Implement the Vision 
Ann
Weaver Hart
President
The University
of New Hampshire
University Day Address
September 16, 2003
University Day Proclamation from Governor Benson
Introduction
Mark Twain once said that, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
I cannot think of a better way to express where the University of New Hampshire is today, and what we must do as we move ahead to the great future that awaits us.
Look around you. This is a University that is brimming with smart, talented, committed people who share the same aspirations: to educate our students to their highest potential of achievement; to push the boundaries of knowledge and understanding; and to extend what we teach and learn here for a better future for both the citizens of New Hampshire and the people of the world.
Every day, despite economic difficulties and less than adequate resources and facilities, we see evidence of how this remarkable community—the University of New Hampshire —meets its challenges with opportunities, and its obstacles with creative solutions. A good example of this achievement is the tremendous team effort that led to the successful implementation of Project FRESH and the new enterprise data base system at UNH. Admittedly, we have challenges to meet before we declare victory and start working on the next technology challenge, but we are closing in on the completion of an incredibly complex process.
The entrepreneurial spirit that seems to draw faculty and staff to UNH and has defined our institutional character continues in full force. It is the creative impulse that underlies our recent success and our growing prominence as a small, public, student-centered research university. Since we are not a static community that is satisfied with the status quo, even as we achieve excellence in many areas, we must continue to raise the bar and strive for higher levels of quality.
This afternoon I would like to give you a brief look back at the year that has just passed and celebrate some of our achievements. I would also like to lay out some challenges that I believe we must address and accomplish over the coming year.
Faculty form the heart and mind of our great University. This fall we welcome 70 new faculty members to the UNH brain trust. I had the opportunity to meet many of you and your families along with your department chairs, deans, and senior faculty colleagues at the New Faculty picnic in August, and it was a great pleasure. I also was thrilled to be able to join 23 of our newest faculty members last May in a grand tour of the UNH/New Hampshire partnership that focused on the many ways in which the University has a direct impact. This tour is a tremendous way to introduce our new faculty to the state.
It also helps to foster in them a love for their new academic home as well as a passion for linking their impressive academic work directly to the opportunities and challenges of New Hampshire that so many of their colleagues already enjoy.
Students make our dream of passing on knowledge and the passionate search for new knowledge a reality. Welcome to the Class of 2007. This year, applications for admission increased by nine percent over the previous year, and we have enrolled 2,479 first-year students. This is the second largest class in our history for four-year degree candidates. At UNH-Manchester, we have record enrollment, with a total of 809 undergraduates. Interest in our Graduate Studies Center in Manchester is skyrocketing, with enrollment up by more than 50 percent this year.
And UNH is increasingly diverse. Members of the incoming class hail from 35 states and 12 foreign countries. Nearly seven percent are from multicultural backgrounds, an increase of eight percent over last year (167 vs. 139). Overall, our minority population stands at five percent. This is a critical measure for us. We simply cannot be a first-class institution without the broadest representation possible from around this country and around the globe. We must continue to work to attract the best possible students from all backgrounds.
Our UNH student population includes nearly 13,000 graduate and undergraduate students from 48 states and 34 foreign countries. Our youngest degree candidate is 17, our oldest, a master’s degree candidate, is 80. And our student athletes continue to excel on the field and in the classroom. In addition to winning six conference titles in the 2002-2003 season, UNH was the highest-ranked institution in the America East conference and second in the America East Academic Cup. We are committed to being sure that the student athletes at UNH are successful students.
With a first-year baccalaureate retention rate as high as 85 percent, we are able to retain a higher proportion of new students than our New England land-grant peers and the national average for public universities. Our graduation rate also compares very favorably to the best universities across the country. But we cannot allow ourselves to rest on such laurels. The challenge exists to increase the quality of our teaching to keep pace with our increasingly discerning student body.
Celebrate Our Academic Excellence
Enough about who we are. As part of the “State of the University,” let me share with you a few examples of recent achievements in academic excellence.
We recently added a fuller than expected complement of space science superstars as a result of the naming of renowned Professor Amitava Bhattacharjee to the Peter Paul Chair in Space Science. In conjunction with Dr. Bhattacharjee’s appointment, Joachim Raeder of UCLA has also joined the Space Science Center (SSC) and physics faculty as an associate professor. With these new faculty and their research teams, the University of New Hampshire becomes potentially the world’s leader in earth/sun relationship and in the study of our solar system. This is a great achievement for a university of our size and one of which we can all be tremendously proud.
