It isn’t university President Dan Mote’s job to charm undergraduates. And making sure we have fun during our years in College Park isn’t at the top of his priority list. But while it isn’t as quantifiable, the establishment of a unified campus culture is just as important in creating a great university as wooing donors and having top-10 programs.
When Mote arrived at this university in 1998, he was hired, in part, to continue improving the university’s reputation. Mote’s predecessor, Brit Kirwan, who now serves as the chancellor for the University System of Maryland, began steering this university from being a safety school for many in-state students to one of the nation’s most well-reputed public universities. Kirwan was a great cheerleader for the university and fought budget cuts as horrible those Mote has had to deal with. But Mote was hired in the hopes that he could push the institution to the next level.
During his decade-long tenure, Mote pushed the university onward and upward.
The U.S. News & World Report ranking has gone from No. 30 to 18; the percent of students who graduate in six years went from hovering somewhere in the mid-60’s to a strong 82 percent; the university saw an unprecedented boom in federal research funding, topping $500 million last year; and Mote almost tripled the amount of money collected through fundraising campaigns. To his credit, Mote has truly created what looks like a world-class institution — at least on paper.
But the one thing Mote failed to establish is also the one thing all top-tier universities should have — a soul. A pulse. A culture.
When students chant the victory song or shout “Go Terps!,” they are not cheering our academic caliber or nationally praised living-learning programs. And because there is no unifying culture students can attach themselves to or associate with the school that would make them proud to be a Terp, the only time the student body unites is at athletic events.
Now that the university sits on the brink of greatness, students need a leader with more than just vision. The next president must fill the void left by a university driven to prove itself on paper while not taking the time to establish a culture on-campus.
Mote didn’t establish this culture, but he didn’t have to in order to do a commendable job. Still, this shortcoming hasn’t gone unnoticed by students. At a feedback session last month where students identified attributes they would like to see in the next university president, many highlighted Mote’s tendency to selectively listen to student concerns — while the administration built a website to address complaints about a lack of transparency, student voices seemed to matter less on weighty issues, such as the Purple Line alignment.
Most students seem to agree, however, that Mote has always been accessible. He schedules Adele’s lunches with students and regularly attends big campus-wide events from basketball games to the homecoming parade and Maryland Day.
The next university president must continue this tradition of accessibility, while going the extra mile to make this campus feel like a home for everyone in the university community. He or she must establish tangible traditions that make students proud to be Terrapins and make professors and staff members proud to work at one of the best public institutions in the country.
Establishing traditions isn’t easy. Anything the university tries to promote that doesn’t involve sex, drugs or rock ‘n’ roll is going to be tagged as lame. These things happen organically, not from the top-down. The president can emphasize and encourage the establishment of traditions, but he can’t just snap his fingers and make it happen.
If we want to be great, it’s not just having top-notch rankings, great faculty members or beautiful facilities. It’s having a reason to stand up proudly and declare that you attend or work at this university. It’s having an attitude that will make the brightest and most talented students in the country want to come here. It’s about the next university president believing that we can be great — and not just on paper.
