In the four listening session that occurred in the past few weeks, faculty, staff, and students had the opportunity to stand in front of the presidential search committee and offer answers to this question. Faculty members expressed a desire for a president who can make the case for a liberal arts education in an increasingly uncertain world and create an educational environment that can deliver on those promises. Staff members expressed the hope that the new president will capitalize on Furman’s academic strength and use it to promote the university to alumni, donors, and potential students. Disappointingly, only a few students came to their designated session, but some of those that did emphasized the president’s role as the ambassador and public face of Furman.
The first consideration in choosing a president is the capacity of that person to lead Furman in uncertain economic and political times. This directly follows the hope of multiple faculty members that the new president tell a compelling new story about what the liberal arts and education mean. This task will require creativity, and an understanding of how to best promote and improve academic programs combined with the business expertise to make difficult financial decisions. This unique combination of academics and economics points toward candidates with experiences in the ivory tower and the boardroom, experience with applying big ideals in the everyday life of a large institution. At best, Furman’s new president will be willing to be push toward radical transformations required to make higher education and the liberal arts relevant, while respecting and maintaining what Furman as an institution means.
Second, the liberal arts works best when grounded in a concern for others. Often this compassion in the liberal arts is figured as an abstract, theoretical commitment, something to do but not something we do. The new president should be willing to look beyond Furman as an institution or a business to the larger role of Furman and the members of the Furman community in the world. This outward orientation can even reflected and embodied in the search process by selecting an individual with a history in public service or non-profit work, and by moving outside the social and cultural norms and parameters that too often limit Furman.
Finally, the president of Furman is not simply an institutional figurehead or the head of an administration or a set of departments. The office of the president in a extension of the entire university which is itself made up of disparate interests, competing perspectives. The new President of Furman University should be willing to immerse her or himself in this interconnected community, and push beyond it. This conception of the office says something about the role of the president, but it also implies two responsibilities in the selection of a president. First, the search committee and administration has the responsibility of updating and including the larger Furman community in the search process as much as possible. The recent discussions sessions giving Furman faculty, staff, and students the opportunity to interact with the search committee exemplify this responsibility, and such open lines of communication should remain open.
In addition, the Furman community has the responsibility of providing information and feedback to the search committee, insuring that the committee has an accurate picture of what Furman needs in a new president. This calls on students especially to step up, be informed and involved, and recognize that the actions and policies of the administration directly affect the community of which they are inseparably a part.
What do we want as the President of Furman University? Responding to this question entails another – who do we want to be? Do we want to prioritize funding for academics over athletics? Do we want our standards of comparison and measures of growth to be national university rankings, or other measures? Is the infusion of financial aid that contributed to the recent budget shortfall an investment in Furman’s future, or a misguided financial decision? Many of these issues were raised in the information sessions organized by the search committee, and most respondents from the faculty and staff emphasized the education Furman offers as a strong regional university and a commitment to improving and teaching students. This is the correct perspective moving forward, and all members of the Furman community should embrace this vision, including the individual selected as Furman’s next president.