We welcome the expertise and excitement that Professor David Pillemer brings to our campus as the Dr. Samuel E. Paul Chair in Developmental Psychology. Dr. Pillemer brings with him a record of scholarship and collaboration in the areas of psychology, family studies, sociology and the University’s institutes that focus on individual and family research.
UNH has an important role to play in the field of Glycobiology through our Structural Biology Research Center, where Vern Rheinhold and Tom Laue’s work represents interdisciplinary teaching, research, and outreach at its best.
A new defensive “weapon” in the war on terrorism is now available to the public, only this weapon is actually a new Web-based library developed by A.R. “Venky” Venkatachalam, Hamel Professor, and chair of the Whittemore School's Department of Decision Sciences to capture, organize, and archive information about the protection of the nation's “built” critical infrastructure.
With collaboration from faculty in the departments of Nursing, Social Work, Family Studies, and Health Management and Policy, the New Hampshire Institute for Health Policy and Practice at UNH has in the last year: developed a curriculum to improve the ability of Social Workers to prevent suicide; established the Adolescence Resource Center, which is currently working with the State on the development of a plan for adolescent health in NH; and worked with the State to restructure the Healthy Kids Program that serves thousands of NH families without health insurance. This institute is one of our numerous examples of how we are engaged with others to improve the quality of life for citizens of the Granite State.
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and UNH faculty member for 30 years, Charles Simic has most recently been awarded the Horst Bienek Prize for Poetry by the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. His work has brought him an impressive list of national awards, most notably a MacArthur Fellowship, the Pulitzer Prize, the Academy of Poets Edgar Allen Poe Award, the PEN prize for translation, plus two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, among many other distinguished awards.
And Tom Fairchild who represents just plain excellence in the land-grant tradition has announced his retirement. But we all recognize Dr. Fairchild’s contributions to UNH which speak for themselves, from superb teaching and research to leadership at our University, Tom not only has led us in the development of the dairy program, but he has led us into the future as an important institution.
Celebrate
the Student Leadership Summit:
Promoting Responsible Celebrations
Given the caliber of the student body, we have reason to hold high expectations for our students to not only give their best to their studies, but to be good citizens and community members.
This weekend, UNH students will host a conference to help build a deeper understanding, develop constructive ideas, and identify traditions that promote healthy celebrations. We are proud of the first-ever national student-led initiative to examine large group disturbances.
I want you to know that I am particularly proud of the student leaders of UNH who have made this summit possible with their tremendously hard work over the summer. They were inspired to call this summit through the events that occurred in Durham on April 12th, following the NCAA hockey championships, when we had a riot in our town. Not a good way to celebrate; not a good way to express disappointment. The summit will bring together teams of students, University administrators, and others from universities across the United States to discuss such things as the role of campus climate and culture and the enforcement of campus codes and criminal laws. A team from UNH, as well as teams from universities across the country, will grapple with this difficult issue and emerge with recommendations for long-term commitment toward the forging of a solution unique to and right for each university community.
The summit is the beginning of a national conversation. It’s also a beginning we hope of a team for Durham and UNH. It is the first step in the process of change, which will take a long-term, multifaceted approach led by students and supported by the University and community.
And perhaps most importantly, the summit is an essential part of this University’s educational mission to provide a context for students to learn about community, civility and the responsibilities of adult citizenship. Our students are learning a lot about the challenges they face and the stones in the road when we seek solutions, and about organizing groups to come together to find shared answers to deep questions.
Celebrate a New Leadership Team
I would also like to take a moment this afternoon to celebrate the development of a new leadership team at UNH, especially the new members that we welcome to the president’s cabinet.
Earlier this year it was my great pleasure to announce the appointment of Dr. Bruce Mallory as our new provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. He is an honored and distinguished member of the UNH faculty, respected for his thoughtful and creative academic leadership as a department chair and dean of the Graduate School, and nationally and internationally known for his research on education reform.
