Subscribe
to TIC!

Fourth Branch of America Interview -

Kermit L. Hall
President of University at Albany & Constitutional Scholar

Q: What are the responsibilities of being the President of University at Albany?      “The responsibility of the President is to provide the overall guidance and leadership for the institution, certainly in its academic program, but more generally for the place of the institution in the community, in the State, and in the nation. That takes me everywhere from fundraising to political relations, to working with alumni, to shooting baskets at the ‘Big Purple Growl’, to having ‘President for a Day’ here with me, like Eric Christensen [see photo]. My central job is to look out for the entire corporate interest of the university.”

[left to right] 1. President for a Day, Eric Christensen 2. UAlbany President Kermit L. Hall 3. FBA/TIC Founder Ray Feliciano 4. FBA/TIC Co-Founder Kimberly Feliciano (Photo by Karl Luntta, UAlbany Executive Director of Media Relations)

Q: In this past year, what is the accomplishment of which you are most proud?
     “The Inaugural Student Scholarship Fund was one of the objectives we had, and when I came in I said that we are not going to do an inauguration. I took $100,000 out of what would have gone to an inauguration, and I personally put $10,000 of my own into it. It’s one of the these desperately needed scholarship dollars. We’re at $1.7 million”

Q: Does the university help students develop life skills, such as managing finances or being a better parent or citizen?
     “One of the areas that we have put some emphasis on in the last year is trying to build a sense of individual responsibility and community involvement. I came to the #1 party school in the nation, and we’ve moved to #5. I am hoping that we will continue to move in the right direction. I’m all up for a party. It would be fabulous. But, I think in the end, the academic merit and the personal integrity of our students is really what matters.”

Q: How is the university funded?
     “The university’s total budget, which is close to $450 million, of that total budget about a $120 million is provided by the state in the form of support for operations and salaries. That figure does not include fringe benefits, and it does not include capital outlays that are made. So, if you look at the budget in its total terms, and take all that stuff in, about 34% of the budget is supported by the state. If, however, you take those out, and that includes tuition by the way, if you take that out, then it ends up we’re somewhere around 15%.”

Q: What about philanthropic gifts?
     “One of the responsibilities of the president in the modern day is to engage in efforts to raise money. It’s that simple. Last week I spent in California and Arizona. Since I’ve been here, we’ve had major events in New York City, Raleigh, Washington D.C., Chicago, San Diego, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. We’ve also had alumni events in China. That’s a big part of what we do. Our endowment is roughly $17 million, which is not even close to where we should be. About 9% of our alumni contribute. That puts us in the bottom 20% of public institutions. Our alumni giving needs to be much more around 20%, so we are trying as hard as we can to reach out to our alums. The Inaugural Student Scholarship raised about $1.7 million.”

Q: Having worked at universities across the nation, what about UAlbany that attracted you?
     “One is that I had been following Albany for some time in its role as a development and research…. It’s an example of community, university, and state government bringing pieces together that helped economic development and boosting the university. The second reason I’m here is because it’s a city and the political capital of the Northeast, not just New York. There’s some days that I wish it weren’t, but there are other days that I’m glad it is. It’s an enormous challenge…”

Q: What are some unique programs at UAlbany?
     “Certainly our nanotech and biotech are very important and they’ve come a long way. I think it’s critical to understand, however, that historically and today, the heart of UAlbany remains in its public service, public administration, and public policy programs. When I say that, I bring a lot under that umbrella—not just the Rockefeller College—but criminal justice, social welfare, and the school of education. In addition to that, business is an important component of what goes on in relation to the public sphere. And finally, we have a College of Arts and Sciences—very diverse, very large, and it impedes the undergraduate curriculum but articulates very nicely with a lot of that public service emphasis. We’ve got a Center for Population Studies, one of the very best in the country. We have a Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, one of the very best in the country. Our criminal justice programs rank number two in the country. Rockefeller College is number ten in the country when it comes to law and public administration. So, when you put this all together, what you get is a very strong university in the area for public service, policy, and administration that has added on pieces in high tech.”

Q: Do the departments here in nanotechnology and biotechnology serve more than just the students, but the region and the state?
     “Oh yes, it’s a magnet for ultimately the re-development economically for Tech Valley. They are not the only things going on, but they are very important. No matter what your politics are, I salute the government and the legislature for making the investment. I can give you my long economic discourse on this, but there is something called ‘creative destruction’ in economics, and what’s happening here is that one era of economic enterprise is giving away to another. The investment that was made, if it weren’t made, we would not begin to have the leverage.”

