Michigan State University - Red Cedar Log Yearbook (East Lansing, MI)

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26 Changing Times Brings New Administration BY MARIANNE AIKEN The MSU Board of Trustees ended its search for a permanent successor to former University President Clifton R. Wharton Jr. in June of 1979 when Cecil Mackey was appointed as MSU’s new president. Mackey, the former president of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Te- sas, took office on August 4, 1979. Mackey replaced interim president Ed- gar L. Harden who had been in office since 1978. Mackey, who had also served as the president of the University of Southern Florida, had the intention of cutting through bureaucratic red tape at MSU to implement change. One of the changes he planned to make was switching MSU over to the semester sys- tem from the term system. Another major selling point for the se- mester system in Mackey’s opinion was that time consuming activities such as registration and moving in and out of the dorms would have to be done a fewer number of times. Mackey though that he had strong support from many people for switching over to the semester system. “There has been a strong favorable reaction from those who agree with me,” said Mackey. “Those who don’t have been less vocal about it.”’ Concerning student reaction Mackey said that he had seen general approval of the new system from the students he had talked to, especially from people who have had experience with the se- mester system. The target date Mackey set for the change in the academic calendar was fall of 1982. Under the early semester To MSU ssytem, the school year would begin at Labor Day and end in the beginning of May, with the first semester ending just before Christmas and the second se- mester beginning in January. Mackey saw several advantages to the new system. It would allow students and faculty to plan the year better and a longer time could be spent on individ- ual subjects in classes. Most importantly, students would get out earlier in the summer and thus be eligible for greater number of summer jobs, “Just eliminating one registration pro- cess will be worth it,’’ he said. Mackey looked forward to reinforcing the sevice attitude within the University administration. He thought that progress had to begin with approaching the problem of apthy. “Much of the undesirable aspects of a bureaucracy come from afttitudes,’’ he explained. “One is a lack of willingness to move ahead and make decisions. Sometimes nobody is really willing to take action that is needed. Sometimes it’s an indulgence of ego.” A new law school was one of Mack- ey’s goals for the 1980’s, “hopefully, if we get a big donor,” he said. “| don’t think there will ever be a time when there won't be a need for a new program, expecially in a large university like MSU,” he said. Mackey explained his personal philos- ophy of the academic institution; to use finacial restraint at an administrative level to support academic programs as much as possible. We have to have as an administrative objective an absolute minimum expen- diture as is necessary to support the pro- cess behind the academic activities.’’ MSU added a revolutionary to its ad- ministrative team in 1979 — Connie Stewart. After spending three years with the Carter administration in Washington as HEW’s director of policy, she began her job as vice president of university rela- tions at MSU on January 41, 1980. Stewart had intended to stay in Washington as long as Carter remained in the White House until Cecil Mackey came to Washington and asked her to join the MSU administration. Impressed with his leadership abilities, she accepted the position. Stewart saw her role in the administra- tion as that of communicator. It was her job to effectively communicate infor- mation about the university’s operations to the students, faculty and the public as well as to maintain contact with Washington. Stewart came to MSU, where she saw the challenge as being one of tighten- ing belts yet not losing money for quality. research and good programing. “In order to do this,’’ she said, “we'll have to undergo a revolution in educa- tion.” Declining enrollment and the leveling off of the college-age population made Tom Culligan