Dr. Mallory will work with college and school deans, academic directors, and key faculty governance groups on all curricular, personnel, and budget matters, and is already working with the Faculty Senate to finalize the process for the implementation of the Academic Plan. Inquiry-based classes and discovery as the way we teach and learn are key components of our plan. I have charged Dr. Mallory to move quickly with the academic deans to systematize the processes through which the Academic Plan implementation process can become a reality—and to work closely with the Faculty Senate on a regular basis to provide updates on the work, receive feedback, and address our commitment to accountability for achieving results. Dr. Mallory has pledged his commitment to the Faculty Senate to make this vision a reality.
As Vice President for Student and Academic Services, Mark Rubinstein’s new role encompasses his former responsibilities as vice provost for academic achievement and enrollment management and is expanded to integrate student and academic services under his leadership.
One of my primary goals is to create greater support for academic achievement and provide a more cohesive overall experience at UNH. I have charged Dr. Rubinstein with the challenge of pushing us to greater levels of student service with improved social and recreational opportunities, student government and leadership, community service opportunities, and career development. Many of you know Dr. Rubinstein for his famous analytical and informative treatises that dazzle the reader with the depth of his understanding of complex issues at the University. He sends the longest emails on campus. I also know that those of you who do not yet know Dr. Rubinstein well will be struck by his unwavering respect for and support of students and a deep desire for their success.
Vice President of Communications Jennifer Murray returns to UNH after a 27-year absence, having graduated with a major in political science in 1976. Jennifer has served as press secretary to New Hampshire Governor Hugh Gallen and has been a leader in public relations and communications, representing corporations around the world.
Many of you may have heard the story by reporter Doug MacPherson that aired on New Hampshire Public Radio on August 27. The story is that our story is a great one—undergraduate education steeped in discovery, undergraduate research, community service, professional opportunities, internships, and a full and exciting menu of activities in student life—that is the story that UNH has to tell.
I have charged Vice President Murray with leading the University forward to more effectively communicate the superb story of the University of New Hampshire. Her work and that of others working with her will ensure that New Hampshire’s students and their families, legislature, business and industry, alumni and friends are well informed about UNH.
Vice President John Aber has taken on the challenge of leading Research and Public Service. As most of you know, Dr. Aber is one of the most cited and respected scholars in his field of geosciences and natural resources. He also has been a leader among the faculty ever since joining UNH in 1987.
We are very proud of the fact that extramural grants and contracts at UNH have doubled in the last six years, but these accomplishments only whet the appetite. The talent pool of research and scholarship, as well as creative work, at UNH is very deep, and Dr. Aber has quickly begun to develop long-range initiatives that will continue to improve the overall effectiveness of research administration at UNH and its public service initiatives as well as to promote and nurture research across the University and expand the funding sources sustaining and supporting that research.
These new members of the President’s Cabinet join dedicated and talented team members Candace Corvey, vice president of finance and administration, and Young Dawkins, president of the UNH Foundation. We also are indebted to others who have retired, moved on to other institutions, or have returned to the faculty over the past year. Thank you all for your commitment to UNH and the many dedicated years served on behalf of the University.
Celebrate Research and Scholarship
We must celebrate research and scholarship at the University of New Hampshire. Our good friend, Senator Judd Gregg, thinks that we can be “A public university that has excellence across the board, but also has niche areas of extraordinarily high national and international capabilities in research.” I believe that we are well along in the process of achieving that goal.
We have become accustomed to celebrating our rapid growth in sponsored grants and contracts here at UNH in recent years. While we have experienced a steady advance over the past several years, further substantial growth in this area is required for us to achieve the vision that we have articulated and in which Senator Gregg has expressed his confidence.
Our Fiscal Year 2003 total for research and other sponsored programs reached $86.2 million—a slight increase over Fiscal Year 2002 ($85.5 million). Our largest sources of funding were from NOAA, NASA, and the U.S. Department of Health, respectively. Even though we are the second largest recipient in New England behind MIT for NASA funding, and ahead of Harvard, Princeton, and Cornell, we all must commit to becoming engaged partners in securing competitive grants and funding. For many other agencies, we lag behind where we should be in securing extramural funding. Vice President Aber is committed to building the necessary relationships with funding agencies and program officers, support structure and service levels in the Office of Sponsored Projects, and knowledge and inclination to make growth in research funding for faculty and graduate student research a more ubiquitous and distributed reality.
