important to worry about it anymore.
Q: Why is that?
A: Because our goals are national/international, not local. Some people are adamant that they want us to be recognized as being better than - you pick one of the other universities. I don't care. I want to be as good as Michigan. I don't want to be better than somebody in Florida. So our goals are a little bit different than they used to be.
Q: With the investigation of the Corry Village incident wrapped up, would you care to comment on the incident and investigation?
A: First of all, the incident was a tragedy for all concerned. This young man was injured [and] may have permanent damage or repercussions from his injury that certainly delayed his academic program. The ultimate resolution that came about after the investigation resulted in the career of a very promising police officer being terminated. It is a difficult situation that I think everyone in the university is sorry about. I am pleased that the University Police Department went at the investigation so thoroughly. It wasn't the state department of police, it wasn't the state's attorney, it was the University Police Department who analyzed it and came up with their own conclusions that they had made some mistakes. So that kind of integrity should be reassuring to the community, you know? I hate to say that that's a good outcome, but it's reaffirming to me that the police department looked at itself, realized it had made some mistakes and took steps to correct that going forward.
Q: Do you feel that perhaps the police may need an oversight group?
A: I think the police chief herself has called for a community advisory board, but that is not the same as oversight. I think the oversight of the police department ultimately is my responsibility. And I think a lot of people have to share in the inputs for that. I think better communication from the police department to the community [is important].
Q: Are there any plans for an oversight board that have been discussed?
A: There are none, no. The focus of [the community advisory committee] is communication. The way you put the board concept on the table was as a controlling body. The police department won't be controlled by an outside board.
Q: Well, not control, but if anything should happen ...
A: They answer to me. They would ultimately answer to me if that's the case.
Q: Do you have any advice for incoming freshmen and transfer students?
A: Yeah, my advice to them is: We have over 900 clubs and campus organizations. A lot of what you get out of college doesn't occur in the classroom. And I've never seen a place with more opportunities for participation than we have here. Even if you are not a joiner, you owe it to yourself for your education to look at some organizations on campus that you may not know anything about and get involved with something. It'll make your experience more enriching, it'll help develop you as a person and I think at the end of the day you'll feel better about your education. If you don't break this campus down from its mega-size into smaller units - I don't care whether it's the Alligator, or the marching band or the step-dancing club - you will not have a connection to the university, and you won't enjoy it as much.
Q: And what is your message for the outgoing students who are preparing to graduate?
A: (laughs) Go slow, don't get too disappointed that the marketplace isn't grabbing you up right now and think long haul. You may have to take a job right now that may not be your lifelong goal, but it's something that if it can keep you going down life's path, do it. This country will turn around, and it's economy. And the graduates of our university will have a great opportunity once it does, but right now it's a little tough. So just go slow, so maybe take a bite out of some opportunity that may not be everything you wanted when you started college.
