Argus: You are nearing the end of your second year as chancellor at WSSU. Have you met the goals you set?Chancellor Reaves: No. The goals that I set when I came here are not the types of goals that can be achieved very quickly. When you talk about improving retention rates and graduation rates of students, those are the things that happen over longer periods of time. We are going to roll out a major effort beginning next academic year, in the area of retention. We are going to invest large sums of resources in University College.
We’ve changed policies in the University regarding the mandatory use of those resources by students who are having problems. It used to be the case where we recommended that you go see a counselor, now we are making is mandatory that you go see a counselor. We are trying to put in place the procedures, the policies and the practices to make students successful. That takes a longer period of time.
Argus: When will the University renovate Hill Hall? Chancellor Reaves: Well I’m not sure we’re ever going to renovate Hill Hall. What will probably happen to Hill Hall is that it’ll be the victim of the wrecking ball. It’s an old building. It’s not designed for the way in which we educate students in a modern university. And it’s full of asbestos, that’s the biggest problem. Its fate will probably be at the end of a wrecking ball.
Argus: Will the University be involved with the Davis Garage renovation? What’s the status? Chancellor Reaves: That’s interesting. We don’t own the Davis Garage, so I’m not really sure what they’re getting at there. I do know that there is a developer who is interested in doing something around that area. Perhaps what they’re getting at is they want to know what the University might be interested in having them do.Click the link to read the Davis Garage story:Union Station to return
And we’re in the process of developing an answer to that. We can’t be the lead catalyst over there, so to speak, in that we don’t own the property. It wouldn’t be a partnership because we don’t have the funds to invest in it so it’s not a partnership in the true sense of the word partnership. But it would be a relationship that would be very important to both the developer and the University.
We’ve said in the past with regards to development in that area that we are supportive of anything that benefits the University and does not conflict with our interest. So we would love to see the area develop, but for example we don’t want to see someone come in there and go into the dormitory business. Because that’s the business that we’re in and we’re got to make sure that with all this new dormitory space on campus that we fill our beds first. So I don’t want to be in a competitive situation with anyone.
Argus: Is the University planning on building more? Chancellor Reaves: We are going to have to build more. Fortunately we’re in a situation where there is a demand for on-campus living. I was talking to one of my colleagues, one of the other chancellors in the system, a couple of weeks ago who paid a visit to the campus. And he was saying that on that campus they have a difficult time getting students to live in the dormitories. They can’t fill them.
Here I’ve got the exact opposite problem. We got 2,377 beds, that’s it. And the demand for it is tremendous. As you know last year we had a couple hundred students in hotels. We’re thinking about possibly doing that again. The trustees authorized us to look into that. And we have begun to have conversations about another dormitory somewhere on the campus.
Argus: What do you hope to accomplish in three years? Five years? Chancellor Reaves: Well, the message hasn’t changed. I’m staying on message. I want to see students at Winston-Salem State University graduate at higher rates than they have. And I’m focused on that, pretty intensely. That’s why we’re here. That’s the business that we’re in.
We do a lot of other things, but the primary business that we’re in is about educating students and seeing to it that they graduate. It’s even more important today given the type of economy that we find ourselves in. I’m not just talking about the fact that the economy of the United States and other developed countries are in a recession right now. What I’m getting at is that we are in an economic environment where it’s more competitive today than it’s ever been.
In order for our students to be successful, they’ve got to be prepared to compete in this economy. We have to do everything that we can while we have them here, to prepare them for that.
Argus: Do you think WSSU is really ready for the MEAC? Chancellor Reaves: You can answer that question in a couple of ways. The answer is yes. We are ready for the MEAC, and that’s evidenced by the fact that we’ve competed fairly well as a new entrant into the MEAC, especially the football season last year, which was better than this year.
We did a decent job, and the other teams have been competitive. That’s the answer to your question from an on the field perspective. So the answer is yes. From a financial perspective we’re not ready for the MEAC. We have an athletic program that raises about $3.5 million in revenue. In cost, about $6.5 million. There’s a gap. There’s a disconnect there.
So, I desperately want us to remain a Division I institution. But I won’t do that at the expense of other things on the campus that are academic in nature. And so it’s a mixed answer.
Argus: Dr. Reaves, I need to get personal. The Mass Communications Department did not get accredited [by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication]. As I understand it, they must wait at a few more years before the Department applies again. How is the University going to help? Chancellor Reaves: That’s obviously something that we’re interested in. We were disappointed that we didn’t get the accreditation. But the fact that we didn’t get the accreditation had to do with a technical problem.
It had to do with the fact that some of the changes that we had made in the curriculum hadn’t been in place long enough for them to be measured by the team that came in and did the assessment. So we’ve got to just wait until we have enough under our belt so to speak in order to apply again. And with new leadership [Dr. Phillip Jeter, the new chair of the Mass Communications Department] there I’m sure that the next time we’re going to be successful.
Argus: Will The News Argus budget be cut for 2009-10? Chancellor Reaves: The one thing that we can say for sure is that it’s going to be cut. How much, we don’t know, and the reason we don’t know that is because the extent to which it’s cut is a part of the legislative process that’s going on right now. The governor released her budget a month or so ago and it contained cuts that would affect the University rather significantly.
The Senate came behind it and passed a budget, or preliminary budget that while better than the governor’s budget it still would cause some pain and difficulty on the campus. And now the process has moved into the House, and that’s where it is right now. We are all bracing for some cuts that could be rather significant. And we can see why. They’re driven by the recessionary period that we find ourselves in, tax collections at the state level are not keeping pace with projections that were made years ago.
We’re all going to find ourselves having to do with less money next year than what we’ve had in the past. With less money we have to be more keenly focused on the core mission of the University. I’ve touched on this before and I’m going to continue to touch on this point.
Sometimes we lose sight of the business that we’re in because we do, and that’s understandable and that’s because we do so many other things. We get engaged in so many other activities. And that’s good. That’s what a university is supposed to do. But that’s a luxury sometimes, a luxury that you can afford when you have the money to do it. When funds begin to contract, you have to shrink back so to speak, to your core mission. The core mission is teaching, research, service.
Argus: What are some of your pastimes/hobbies? Chancellor Reaves: I don’t have a lot of free time. For one thing I was saying to my wife this morning that yesterday I was on this campus for 15 hours. I got here at seven o’clock yesterday and I didn’t leave until 10 o’clock last night when the athletic banquet was over. And tonight there’s the student awards banquet. I don’t have a lot of time. But I like to fill the free time up with that I do have.
I like to read Walter Mosley and right now I’m reading his latest piece. And I play golf, golf is time consuming, so I don’t get a chance to do it as often as I’d like. But those are the two things that I try to do when I have some free time.
Argus: What is something unique that many may not know about you?Chancellor Reaves: I don’t sing in the shower. I rarely sing. Unless it’s somebody’s birthday or something like that. I never pledged. Maybe I’m pretty boring I guess. I like to walk. When the weather permits I try to walk about 25 miles a week. I did four miles this morning before I came in. I don’t have any of those kind of weird things.
Argus: Words of wisdom for the anxious graduating class of 2009. Chancellor Reaves: I would just advise the students who leave here to stay focused on what it is they that want to do. Today I think it’s really important that students take the time to figure out what it is they want to do. But once they figure out what it is, just go after those goals, pursue them as aggressively as they can. It’s tough out there.
There is an old show on TV that went off probably before you were born. It was called “Hill Street Blues.” Every time the show started it started with the sergeant talking to the officers before they went out on the street about today’s assignment. Every time he concluded with the words, ‘Be careful out there.’
Those would be my words of wisdom to the graduating class: ‘Be careful out there.’