New Hampshire has recently become eligible to apply for the National Science Foundation’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR, which opens new funding possibilities in the areas of science and technology. This program is targeted to enhance certain states’ research capabilities to help build economic growth. EPSCoR requires that we join together with our colleagues in education, in government and business and industry, to focus on where our strengths lie, develop a science and technology plan, and then move together to apply for EPSCoR status and to move to take advantage of those opportunities. If we can work together to become an EPSCoR State with NSF, we will be able to secure new funding opportunities for our library, for our social sciences, for our engineering, life, and physical sciences programs. It’s an important step and we hope to be able to achieve it together. For UNH, this translates into increased opportunities in the areas of economics, decision sciences, psychology, and sociology, as well as engineering and life and physical sciences.
Making the Quintessential New England Campus a Reality
We are also working very hard to make sure that our quintessential New England campus is a reality. We have just finished our decennial review for reaffirmation of accreditation by the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the New England Associations of Schools and Colleges and are preparing for our final site visit in October. Part of that review emphasizes the same issues as our master planning process, in which we must pay attention and plan for growth in order to assure that this grand campus is more beautiful than ever before, but it also moves forward to provide the facilities and resources that our campus needs. Some progress has already been made as we have moved on the development of a south underpass and the extension of McDaniel Drive.
But we recognize many needs and many, many other opportunities that have become apparent to us as a part of that master planning process. We know that we need expanded housing and improved transportation. To be successful we have to have the participation of our town and broader community, and I want to express my gratitude to the leaders of our town who have served on the planning steering committee and to the many members of our community who have attended our planning sessions. This is a comprehensive process, but in the coming year we hope to complete the master plan along with a phased and prioritized list of projects on which we must begin immediately to work. And I am committed to take that master planning process and turn it immediately into a plan for making some of the changes that will help improve our campus and help us meet those needs into the future.
Anyone who has walked down Main Street this month cannot help but notice several important improvements to our campus. These are significant enhancements made possible through the New Hampshire Higher Educational and Health Facilities Authority (NHHEHFA) bonds and state appropriations. We lived through the noise and dust of the renovations and we are all thrilled to be able to celebrate the completion of these great projects.
We all know that these renovations and new buildings are just the tip of the iceberg with our ongoing need for better facilities. To continue our growth and achievement, we will need to do still more.
The renovation of Murkland Hall with new state-of-the-art instructional rooms and language labs and the restoration of its historic spaces, offers fresh inspiration to our largest college. Holloway Commons provides our students with a wide variety of dining selections in an 800-seat dining hall, provides a new place to meet on campus at an after-hours café, and makes a 300-seat meeting and conference room available for University and community events. The renovation of Congreve Hall is now complete, and it is home to 274 residents.
And we continue to integrate technology into our programs and buildings. Wireless capability is now available in several academic buildings and the MUB. Plans are also under way for a new UNH Internet portal that will more closely link our academic and student services at the electronic level.
Complete the KEEP
The Kingsbury Hall renovation is our newest important building project. Site preparation has begun and heralds a much-needed renovation. As with Dimond Library, both public and private funding is a part of this project creating a teaching, training and research facility of the first order.
KEEP New Hampshire, a University System initiative to procure state funding for the overhaul of New Hampshire’s science and technology buildings, provided initial momentum for Kingsbury with a $44 million allocation. Most recently, a generous gift of $1 million from BAE Systems moves us closer to fulfilling the private partnership portion of our commitment to Kingsbury Hall. This gift is a marker of our expanding ability to work directly with New Hampshire business and industry leaders to promote deeper integration, engagement, and partnerships between the University and the business community. Thanks to the generosity and leadership represented by this gift, Kingsbury will house the BAE Systems Center for Advanced Technology.
We must continue to develop such productive partnerships to support our teaching and learning with up-to-date facilities and keep our curriculum current with the research and development needs of the cutting edge industries.
Our predecessors have invested in this University. As good stewards of this University, we are obligated to keep the trust by maintaining and improving our facilities. We must complete the KEEP NH program and work for better science facilities at DeMeritt, James, Nesmith, and Parsons Halls.
Meet the Challenges
The UNH story is much more than these few examples that I have provided to you this afternoon. These are our accomplishments; we also face many challenges.
