Interaction missing in interactive speech

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University President Michael Rao introduced a question-and-answer format for his State of the University address Thursday, with little student support.

Of the 250 in attendance — very few were students — only three people asked questions. Rao took it in stride, cracking jokes about the lack of participation.

“I’ll give you a dollar if you come up and ask” a question, he said, jokingly.

Instead of answering live questions, Rao spent much of the time during the interactive session answering questions from a prepared list.

Journalism Professor John Hartman asked via letter why so many important decisions were made this summer without consulting with Academic Senate and the Student Government Association.

“The timing was a difficult situation,” Rao said. “We were approaching the July 1 deadline and not many (people) were around. We certainly did get quite a bit of input (during the school year).”

He said many of the budget cutting ideas were taken from student input during the 2002 fall and 2003 spring semesters, though the closing of the CLAS Testing Center was one thing Rao said could have benefited from open discussions.

The president also fielded questions pertaining to faulty toilets in the new Towers complex, the tuition increase and building improvements.

Rao dedicated much of the planned portion of the speech to budget issues.

“I think everybody is feeling the pinch,” Rao said. “The budget situation turned out better than it could have been. The evidence was clear (money following the students). The legislature did make differential cuts with CMU.”

Rao also outlined six major areas of focus for the upcoming school year. They included: increasing international education, attracting transfer students, attracting graduate students, expanding the College of Extended Learning, providing more educational opportunities for undergraduate students and achieving the Strategic Plan for Achieving Diversity.

Rao said reducing grade inflation is part of helping undergraduate education. He said new Provost Thomas Storch was a key to help “make great strides toward achieving even higher levels of academic excellence.”

The process of eliminating grade inflation, Storch said, is not going to be quick.

“It is a long-term process,” he said. “We are well on our way to changing among faculty and students. We are trying to improve the learning environment for the students.”

The overall grade point average at CMU decreased in 2002, but Storch said it remains to be seen if that is an indication of a reduction in grade inflation.

Rao also praised the improvement of fund-raising. While national fund-raising decreased 1 percent, Rao said CMU “bucked” the trend with a 15.7 percent increase.

However, he said while the university received $12 million, many larger schools still bring in about $30 million.

Officials expect fund-raising to continue to increase, said Mike Leto, vice president of Development and Alumni Relations.

“We expect to see continual growth,” he said. Fund-raising officials are working on “getting the message out more.”