Amidst all the news of athletic events, research grants, cultural activities
and so on, it is easy to overlook the fact that managing Vanderbilt University
is not easy. It is a big business enterprise with all the challenges and
opportunities that entails.
No enterprise with an annual operating budget of $900 million could be considered
small. The University employs 11,000 people and has a payroll of more than
$425 million. Vanderbilt faculty and staff generate more than $69 million
in federal, state and local taxes as a direct result of employment. The
University itself pays about $2.6 million in state and local taxes.
Vanderbilt also contributed more than $330 million last year to the local
economy through the purchase of goods and services. In the last fiscal year
alone, the University spent more than $60 million on construction, providing
jobs for local workers.
Vanderbilt's 10 colleges and schools attract more than 10,000 students from
all 50 states and numerous other countries. These students are served by
3,000 full- and part-time faculty members for a student/full-time-faculty
ratio of 11 to 1 - a distinction that puts us in company with Harvard, Yale,
the University of Pennsylvania and Northwestern.
Patient visits to the Medical Center total about 500,000 per year, including
hospital, emergency room and clinic visits. Last year, the Medical Center
provided more than $41 million in charity care - more than all other Nashville
hospitals combined.
All told, Vanderbilt's economic impact on Nashville and the surrounding
community has been estimated at $1.8 billion.
So Vanderbilt is a big enterprise. That may account for the belief, held
by some, that Vanderbilt is "rich." Vanderbilt's current endowment
of just over $1 billion does sound large. In fact, I've heard some people
say, "Why do they keep asking for money when they already have a big
endowment?"
It's a fair question. But let me say to you that Vanderbilt never has
enough money to fully accomplish its mission of education and research,
and financing the budget every year is not an easy task for the Chancellor
and the Board of Trust.
Why do we ask for more money? For one reason, we need new buildings. We
need a fine arts center. We have a wonderful art collection that cannot
be displayed because we have no place to exhibit it. The engineering building
is old and in need of repair. These are just two examples of facility needs;
there are many others.
In addition, we need more endowed chairs in order to bring the best and
the brightest faculty to our campus. We need more money for research, whether
it is in medicine, anthropology or another field. We need more money to
provide financial aid so that we can admit more of those students with high
academic achievement whose parents cannot afford the University. The list
goes on.
The fact is we need a large endowment for Vanderbilt to fulfill its mission
as a great university and serve the needs of students, faculty and the surrounding
community.
We should also look at our endowment from the perspective of other major
private universities. Harvard's endowment of $6.2 billion is six times larger
than Vanderbilt's, but its enrollment is not that much greater - 18,500
students. Yale has 11,000 students and 13 schools and is roughly the same
size as Vanderbilt, but its endowment is $3.9 billion. Princeton's is $3.9
billion; Stanford's is $3.4 billion; MIT's is slightly over $2 billion.
We have a long way to go before we reach those standards.
Ever-increasing demands are being placed on the University. Chancellor Joe
Wyatt and his staff have an enormous job to do in running this huge enterprise,
and they need the support of everyone in the community if Vanderbilt is
to continue in its quest to be the best.
Which brings me to my second point: Nashville and Vanderbilt need each
other.
Nashville has been home to the University since it was founded in 1873 by
Commodore Cornelius Van-derbilt. Approximately 16,000 Vanderbilt alumni
live in the Nashville area. Many of Vanderbilt's entering freshmen from
outside the city choose this institution because they can attend a first-rate
university located in an attractive metropolitan community.
Over the years, Nashville and Vanderbilt have grown together, and we hope
that Nashville takes a certain pride in laying claim to one of America's
great universities.
The University and its 10 schools are recognized, not just in U.S. News
and World Report surveys, but in business, professional and academic networks
worldwide. Vanderbilt faculty are quoted by the news media around the nation
and the world. Every time The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times
quotes a professor from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, it
raises the prestige of the University and the city. A rising tide does lift
all boats.
Nashville and Vanderbilt have enjoyed a long and mutually beneficial relationship.
Nashville has been generous to Vanderbilt. You have supported the University
with your contributions; sent us the brightest and the best of your young
people; provided us excellent business and professional services; provided
a high quality of life for our faculty, staff and students; cheered for
our athletes; and worked with us to address community problems and seize
new opportunities for Nashville.
In short, you have been there for Vanderbilt. By the same token, Vanderbilt
has been there for you.
Some of your children may attend Vanderbilt. As just one example of the
close ties between the student body and the city, Nashville can take pride
in having one of its own, Phil Ayres, who attended Goodpasture School, recently
elected as president of the Student Government Association.
Perhaps you or a member of your family has benefited from the Medical Center
or your personal physician may be a Vandy graduate. About 30 percent of
Vanderbilt's medical and legal alumni stay close to home and practice in
Tennessee.
You may have enjoyed the talents of a nationally known artist through the
Great Performances at Vanderbilt series.
Many of your school-age children may benefit from the skills of excellent
classroom teachers who are Peabody graduates, and some may be touched by
the Learning Communities or Day on Campus programs Vanderbilt offers.
These are just a few of the specific ways Vanderbilt is there for the community.
Like two halves of a symbiotic whole, Nashville and Vanderbilt serve and
need each other and have done so throughout their mutual history.
