Texas Tech University - La Ventana Yearbook

“Cecil Mackey: Behind The Presidency ^S ' In his first two years as presi- dent of Tech, Cecil Mackey has steered away from major policy changes in running the university com- plex. Instead, he has focused his at- tention on improving existing policies and smoothing some of the rough edges that tend to crop up in any university the size of Tech. Among the major issues Mackey has confronted already: — The Texas Tech School of Medi- cine: " We ' ve gotten to a point now where the medical school is off pro- bation and fully accredited, " Mackey says. " The funding for the teaching hospital has passed the legislature. In community and hospital relations the medical school has improved signifi- cantly. Now, that ' s a big plus. " — Tech faculty: " In terms of faculty, " Mackey says, " we ' ve added some people to the staff — faculty members and department chairpersons that will enhance the academic quality of the university. We have a new faculty con- stitution . . . which will improve sig- nificantly the ability of faculty to par- ticipate in governance of the university, and that ' s a good thing to get behind us. " — Academic improvement: " I ' ve in- creased our recruiting, " Mackey says, " more high school valedictorians, and it is a very good thing. We had — I for- get the exact number ... I think it ' s in the range of 75 — high school valedic- torians and I believe that ' s the record by a good margin. " — Physical growth of the university: " As you look around, some of the physical facilities are coming along, " Mackey says. " So I think that on most of the fronts, the athletic program, physical facilities, academic quality, all these things are a reas that deserve some important attention. " Mackey has been involved in college administration since 1969, when he left a post in Washington to serve as ex- ecutive vice president of Florida State University. From there he moved to Tampa, as president of the University of South Florida, where he stayed until his selection as president of Tech. It was at the University of South Florida that he became most acquainted with the issue of alcohol on campus. " I guess I ' m on record as to my feel- ings on alcohol on campus as on any other issue. I think probably the best way to answer that question is to indi- cate what happened to South Florida while I was president there. The Uni- versity there adopted a rule which al- lowed students to have alcohol in dorm rooms as long as they were of age under the laws of the state. So lon g as they weren ' t violating any university regula- tions or any state laws, it was a personal matter. We then developed a passage which allowed the serving of alcoholic beverages under controlled conditions by the food service staff at university events in certain places, certain dining rooms or places where receptions were normally scheduled, and control of the service of alcohol was in the food ser- vice people, not in the individual stu- dents that were buying it. It also al- lowed serving of beer in the Student Union in one particular area — a pub- type place. Our experience there was that in a period of years with that policy in effect, there were no problems in terms of community relations and no problems in terms of student behavior. That was one university and one com- Darrel Thomas munity, but that was what happened — and that was a pattern that was fairly common among the state universities in Florida. " But while the alcohol issue domi- nates student interest — another SA alcohol proposal was quashed by the Board of Regents this year — Mackey sees the problem as secondary to an- other area of importance. " I think my principal concern is the overall academic quality improvements at Tech, " Mackey says. " I am perhaps less oriented toward special projects in my personal approach to the university than I am to trying to build the strength of the institution across all programs. I recognize that not every part of the institution will ever have the same relevant quality as all the rest but, overall, Tech has come of age as a strong university academically. It is a comprehensive university. " ”