Editor’s note: The Chancellor’s Office scheduled a sit-down interview with The University Daily Kansan well ahead of the announcement of a budget press conference by Gov. Mark Parkinson last Monday. The interview was conducted an hour before the governor’s announcement to cut $2 million from the Board of Regents, so Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little did not answer specific questions regarding the budget.

Since taking office in August, Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little has been crossing the state from Kansas City to Parsons to Pittsburg meeting with alumni, media, members of the community and honor students. She also attends monthly Board of Regents meetings in Topeka and spends one full day a week at the Kansas University Medical Center. The University Daily Kansan caught up with her just before Thanksgiving break to take a look at how her first several months have gone and to discuss her views on the future of the University in light of recent budget shortfalls.

Kansan: You mentioned recruitment as one of the concerns you’ve heard with your travels across the state. What are some of the other things that you’ve learned in your travels across the state that surprise or concern you?

Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little: I don’t know if there were big surprises. With recruitment there were a number of people that I met in different places who said essentially the same thing: that the University needed to raise its profile of recruitment in those areas and be seen as a more welcoming place. Another thing that I learned — not particularly surprised — is that people all over the state see KU as an institution in the state, and that wherever I’ve gone there’s been a wish to have a connection with KU and to see KU in their communities. And that’s been a pretty consistent message.

Kansan: How important was it to start off your time at the University by starting to travel the state and to learn about the people of Kansas and our institutions across Kansas in that way?

It was very important to me. And one thing that I did learn is that it was also important to people in similar places that I visited. While they didn’t expect that I would be there, a number of them commented on the fact I had come out so early in my time at the University, which they interpreted as a sign of my interest in actually finding out about the people.

Kansan: What are people saying about KU?

BG-L: So, wanted to make sure that we’re competitive, both competitive for students and for faculty, and the other thing that is impressive to me is the level of commitment to KU, and their loyalty to KU is outstanding. And that’s very impressive when you meet so many people that are committed and have dedicated so much time and are willing to dedicate so much time to the University.

Kansan: How does the budget crunch affect your stated goals in terms of short-term implementation with the task forces, and a long-term implementation. Is it something that can be scaled to what the budget is?

BG-L: Remember I had three goals, and the third one was resources, generating resources, which is a recognition that most of the things that we want to do would require resources of some type, if we want to expand the research profile, the research programs that requires faculty and staff, and in many areas additional graduate students. If we want to enhance retention, that may require programs on campus for students. So, I think most of those things would require resources. One of the things that we can do at this time of uncertainty — and this is something that is happening — is look at what things seem to work, that there’s some good research on retention and graduation rates, recent research in particular, what things seem to work at universities like ours. Which things would make good sense for us to do, so we have a well-developed plan so we can start to work on bit-by-bit. So, you asked if it can be scaled, it perhaps we can scale it by working on parts of it instead of looking at what all the recommendations might be, and trying to implement them all at one time.

Kansan: Are you talking about retention and graduation, ideas on how to improve that, as some of those examples?

BG-L: Yes.

Kansan: How does that run into a budget shortfall? This is something that I’m not talking about years ahead, the student that’s looking at, what’s going to happen this winter, this spring, next fall?

BG-L: If we had additional severe budget reductions, could it affect those goals? Absolutely. Let’s say we were talking about next year, if we had further reductions next year, if we had fewer classes for students to get the classes they need to make progress, that would be anti-the goals that we’re talking about. Or if we had less funds for students who need financial aid, or if we had programs that we were going to offer to support student success, if those were cut further, that would certainly impact those goals. I think that most of those things the task force will look at doing will be things that require staff and resources, in some way. Certainly the budget is relevant to all of this.

Kansan: Certainly, it’s no secret we’re in a recession and have budgetary concerns across the state. But are there any — again I go back to a theme of this interview: surprises — are there any unexpected or surprising aspects of what’s happening with the budget, with there being mid-year cuts and mid-month adjustments? And we’re looking at state tax revenues for last month, is that something that you anticipated when you applied?

BG-L: Well, it’s certainly not something I hoped for. And, I can’t say that I anticipated it that it would happen here in Kansas, but certainly I have seen this happen in other states and on other campuses, so it’s not something that we are alone in — I think it’s characteristic that to the extent that I can tell, in Kansas that we have a combination of a tax system of lots of exemptions on one hand, and on the other, a reluctance to enhance revenue through other means. And I think that makes it very difficult to have a combination of those two, very difficult to get the kind of support for education and for higher education that is really needed. And in the long term — of course it’s a concern for the University generally, but I think it’s especially a concern because if the state doesn’t support higher education at a level that allows us to keep tuition low, then the students who will have the most difficulty are the low socio-economic students who can’t pay the additional tuition. And I think that is played out on places that when a state reduces support, that’s the group that hurts the most. And there is also a premium put on recruiting students from out of state, et cetera. So that is one of the reasons I think it’s especially troubling.

Kansan: Has the appearance in national headlines by athletics, how does that affect your idea of having an institution that is focused on academics, rather than the negative attention that’s been going on with some headlines nationally with athletics?

BG-L: Well, I certainly wish we would have headlines with athletics that would be more positive than the ones we have because I would prefer that whatever gets into the national media about the University would be more positive, whether it would be academics or athletics. That has been unfortunate. I think, just as our previous conversation indicated, once there is a hint, or even before there’s a hint that there’s something awry, or once it gets into the media it kind of blows greatly out of proportion. And I don’t think there’s very much that we can do to control that.

Kansan: Why did you feel it important to refute published reports or rumors on Thursday regarding Lew Perkins and athletics?

BG-L: Well, before the rumors continue, I thought it was worthwhile to say ‘there’s no grounds for this.’ I think if there were a review of Lew Perkins going on, I would know about it. I am not conducting a review — the University is not conducting a review, and I thought it was important to try to put an end to that conversation as soon as possible; There was absolutely no truth to it at all. And it would just lead to idle speculation.

— Edited by Amanda Thompson