Greg Burghardt

The state of the university is …

I’ll try again: The state of the university is …

Well, I’m not sure what the state of the university is. No one else knows what it is, either, because University President Michael Rao’s State of the University address was short of specifics and did not focus on issues pertinent to the majority of students at CMU.

But didn’t Rao look presidential in his maroon and gold tie and CMU pin, standing in front of the Stars and Stripes? You’d think he’s running for re-election in the Legislature or Congress.

After all, his address Thursday wasn’t far from most politicians: heavy on style, lacking in substance. Clever man he is, Rao knows it’s easier to play it safe by giving trite sound bites rather than answering with detailed responses.

The more specific the answers one gives, the more scrutiny one faces. Just ask Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Here’s how Rao addressed such serious topics as:

• budget cuts. “I think everybody is feeling the pinch.” No kidding? I thought CMU was the only higher education institution with financial difficulties.

• grade inflation. (Provost Thomas Storch will) “make great strides toward achieving even higher levels of academic excellence.” What will he do? Decrease the mean grade-point averages at CMU by .01 percent again?

• why many important decisions were made in the summer, when faculty and students were gone. “The timing was a difficult situation. We were approaching the July 1 deadline and not many were around.” Notice he answered by restating the obvious.

Rao also outlined six major areas of focus for the university. They were: increasing the number of international students, attracting transfer students, attracting graduate students, expanding the College of Extended Learning, providing more educational opportunities for undergraduate students and the Strategic Plan for Achieving Diversity.

While all six are commendable goals in which I hope CMU makes achievements, only one pertains to the majority of students at university. Even then, the manner in which the university will achieve the goal is vague.

Rao went wrong by scrapping a full-length speech in favor of an “interactive” format, which really was nothing more than question-and-answer time.

If attendance at most of Rao’s open forums last spring semester serves as an indicator, officials should have known that the Q-and-A format wouldn’t work for the State of the University speech.

Maybe that’s what Rao and other administrators wanted — another public relations outing with softball questions disguised as an informative event.

It’s also a waste that, considering the shortness in Rao’s prepared speech, he didn’t give his salaried speechwriter more work. He could have put her to better use.

Going into arguably the most important speech of Rao’s year, officials knew they only received five e-mails with questions, many of which had overlapping questions.

Yet Rao was so pressed for questions, he resorted to taking questions from a story published Wednesday by Central Michigan Life and humor.

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

But if Rao ever decides to leave the university and quit being an educator, he should avoid going into comedy. After all, a promising career in politics would await him.

Life Editorial Page Editor Nick Buonodono can be reached for comment at oped@cm-life.com.

E-mail the author: Nick Buonodono