A FUTURE I WOULD WELCOME
Governor Reubin O'D. Askew
Professor, Askew School of Public Administration and Policy at FSU
Biographical
Sketch
I
had the pleasure of viewing on our FSU Channel 47 your previous meeting
at which Presidents D'Alemberte and Sliger as well as Provost Abele made
their presentations.
As I heard President D'Alemberte speaking about President Doak Campbell's
bold prediction that Florida State would have a student enrollment of 10,000
by the turn of the century, I remembered back to 1950 when I was President
of the Student Body and Dr. Campbell gave me a personal and very enthusiastic
explanation of the model of the then so-called "master plan"about
which, as I recall, he talked in terms of 50 years to complete but it was
completed in less than 10 years. It was the first time I can remember seeing
"high-rise" men's dormitories. They certainly did look odd and
futuristic. That was the year we went to our first football bowl game -
the "Cigar Bowl" at the University of Tampa where we defeated
a favored "Wolford" 19-6.
We have come a long way since that time in every phase of our development
- faculty, students, staff, buildings, and intercollegiate athletics. At
that time no one could imagine a student body of 30,000, a stadium seating
approximately 80,000 and a national football championship. Nor could anyone
have imagined the growth and development of such an array of academic offerings
and opportunities our students would enjoy by the end of the century.
Yes, we have come a long way and I swell with pride as to what has happened
here at FSU during those years. But I am as enthusiastic about our future
as I am proud of our past and present.
I will leave to others more qualified than I to discuss the future of academics
and programs at Florida State.
It is my intent to cover a couple of points which I think are important
to FSU's future.
Adequate funding is critical to the future of any institution, certainly
it is to Florida State. Where will this funding come from? Primarily from
state government, student fees, contract and research grants and private
funding.
With our ranking as a Research I University, we should be able to bring
in more research dollars in varied areas of research, dollars which will
continue to be vital to the further development of our research capabilities.
While no one likes to see increases in student tuition and fees, it is a
reality with which we have to deal. Hopefully we can secure these necessary
funds, but understand that as our student fees go up, so must the availability
of student financial assistance to make sure we do not price ourselves out
of the market for a lot of bright students in need of financial help.
The two remaining funding sources are the areas to which I wish to speak
more about.
Thanks to the leadership of President D'Alemberte and others, we have just
completed a very successful capital fund-raising drive. And, of course,
one successful drive prompts another one so we will embark on another one
soon, but we will be substantially better off in our experience on how to
get the job done than a few years ago when we encountered some difficulty
in getting the right mix of people in the right roles with the right program.
While we do not enjoy as broad a base of alumni support as UF nor the large
potential of support as do our younger institutions located in the major
urban areas, we have made significant progress in widening our alumni base
and generating enthusiastic financial response from FSU supporters including
non-alumni, as well.
One of the keys to FSU's future will be how well we motivate our ever expanding
alumni base to play an even greater role in the life of their alma mater.
They were challenged in our recent fund drive and came through in flying
colors of garnet and gold! How well we keep them motivated and participating
will be one of our biggest and most important challenges in the coming decade.
In addition, we need to keep expanding our non-alumni base of supporters.
The potential for this is great and we must reach out and find them and
bring them in to our family.
FSU does enjoy a very important special status (along with FAMU) of being
located in the capital city of our state. This brings special opportunities
and special responsibilities. We must take greater advantage of our unique
character and circumstances. As a public university in the capital city
of the 4th largest state in the nation, FSU should strive to maintain and
strengthen its relationship with Florida government. By this I mean we should
seek to be perceived as a resource, not simply a sublicant.
Our state has many problems and finding solutions are usually difficult.
State government has the responsibility for finding them. The process requires
an assimilation of a lot of information and knowledge. The legislature is
fortunate to have very able staff to assist them . The governor has substantial
assistance available. So frequently, however, much more information, research,
and knowledge is also needed. The question then is how can FSU with its
abundance of talent respond and participate in order to help them find solutions.
This is not an easy task, nor is it a new or novel idea, but is one that
we at FSU should continuously check to make sure that we are doing whatever
we can in an appropriate way to help our policy makers do their job.
This will involve us looking at what we are already doing and whatever else
we should be doing to make clear our desire to be that resource that can
help make a difference in the life of our people and our state. Not only
should we be doing this because we can help, but in the process of helping
we will be seen as an important partner. We are a resource for state government
and by our view, a special resource that also requires understanding from
those in positions of responsibility in state government as to the unique
nature of a university and the academic freedom it must enjoy to be able
to fulfill its primary roles of teaching, research and service. This means
that, we should place on ourselves a responsibility to be a significant
resource and be ready to make a contribution to the well-being of the society
that supports us.
To be sure, this university must seek contracts and grants and must continue
to build its endowment. But at least for the foreseeable future, FSU will
be primarily needful of support from Florida state government. As important
as our quest for outside funding is, we must not lose sight of our main
benefactor, the citizens of Florida and their needs.
Finally, we need to think big. We should not limit our future by thinking
small. All our dreams may not be fulfilled and then again they may. Let
us imagine for tomorrow what 50 years from now- looking back - would have
seemed unimaginable today.
Good luck on your work. It is important.