Since being named President of the Board of Trust, I have been trying
to become even more familiar with Vanderbilt and asked for a comparison
of the Vanderbilt of today with the University of the early 1980s. Here
is part of what I've learned:
· In 1982, Vanderbilt was not ranked among the top 25 universities
in the nation. Today, we rank No. 22, according to the prestigious U.S.
News & World Report survey.
· The University's endowment was $170 million in 1981; it has grown
to just over $1 billion.
· Sponsored research has nearly quadrupled to $162 million.
· The number of full-time faculty has increased 24 percent, while full-time
medical faculty has grown 63 percent.
· In addition to Vanderbilt's top 25 ranking, Peabody is ranked eighth
in the nation among graduate and professional schools of education. Its
program in special education is first in the nation and the program in educational
administration is fifth best.
·
Vanderbilt Medical School ranks 14th; School of Law 16th; The Engineering
School placed in the top 50 graduate engineering programs.
·
In addition, many distinguished new programs and centers of excellence have
been added - far too many for me to recite them today.
It's obvious that Vanderbilt has made enormous progress in the past 14 or
15 years during Joe
Wyatt's tenure.
During this period, Chancellor Wyatt worked closely with Bronson Ingram
and Pat Wilson. The work of these three men and those who supported them,
have, in my opinion, changed Vanderbilt from a good university to a great
university.
The contribution Bronson Ingram made is immeasurable. Raising more than
$500 million in endowment funds is an accomplishment hard to imagine and
hard to match. His untimely death was a shock to all of us. I am honored
to be chosen as his successor, but will need the support of the entire Board
of Trust and all of you if we are to maintain the momentum he established.
Now let me address my fourth point and a topic that has been much in
the news lately: Vanderbilt athletics.
The debate has been very pointed: Does Vanderbilt care enough about athletics?
Can we compete with the Oilers and other pro teams coming to Nashville?
What is the future of athletics at Vanderbilt?
Before I go any further, let me first congratulate Coach Jan van Breda Kolff,
Coach Jim Foster and the basketball teams - men and women - for their fine
seasons this year. I think we can all be proud of their accomplishments.
I also want to give a special thanks to Rod Dowhower for our fifth straight
football victory over Kentucky. Being surrounded in Ashland by many UK graduates,
I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed our first win of the 1995 season.
As for the future of athletics at Vanderbilt, let me remind you that last
April Chancellor Wyatt appointed and the Board of Trust approved an athletic
committee to review all aspects of the program. Tom Frist and I were appointed
co-chairmen, and we were joined by several other members of the Board.
Since then, the committee has devoted countless hours to analyzing Vanderbilt
athletics and comparing our program to others around the nation. We have
visited Duke, Wake Forest, Northwestern, Washington University in St. Louis,
Georgia Tech and Tulane.
We have interviewed hundreds of people, including representatives of the
alumni, news media, students, faculty and school administration. We have
tried to take an objective view and look at what is best for Vanderbilt.
Our report is almost finished, but it is subject to review and approval
by the Board at its April 26 meeting. As you know, the press obtained confidential
information regarding our report, and a series of articles appeared early
last week in both local papers. Chancellor Wyatt subsequently issued a statement
to the Vanderbilt community, which was also made public.
The information in the articles and Chancellor Wyatt's statement is basically
correct. We expect to make the report public within the next few days, but
I must again caution you that no recommendations will be final until approved
by the Board April 26. I'm optimistic that a good solution to the future
of the athletics program at Vanderbilt will come out of that meeting. However,
if the Board approves the recommendations, our work will have just begun
as we start on the long road of implementation.
I said earlier that Vanderbilt is a great university, and we will continue
to strive to maintain that position. However, we also know that your reputation
at home follows you everywhere, and it is very important to Vanderbilt to
have an outstanding relationship with the Nashville community. We do not
believe that Vanderbilt's goal of being a great national university and
its desire to serve Nashville and our alumni are mutually exclusive objectives.
We've had a great relationship in the past, and I believe we can in the
future despite a few bumps in the road recently. I know Joe Wyatt is looking
forward to leading the Nashville Chamber of Commerce this year and welcomes
the opportunity to work closely with the Nashville business community. Through
this work, I believe we will gain an even better understanding of one another
and how we can work together for the good of everyone.
Chancellor Wyatt and I are also having an outside review performed to determine
how we might strengthen communications with all constituents in Nashville
and Middle Tennessee. We hope this effort will identify additional opportunities
for a great community and a great university to work together.
In closing, thank you for the opportunity to be here today and allowing
me to reminisce a bit about my ties to Nashville and Vanderbilt. I hope
I have given you a better understanding of Vanderbilt, its challenges and
its opportunities. I also hope I've given you a better appreciation of the
enormous progress Vanderbilt has made in recent years, progress that we
believe will continue in the future. Finally, I hope you understand how
important Nashville is to Vanderbilt, and how important we believe it is
for Nashville and Vanderbilt to have an outstanding relationship.
To the extent my job permits, I am trying to spend a few days every month
in Nashville. I invite all of you to please feel free to contact me if you
have any advice, comments, or questions. We want your input. No one is more
important to Vanderbilt than our Nashville alumni and friends.
Today I represent Chancellor Wyatt and 11,000 Vanderbilt faculty and staff
in extending my hand to you. We want Vanderbilt to be a great university,
but we recognize greatness begins at home. We want to join you in making
Nashville an outstanding community, and we hope you will join hands with
us in working for the good of Nashville and Vanderbilt. We need your help
and support.