As Mark Twain said, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”
So, here are some of steps that we can take together in the coming year to move promise and vision to implementation and action.
Make Discovery a Reality
We must make discovery a reality. To ground a distinctive, inquiry-based UNH education in the core experience of our students and consistent with the Academic Plan, we should make the Discovery Program a reality this year by adopting and beginning to implement the six-year transition plan proposed by the Faculty Implementation Committee. Whether it’s “From Frankenstein to Dolly, and Beyond,” “Building a Culture of Peace,” or “Myths and Misconceptions About Nuclear Science,” these courses were developed to ground our work in inquiry, and with the support of the provost, have already moved us forward toward that dream of implementation.
After months of careful dialogue, debate, and planning with broad participation from across the University, a general education for the coming decade that moves us toward the realization of our promise of a distinctive and distinguished UNH education grounded in inquiry is ready to move forward. Eighteen months after the general framework of the Academic Plan and Discovery Program for general education were completed, and following the endorsement of the Faculty Senate of the principles, goals, and strategies of the plan, it is now time for action in order to achieve our vision. Enough talk. We have now entered the era of the “implementation game,” the tough time when the vision thing needs to become a reality.
I call upon the Faculty Senate to complete this long and complex process and move us to a place where we can hold the academic leadership accountable for the implementation of the Discovery Program and the Academic Plan. I have tremendous confidence in our leadership and believe that with the help and work of the faculty and student body we can overcome the obstacles and make this a reality. And I pledge my support to ensure that the issues and obstacles we face will be overcome and resources will be directed to make this happen.
Inquiry as pedagogy must penetrate everything we do at UNH for the promise of these years of planning to become a reality. Every student at UNH will test the veracity of our discovery claims in every class, in the laboratory, and in the field, and they will judge the congruence of our actions and rhetoric. I said almost a year ago in my inaugural address that this promise of a signature and unique education was one of the most important features of the UNH commitment to excellence in undergraduate education across the board. I think we can achieve it.
Actively Seek Competitive Grants and Funding
We must actively seek grants and funded research from new sources. We need to raise the bar on our national academic excellence by securing more grants and allowing our outstanding faculty to continue to conduct their excellent research and to let people from across the country and around the world to know more about UNH faculty accomplishments.
There is a tremendous capacity for our faculty to become more active in securing funding for their work. In an environment of extreme pressure, we have continued to grow in external grants and contracts, but not nearly as fast as we have in the past. We are grateful to Senator Gregg, but cannot and should not rely on the $130-$170 million resulting from the faculty’s outstanding research and the Senator’s efforts over the last decade as our source of funding for research and scholarship into the indefinite future.
In addition to NOAA and NASA, we must be more successful in competitive grants and gaining contracts from agencies such as NIH, NSF, and Education and from foundations. Vice President Aber is committed to working with the faculty and deans to raise the bar and provide the support necessary to vault over it.
Approximately 130 of our 640 tenure track faculty (about 25 percent) are principal investigators in funded research and development. Research faculty and staff account for the rest of our extramural funding. You can see that there is a wide variety of support, but also a wide range of opportunity for our faculty to become more involved. We are committed to providing the resources to make it possible for us to tap that tremendous faculty resource.
Funded research is not the only way to advance scholarship and creative activity, as you know, but research-active faculty are at the heart of a vibrant intellectual community. And I challenge you to join with all of us to make those opportunities available to more and more of our faculty and to provide them with the support to achieve their success.
Push for Greater Appreciation of the University’s Value and Work to Build on Our Quality
I also believe that the administration faces a number of very serious challenges. We need to worker harder to secure a general understanding and appreciation for the quality of the University of New Hampshire across the state. I think that New Hampshire Public Radio did a good job of explaining what that difficulty is. While we have achieved tremendous reputation in our nation and in our world, we need to work harder at telling that story in New Hampshire. And we deserve and need the support of the state of New Hampshire in order to be able to support our state.
I must work hard in the off year of the budget biennium to push for greater understanding of our role in NH, and in the future, to secure resources that are necessary to make us successful. I have already shared with you the challenge that I have given to Vice President Murray, and this challenge is also to myself; to work with her, her team, and with all of you to assure that more of our legislators, our governor, and others with whom we work understand the tremendous contribution that we have to make to the state of NH and become our ongoing partners. I am very grateful to Governor Benson for his gracious and supportive proclamation on behalf of UNH today. And I pledge to be his partner in continuing to advance the growth and development of this wonderful institution.
