In the first of four “Conversations with the President,” University President Morton O. Schapiro joked about informing people Northwestern is not in Seattle and going to Qatar to get a tan.
“Morty’s a genuine guy,” McCormick sophomore Mike Deem said. “He’s just a real class act.”
A full audience of students, faculty and administrators sat in McCormick Tribune Center to listen to the approximately 15-minute lecture and a subsequent Q&A session.
The community could also access the event via a live webcast.
Schapiro discussed a wide range of topics, from the University Strategic Plan to town-gown relations. He mentioned a campaign to increase diversity at NU and a desire to give a “chunk of change” to students to hold a community event like Fall Quarter’s John Legend concert at Welsh-Ryan Arena every year.
University Spokesman Al Cubbage said former University President Henry Bienen gave an annual State of the University address as president, but this year the NU Staff Advisory Council and the Office of the President decided to make the format more informal.
“He spoke fairly briefly, 10 or 15 minutes, which I thought went well,” Cubbage said.
Questions from online submitters and audience members were answered following the speech, though not always by Schapiro.
“Ask me something I know the answer to,” he said after he handed off a series of questions to other administrators sitting in the audience. “There’s got to be something. Should I look through the cards? What have I been doing for eight months?”
One of the reasons Schapiro’s answers seemed so genuine is because they were often incomplete, Deem said.
“He very willingly but humbly, with dignity, deferred it to the other senior executives there,” he said.
Schapiro said this year’s admissions cycle was a “banner year” for the University, which he said has reached the “cusp” of the best level of selectivity that can be hoped for at nearly 20 percent, with the actual acceptance rate clocking in at 23 percent.
On increasing diversity, Schapiro said a task force will shortly be unveiling a campaign and NU will make a “big move” for the next admissions cycle.
He also commented on the importance of community and said people don’t want to be “tolerated,” they want to be “part of the family.”
Schapiro applauded NU for having low barriers between undergraduate schools, lamented the decline of tenure-track positions in higher education and admitted he understands students better than he understands faculty.
When asked by a NUSAC member what he plans to do to get to know faculty, he said he plans to ask NUSAC. The audience laughed.
Deem contrasted Schapiro’s forum with one he had attended with Bienen at the helm, at which he said people came with “pitchforks and torches.” Though he said he didn’t feel “as comfortable as in his 11 o’clock physics class,” Deem said the event showcased the difference between Bienen and Schapiro’s tenures.
“I would never call President Bienen ‘Henry’ or ‘Harry’ or whatever,” he said.
The next forum takes place today at 9:30 a.m. in the Great Room. Schapiro will then host events on the Chicago Campus April 27 and 28, the second of which will be webcast live.[email protected]
