University president Wallace Loh prepares for a live streaming of C-SPAN’s Big Ten tour at the University of Maryland.
C-SPAN’s Big Ten bus tour stopped at this university yesterday morning to hear from university President Wallace Loh. But on this stop, the bus tour was sans bus.
Although C-SPAN’s live on-campus interview for The Washington Journal morning show didn’t air from the bus’ usual mobile studio due to mechanical issues, Loh still spoke, but from the Samuel Riggs IV Alumni Center. The difficulties seemed to lessen hype on the campus.
Loh fielded questions from host Greta Wodele Brawner and then from callers nationwide about college affordability, diversity, athletic funding, SATs and student debt — national issues Loh used to spotlight this university.
“C-SPAN is not going to do a story exclusively on the University of Maryland,” Loh said, “[It served as] an opportunity to showcase the University of Maryland.”
And this opportunity, Loh said, is another benefit of being in the Big Ten. C-SPAN isn’t talking to other conferences, he said.
The tour’s final stop is Rutgers University, said C-SPAN producer Shannon Augustus. The tour has been important, she said, for giving students and the public an opportunity to ask questions of university presidents.
“A lot of people want to learn about college affordability,” Augustus said. “I think our C-SPAN audience is particularly interested in checking out the future of college education and talk[ing] to some of the leading leaders in that.”
Rising tuitions costs, Loh said, are reflective of political, economic and philosophical trends. When taxes are lowered and people are pushing for small government, the outcome is often rising tuition costs, he said.
Brawner asked Loh about the influence of Washington on this university, as well as the benefit for federal programs that partner with the school.
“It takes a team, it takes a village to address the complex issues that face the nation,” Loh said, referencing federal institutions like NASA and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, as well as terrorism and cybersecurity projects that work with university students, faculty and staff. “The University of Maryland would not be the institution it is if it were not eight miles from the heart of the nation’s capital.”
Brawner also quizzed Loh on this university’s goals for diversity and how those goals affect the admissions process. Diversity is one of 24 factors considered in applications of perspective students, Loh said.
“The demographic face of the nation is changing, and indeed that is one of the great challenges and opportunities for higher education,” he said.
Admissions counselors recruit talented minority students, and this university has programs to prepare students for college, which are designed to increase the types of people seeking higher education, he said.
Students, parents and educators called in from across the nation, including Wisconsin, North Carolina, Florida and Maryland, badgering Loh about his salary — which he disclosed at around $480,000 per year — and about athletic spending.
“Athletics is a self-supporting enterprise, there is no state funding,” Loh said, but emphasized its importance. “It is the front porch of the university. It is not the most important part, but for many people it is the most visible part.”
He also talked about non-traditional, older students at this university, and said he believes learning has now become a lifelong endeavor.
“The technology of online education could be a game changer in higher education,” Loh said. Now, he said, the real question for higher education is how to educate more people at a lower cost.
Most university students didn’t tune in to the live broadcast; some because they didn’t know about it, and others because the 9:15 a.m. start conflicted with classes.
Sophomore Nate Hitchings said he had no idea about Loh’s interview, but would have watched it if he did.
“It’s relevant, especially for students who are going into the field of public policy,” said Hitchings, a government and politics and philosophy major.