Push for Expanded Impact: Engagement Through Scholarship and Outreach and Through Cooperative Extension
We also face a challenge to push for expanded impact of our engagement and outreach missions. The faculty are, again, at the heart of the partnerships with our communities that engagement through scholarship jointly undertaken represents. Our faculty and extension educators already have a tremendous impact on New Hampshire. However, the UNH mission, and the vision articulated through the Academic Plan, will not be realized without even more extensive engagement carefully and creatively designed to advance core knowledge creation applied directly in the lives of New Hampshire citizens. I challenge you to work with all of us, with Vice President Aber and his team, to make sure that we find more and more ways to bring our faculty research and scholarship and our community creativity and needs together for a higher level of achievement in this incredibly important area.
Academic Leadership
We also face a series of challenges in academic leadership, and I touched on those just briefly a little bit earlier. Our faculty and academic leaders continually examine our curriculum. We know how important that is, and we will continue to do that to stay at the top of our fields. We are never finished with curriculum planning. Our disciplines are developing and changing. Our students are changing, and the world in which we live is changing, and we need to face the challenge of meeting that change and leading that change. I challenge the administration to fulfill the promise of the academic plan by making the partnerships exemplified in Provost Mallory’s presentation to the faculty on the 8th of September a reality. Provost Mallory has thought long and hard about these issues and worked with many UNH faculty and leaders. And he and I will work with you to make that partnership work, and achieve the implementation of our vision.
Plan for the Next Campaign
We are also challenged to prepare for next capital campaign. In this coming year it is time to begin the formal preliminary planning. Now, we have learned that we can raise money, and we have learned that private fund raising is an important part of the University’s future. But we can not depend completely on private fund raising. We have learned this especially in the last year, when we have experienced the vagaries of payout from endowment. But we also know that our public/private partnerships and our partnerships with our private friends are the source of some of the most incredible opportunities available to us on the margins. Space Science and Developmental Psychology are just two examples from one very important friend, but there are many others. And I pledge to work with the president of the UNH Foundation and with the leadership of this University to begin the preliminary planning for our next capital campaign and to assure that we raise the bar even higher. I have confidence in the future and believe we must be prepared with our next capital campaign plan as the economy emerges from its present difficulties, not afterward.
In Contract Negotiations: Respect and Civility Will Prevail
My final challenge to the administration is to make sure that respect and civility will prevail and are prevailing. As we work through difficult collective bargaining issues, we are committed to mutual respect. We value and appreciate our faculty as the intellectual heart of this University, and we will continue to strive to achieve a fair and equitable agreement as soon as possible. I am extraordinarily proud of the two teams that are working on this critical effort and have worked so hard, especially in the past few months to reach a settlement.
Challenge to Students
I would challenge all of you to feast on the banquet that UNH lays out before you. Demand the inquiry based discovery courses that we promise you in your classrooms and the experiences in your seminar, the field and the laboratory. Demand access to undergraduate research opportunities. Demand teaching and curriculum designs that hone your skills and your abilities in inquiry and analysis, and equip you to address the increasingly complex issues that lie before you. Participate in the development of new opportunities and help to shape the future of the distinctive UNH education for those who follow you.
Hold higher expectations for your student community and for the support of the outcomes of the upcoming summit. Your student leaders are out in front and taking a big chance by organizing this dialogue. It takes the entire University student community to make the dream of a better way of interacting with our families and communities a reality. Build on the power of the student summit to specifically confront the issues related to our culture as a group of people committed to core values of respect for one another. The outcomes of the summit will require action from all of us, not just those who sit together this weekend and talk about our difficulties. Our work must not end with the summit, which concludes on Sunday. The real work will begin on Monday. We will not let that work end with a final report.
Participate
Participate fully. Here is one example: In the fall, as part of our Study Circles program, there will be a community-wide discussion about alcohol consumption. This program will bring together students, faculty, staff and community members in an exchange of ideas about alcohol and its role and impact on our campus and in Durham. Participate.