Q: What benefit does the school and your students have in being located in what you call ‘the capital of one of the nation’s greatest states’?
     “The first is the opportunity for internships that are related to public policy. We have a very strong internship program with the state legislature. The second is that it provides some real-life opportunities when it comes to academics. A lot of the issues we are addressing are problems associated with public service and public life. This is one big laboratory. It’s also a good laboratory for economic development. Now, we’ll see how the experiment turns out, but what’s going on here with nanotech-biotech, is very much an experiment in how you redesign an economy.”

Q: Is part of education learning to be a good citizen?
     “It is. I think it’s a big challenge. You cannot be the best citizen and the #1 party school in the country.”

Q: What about the Purple Path? Is it important for schools to encourage physical activity?
     “It is. It’s too bad we don’t have a physical education major. It was done away with some time ago, and I’d like to see our recreational programs here improved. Much to the credit of Lee McElroy, our Athletic Director and his strategic plan, he’s put a piece of that in. The Purple Path I’m really taken with. It’s a great way to unite the community that’s around the school with the university. It’s a great way to emphasize the value of exercise. People can bike, walk, jog, sit down, and what’s happened of course is the campus has grown up, the trees. As it comes a better, more friendly place, we want to exploit it. For recruiting students it’s absolutely critical.”

Q: What does it take for a university to retain talented teachers and staff in the current marketplace?
     “It certainly takes money, and it takes good fringe benefits. It also takes two other things, maybe less tangible, but are nonetheless critical. One, it takes a community that is viewed as an innovative and tolerant place. The second thing is a sense within the university of a buzz, ‘Something is happening. I’m willing to invest here. Things will get better.’ The intellectual life of the place, and the research life of the place—those two are absolutely critical.”

Q: You were one of five people picked by former President Clinton to participate in the JFK Assassination Records Review Board, eventually releasing some six million documents to the public. What was the most startling revelation your group discovered?
     “I put these two together. The first is, especially in light of the current debate, if you go back through our records you’ll discover the National Security Agency was using its tools to effectively eavesdrop on the members of the Warren Commission. The second thing that I think applies to all of is that Fidel Castro actually did a mock up of the assassination, after the fact. The reason he did it, was that he was certain that the United States was going to invade Cuba, and the other is that he just didn’t think that Lee Harvey Oswald could do it. There’s a ton of stuff in there. If you want to understand the intelligence operations, and understand how fully the United States had penetrated governments around the world by the CIA, and how the FBI had penetrated places like this… they are a treasure trove contemporary ….”

Q: As a constitutional scholar, you have spoken out regarding your concerns that President Bush may have committed ‘constitutional suicide by eavesdropping’. What do you mean by that? And when, if ever, does the President have the power to go beyond the Constitution?
     “I don’t think the president ever has the power to go beyond the Constitution. What the president has is the authority to make sure that the Constitution is safeguarded by all those who would try to undermine it. My point about ‘constitutional suicide’ is this: Robert Jackson said that the Constitution is not a suicide pact. In the end, we have to defend what we have, but if you disregard in the end the underlying trust that the American people put in government by so exceeding your authority that you call their liberty into question, that in effect will undermine the nation. The question I raise in my piece on President Bush is really pretty simple. I honor the fact that he wants to protect the nation. That is critical, and I wouldn’t want a president any other way. It would be so easy, however, to go back and ask Congress for some additional authority. No Congress is going to say to a President in the midst of a war on terror, ‘I’m sorry. I’m not going to let you do that.’ So, just as a way of tidying things up, if I were advising President Bush, I would advise him, ‘I understand what you are doing. Just make sure you’ve got a few other people on the same page with you.’

Q: What else would you like our readers to know?
     “One of the things that I didn’t do when you asked the question. I think it’s very important to understand that we are making as best effort as we can to reach out internationally. We have to be selective in doing that. One of the places that I believe is critical for us to be engaged is China. I think it’s critical for the following reasons: The first is that China is the higher education frontier of the 21st century. Less than 1% of the Chinese population of college age is currently educated. They are building their economy, however, that is going to demand a whole lot more. The second is that I think in selected areas, China will be a gleaming scholar in the academic enterprise, and we need to be part of that. It’s just not biotech and such. The third is, China will be a leading power within the 21st century. I believe we are a whole lot better off reaching out now while they are emerging, than trying to grasp hold after they have emerged. China needs some real help in areas involving human rights. They need some help in areas involving rule of law. I think it’s in our interest as an educational enterprise to get our students involved with them, and in so doing perhaps teach some of the lessons that I think our country has demonstrated that may be of help to the Chinese.”

What is the FBA?  |  FBA Website Prototype  |  Cost Estimates  |  The Team

Publishers of The Informed Constituent.

Contact the FBA