Please don’t confuse me with those now publicly pressuring the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees into wrongly piling on the man they wisely chose five years ago as the bellwether for their state’s flagship institution in Fayetteville.
Valued readers already realize I’ve not joined in over the months of continually berating Chancellor David Gearhart. That’s because I have solid reasons to believe this good man (while far from perfect) has unquestionably proven himself to be among the nation’s top chancellors and not guilty of anything worth the media savaging he’s endured. Gearhart’s only real mistake in my mind was misplacing trust in Brad Choate, the former vice chancellor he brought to Fayetteville to head the Advancement Division because of Choate’s reputation as a proven fundraiser.
I’ve yet to see anything of substance revealed, after many months of publicly rehashing the UA Advancement Division’s unfortunate budget woes, that leads me to believe Gearhart didn’t do what any conscientious chancellor would have done upon learning of the $4 million budget deficit that accumulated on Choate’s watch.
Gearhart notified the trustees when he learned of this internal bookkeeping problem and kept them informed of subsequent developments. He sought two audits to determine the scope of the deficit and reasons behind it. He made sure every document requested by media was responded to lawfully. Gearhart then saw that Choate and his budget officer were dismissed, then cooperated fully with a prosecutor’s subsequent investigation. Results: No crimes committed or funds missing or misspent.
Had this development been laid on my desk, I can’t imagine responding differently. Gearhart oversees an institution which annually generates over 100 division budgets that he can’t possibly micromanage.
Gearhart trusted a longtime friend and veteran fundraiser to manage the Advancement Division’s finances, just as Gearhart had so admirably done in making UA history by raising over a billion dollars as the same division’s leader before becoming chancellor in 2008.
A native of Fayetteville, Gearhart proved equally successful as Penn State’s senior vice president for development from 1985 to 1995; his office was honored multiple times as the nation’s best advancement program. Little wonder they still admire and respect him there.
But what’s he done for the U of A, you might rightly wonder? I asked university leaders to provide me with what they see as their 10 top advancements made under Gearhart’s guidance.
First, however, I want to remind valued readers that when I believe something is truly amiss in a public office, whether prosecutorial malfeasance, permitting a hog factory in our national river’s watershed, or all form of public nonsense and corruption, I also have had no problem sharing my opinions on those negatives.
In this matter, I see no reason to repeatedly attack the character of an obviously capable leader who made an error in hiring. Nor do I see justification for publicly savaging an honorable man who’s become a convenient whipping boy for the self-interests of posturing politicians and others with transparently destructive agendas.
That said, here’s that list of 10 major achievements in Gearhart’s five years: In 2009, his second year as chancellor, Gearhart managed to hold tuition increases to zero, a first in UA history. UA tuition remains among the lowest in the SEC.
Student enrollment has increased from 19,200 to well over 25,000, prompting the Chronicle of Higher Education to rank the UA as the 13th fastest-growing public research university in America.
As one of Gearhart’s priorities, minority student enrollment has increased by 80 percent.
Freshmen classes have become the most academically accomplished in UA history. The fall 2013 class made history with the highest percentage (43.5) having a high school grade point average of at least 3.75 and the highest percentage (17.7) earning ACT scores of at least 30.
The Carnegie Foundation upgraded the UA to its highest research classification, lifting it to the top 2 percent of all America’s colleges and universities.
The university today is raising $100 million each year in private gift support. Gearhart inherited a $1 million reserve, which is now $50 million. A $243 million campus building renovation and massive reinvestment has resulted in new, expanded, modernized facilities.
U.S. News and World Report cites UA among the nation’s nine most up and-coming public universities.
Honored by the Chronicle of Higher Education as one of the best universities to work for in America.
Implementation of a major cost-savings program that already has resulted in more than $62 million in savings and cost reductions.
Our state and UA’s Board of Trustees certainly have many more reasons to be proud (and fully supportive) of during Gearhart’s chancellorship than justification for abandoning integrity out of political (or other) pressures and further hammer this man who already has provided so much to higher education in Arkansas.
The much-publicized deficit has been rectified through ample reserves. Those responsible are gone. Necessary reforms are in place, and I’m certain trustees would agree it’s well past time to get on with lifting the university to even greater heights.
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Mike Masterson’s column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at mikemasterson10@hotmail.com. Read his blog at mikemastersonsmessenger.com.
Editorial, Pages 81 on 01/19/2014