Examine and Affirm Our Commitment to Diversity
This year, UNH faculty, staff, and students are planning a similar round of study circles about inclusion and diversity at UNH. Affirmative action in student admissions, the meaning and complexity of inclusiveness, and our willingness to test out what we mean and what we do when we assert a commitment to diversity will be involved in many activities.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on affirmative action in university admissions, upholding the University of Michigan’s right to use race as a factor as part of a comprehensive and multiple criteria, case-by-case assessment, but declaring the more controversial point system employed by Michigan for undergraduate admissions to be unconstitutional. We will host a series of activities that will allow us to educate ourselves, share our perspectives and opinions, and learn about UNH's policies and processes of affirmative action in admission.
These dialogues are open to everyone; I encourage everyone in our community to engage in these campus-wide conversations. It is my hope and intention that this University-wide dialogue will result in a new UNH statement of dedication to inclusion and diversity, grounded in our immediate context, and charged with the clear energy and effort of the entire University community. I challenge us all to build this renewed commitment and a statement of that commitment to share among ourselves and with others.
UNH, Families and Durham face Underage Drinking and Alcohol Abuse
I also believe that Durham, UNH and our families face a tremendous challenge for underage drinking and alcohol abuse. This is another critical issue and we need to confront it. A federal report released last week by the National Academy of Sciences calls for us to create and sustain a strong societal commitment to reduce underage drinking.
I would ask all of us, students, faculty, administrators, families, teachers, mentors, to work together to confront under-age and binge drinking in our community. I ask our neighbors in the town of Durham, I ask our students, our law enforcement, our professors and staff. I ask my administration and myself, to work on this issue, a growing national trend that must be reversed, and the Student Summit is just one small step in that process.
The University’s efforts continue with following through on our existing commitments. An honest self-appraisal confirms that in the past, we have not made full use of the resources and policies that we had put in place to address the issue of alcohol misuse. This year, we will work to make parents full partners in addressing this issue by notifying them whenever an underage student is charged with an alcohol violation, not waiting for the resolution of the hearing process or a second offense. For members of our Fraternity community, who years ago adopted a responsible social policy that limited the amount of alcohol that could be brought to social functions, we have reminded them of these limits, and we will monitor these situations to help them to ensure safe, responsible social settings.
But the net needs to be cast wider. Between 40 and 50 percent of those arrested on the streets of Durham on weekends are not UNH students; they often are juveniles from Durham and the surrounding communities, even as far as Exeter and Massachusetts. While the majority of arrests are exclusively for alcohol violations, alcohol also is a contributing factor in the more serious offenses for which people are arrested. Communities need to work with parents and families to provide healthy options for weekend nights and other free time.
We also must acknowledge that our state relies on the sale of alcohol as an important source of revenue and that this fact has not escaped the young members of our community. We need to look to our business leaders in Durham. The Harvard School of Public Health released its report last Friday on alcohol marketing and under-age drinking. In its coverage yesterday, the New York Times cited tactics criticized by the study. Prices as low as 25 cents for a beer at a bar. Selling beer in 24-packs with lower prices per can and signs on bars and liquor stores advertising special weekend prices. Now in Durham we don’t sell 24-packs, we sell 30-packs. The study concludes that there is a link between advertised alcohol specials and increased drinking among students.
We ought not to look for a single source for this problem -- there’s plenty of blame and responsibility to go around. But so long as all of those associated with the factors that we know contribute to the problem point their fingers at others and say that it’s their problem, we will find no solution. No single intervention by itself is powerful enough to overcome the combination of contributing factors. It will take all of us. Every single one of us.
Take Pride in Our Achievement. Celebrate Our Potential
UNH is a great institution and we are fortunate to be a part of it.
We are in fact, among the most fortunate of people and should be proud of our achievements. We are blessed to be able to spend our lives inquiring, reading, talking about critical issues, teaching, creating, discovering and investing in the future. Remember, that what we learn and accomplish here is of only limited value unless we deliver and implement that new knowledge in our communities. Remember that we are an extraordinary community, a nexus of thinking, research and education for culture, politics, and the arts.
We have worked jointly to elaborate a vision and a plan that will result in UNH becoming among the best small public university in the United States, and therefore, in the world. Parts of UNH have already achieved this vision. We must commit to action on the vision to move the entire University forward.
In closing, I remind you once again of Mark Twain’s extremely appropriate words: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Thank you, everyone.
