Second presidential finalist sees ‘tremendous opportunities’ for University of Iowa

IOWA CITY - Faculty, staff and students lined up Friday to drill the second of four University of Iowa presidential candidates on topics including campus safety, diversity, academic freedom, efficiency, shared governance, budgeting, research and ethics.

'How we do things at a university is just as important, if not more important, than what we do,” Tulane University Provost Michael Bernstein told a crowd of hundreds in the Iowa Memorial Union.

During one of four forums scheduled on campus before regents name a new president Thursday, Bernstein laid out his vision for the UI and challenged it to improve rankings, such as moving its graduate programs into the top 20 or top 10 'in short order.”

While praising Iowa, he shared a goal of setting UI on a path of being viewed as equal with the University of Michigan and the University of California-Berkeley.

'I see tremendous opportunities for Iowa,” he said.

He articulated goals for students, faculty and staff, stressing access, affordability and support in the workplace. He vowed educational engagement and discovery, including capitalizing on Iowa's geography - making the university's location 'an intrinsic strength rather than an historic accident.”

And he urged community engagement and communication.

'I welcome the opportunity to hear about your concerns for the future and perception of the challenges in the months and years ahead,” Bernstein said.

When asked about the problem of sexual violence on campus, he heralded the importance of education and providing resources for victims.

'We know that a lot of misconduct and violence in this area is related to drug and alcohol abuse,” he said, stressing the need to mentor students on the 'risk involved with alcohol and drugs” and how to intervene if necessary.

'We also have to assist them in making good choices and taking care of themselves and not putting themselves at risk,” he said.

One student pressed Bernstein on the topic, asking him to elaborate on his framing of who is to blame in cases of sexual violence.

Bernstein responded by pointing out the importance of punishing violators and creating a safe community.

'The security and wellness of students is the entire university's responsibility,” he said. 'If they are not safe and secure, the institution can't function.”

One woman took to the microphone to say she heard that a student recently said she was turned away from a Greek event with a racial epithet.

Bernstein said 'obnoxious incidents occur” and there need to be sanctions and educational support to deal with them. 'Bias incident response is clearly something a university should have prepared as a protocol,” he said.

UI officials said afterward they had not received a formal complaint of such a racial incident.

When addressing the issue of shared governance, Bernstein praised the role of faculty within an institution along with communication.

'Ultimately, someone is going to make a decision, but that decision has to emerge out of close collaboration and debate, and then it has to be explained,” he said. UI senior Kyle Williams, 22, said he

thought Bernstein made some good points during the forum. But, Williams said, he wishes both Bernstein and Thursday's candidate, Oberlin President Marvin Krislov, would have been more direct.

'I think some students felt they skirted around the issues,” he said.