Rider University - Shadow Yearbook (Lawrenceville, NJ)

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up the policy? Dr. Elliott: Yes, but you see I think the Board of Trustees is probably the most misunderstood organiza- tion on the whole college campus. l've been a college trustee. I am one now. And I think our role is misunder-

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A President Who's Frank ls A Guy Named Elliott College Presidents can be a funny lot. They can also be a strange, helpful, dictatorial, wise-you take your choice-group of individuals. At Rider, Frank N. Elliott is perhaps all of the above, and much more. But one thing he's not, unlike many administrators, is unavailable. Dr. Elliott is nearly always accessible and, for the most part Cexcept perhaps when it comes to naming academic vice-presidentsj, open to suggestions-as well as criticism. At any rate, The 1971 Shadow conducted the follow- ing taped interview with Dr. Elliott in the fall. It was our hope to find out about Dr. Elliott, the man and his opinions, as opposed to those of the titular head of Rider. Consequently, all opinions expressed are exclusively Dr. ElIiott's and do not necessarily reflect College policy. :lf all 23 Shadow: You've been here a year plus several months. We'd like to get your overall opinion of Rider College. Dr. Elliott: I like it even better than I did when I was first asked to come down here. I think that the school is very solid. If I have a gripe about the school it would be principally that I think that the students, faculty, even some administration don't realize that the school is really as good as it is. We've got some extremely able people here, and we're doing some very good things. Now, there are some changes that we have to make. For example, I think that our curriculum is a little out- dated. lt's all right, but just needs some updating. Basically, though, this school is in great shape. We've got a tremendous board of trustees, the foundation is all here. The beauty of it is that we don't have any more building to do. The building program is essentially all completed. And so we don't have to spend all our time on that sort of a problem. We can direct all our energy to the whole matter of just building up the college from an academic view. Shadow: Has this opinion changed from the one be- fore you came here? Dr. Elliott: No, because when I came down here, the Trustees, Dr. Moore and other people were starting with the assumption that the school wasn't going to grow any bigger than it is at the moment. I think that I share their judgement that this is a right decision, that we should not grow much bigger than we are at the mo- ment. The Student Center was obviously in construc- tion. The dining hall was in a process of renovation, and so we knew that that was going to happen. The other old plans would include the administration building that we're probably going to have to build in, I'd say, about five years. This we knew about, but other than that l'm becoming increasingly convinced that we're going to have to have a science wing somewhat sooner than I had originally anticipated simply because the space in 6 the science building is so completely filled with faculty and offices and so on. Plus, the fact that we're adding new faculty in that area, and if we're going to maintain the quality of that division of the College I think that we're going to have to give them just a little more space. But l'm not really concerned because I think I know where the money is coming from to build that. Shadow: Last May you said something to the effect that the College is not, nor should it be, a political or- ganismg therefore it should not take a corporate stand on this issue, referring to the Vietnam conflict. Do you still feel that the College is not a political body? Dr. Elliott: Very much so! In the first place I suppose this has put a handicap on me in terms of what I can do as an individual. It certainly cuts down on what I can say, even what I can do-and I think that this is appro- priate because like it or not, it does not matter how per- fectly I spell it out that I am doing this as Frank Elliott, Private citizen, rather than Frank Elliott, President, Rider College. The assumption is made automatically that whenever I speak or whatever I do I am doing on behalf of the College. When it comes out in the paper you know jolly well that it is going to come out as Frank EI- Iiott, President of Rider College said it. Well, the implica- tion is then that Rider College has said it. Here's the problem: take any issue. Vietnam War, or birth control, whatever issue you want to talk about. Who is Rider College? Rider College is students, faculty, administration, trustees, alumni. Now do I have any real reason to believe at any moment that I can really speak for all these people? I do not think I can, nor do I think that you are going to get a unanimous opinion on any of these issues. Furthermore, I even raise the question as whether we should. This isn't what we came together for. If we were a political party, then I think that it would be appropriate for us to speak in a political sense. I think that Rider College can speak on a purely educa- tional issue. This is clearly appropriate because this after all is what this group of people get together for, but we didn't get together for political purposes. Shadow: Is this your personal belief that a college president shouIdn't speak on an issue, or is this some- thing having been recommended to you by the Board of Trustees? Dr. Elliott: No, this is my very strong personal belief. I think that the Board of Trustees clearly agrees with me. But I feel very strongly on this and have for a long time. Shadow: What about the fact that other leading col- lege presidents do take stands at Yale and Princeton and many of the other leading institutions? Dr. Elliott: I think they are wrong. In fact, I think they're being very foolish. Shadow: In a crisis situation, for example, one in which you can't confer with the Board of Trustees, who is responsible for action? Dr. Elliott: I am. Shadow: But ordinarily do the Board of Trustees set

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stood. The role of the trustee is to set broad, overall guildelines to operate the college or the university as the case may be. Trustees have the obligation of check- ing to make sure that the president is administering the college along those general guidelines. And they should not be concerned with the day-to-day operation of the college, regardless of what the issue is. Take the case in point. In conferring the additional responsibilities to the student government, in terms of social regulations what they did was to say OK, within these guidelines, let the Student Government Association regulate the activities of the student. Now this is the way l think it should be done. It is then my responsibility as president to see that this is done within the general guidelines es- tablished by the Board of Trustees. But we do not have the Board of Trustees coming on deck all the time mak- ing sure this is done. Shadow: Assuming that it's not done within these proper guide lines, then what happens? Dr. Elliott: Well, ultimately I assume it's my head. That's the way it should be. Shadow: Assume that last year, or even in the future, the ROTC building is burned down and students are again at a point of occupying buildings as they have been, as they were before you came. What stands will you take beyond normal precautions? Dr. Elliott: That's such a hard thing to answer. lt's like asking a halfback what do you do when you are given the ball and you run toward the line and there isn't a hole there. Well, you kind of cope with the situation. You see some halfback trying to go around to the left, you see someone trying to go around to the right, some will try to blow straight through, some will drop back and try to do something else-you cope with the situ- 8 ation. We have clearly defined rules as to what we will do and the procedure we will follow in case something like that were to happen. This has been spelled out in considerable detail. I gave a copy to Duane Volk when I became president and he was S.G.A, president, and I gave a copy to Frank Coviello. I also gave a copy to John Finnegan. We have gone over these regulations so that they are aware of the rules of the game and the role that they are supposed to play in it, too. But, in the final analysis, even though you have all of these different things spelled-out, a lot of this still re- mains a judgment call. How do you make the distinction between a situation in which a person or property is clearly in danger? There's no way of doing that except to do so on the spot. I can't really tell in advance. I think that this is just a situation where you hope that your judgment is right. You hope that your past experience is such that you are going to make the right judgment. And you hope that you have the perspective so that you can distinguish between that which is basic and that which is peripheral ton it all. Shadow: Would it ever come to the point, say where you call in the National Guard? Dr. Elliott: I couIdn't call in the National Guard. Shadow: Why not? Dr. Elliott: The National Guard can only be called in by the governor. . Shadow: All right, would you ever ask the governor to make that call? I Dr. Elliott: It probably wouldn't happen anyway. The order of calling police, if it comes to that, is first you call in the Township Police. Then, once you've called in the Township Police it's pretty much out of our control be- cause if the Township Police feel that they, or the Sher-