MSU President M. Peter McPherson has a knack for looking to the future despite present economic hardships.
“The economic downturn increases the challenges MSU faces in maintaining the momentum achieved over the years of extraordinary progress,” he said during his ninth annual State of the University address on Tuesday at Wharton Center’s Pasant Theatre.
“MSU is better able to respond to these and other challenges because we have been working for increased high quality and cost control for a number of years… MSU’s long-term planning is producing long-term benefits.”
The next year could prove the heftiest budget crunch McPherson has had to deal with in his tenure at MSU. The university must keep its next tuition increase lower than 8.5 percent in order to receive an equal amount of funding from the state as it did last year.
In 2001, MSU received a 1.5 percent funding increase from the state and hiked tuition 8.9 percent. It was the first time since McPherson’s Tuition Guarantee was instituted that tuition was raised significantly above inflation rates.
If one thing is certain, it is the former Bank of America vice president and deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury is the man you want batting clean-up when faced with a budget crisis.
Only time can tell how McPherson’s performance will rate. For example, it will be faculty criticisms that will indicate whether his health care plans prove satisfactory.
McPherson also laid out a grand vision for MSU’s involvement in the world during his annual speech.
“From our position of strength, I believe that we and other universities across this country should answer to the wake-up call of Sept. 11 and expand international engagement, he said.
“We should make a long-term institutional commitment to use our unique talents and experience to fight poverty and improve the quality of life in developing regions.”
Like McPherson, we believe it is important for Americans to show the people of other countries the good things we have to offer in light of Sept. 11.
Although McPherson has a keen ability to envision the ways MSU can help around the world, he doesn’t always see the social problems that exists within the boarders of his own campus.
His annual speeches continue to brush over student needs, such as a free-standing Multicultural Center, a call for student activism, or need for student activities and other things that address the social issues that exist at MSU.
If these issues aren’t his forté, as they appear not to be, perhaps McPherson should find another administrator who has a talent to push those issues further.
Nonetheless, McPherson’s vision and economic expertise have proven a capital benefit for the MSU community year after year.
