June 11, 2020
A Conversation With Janet Napolitano: The University of California’s president talks about her tenure and the pandemic.
Janet Napolitano has been a federal prosecutor, Arizona governor, Homeland Security secretary and pandemic point person (the H1N1 flu in 2009). Since 2013, she has been the University of California’s president.
Now 62, she will step down Aug. 1 to teach at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.
This week, she spoke to my colleague Shawn Hubler, from her dining room table in Oakland.
Here’s their conversation, edited and condensed:
So, pandemic, looming recession, nationwide protests — some timing.
I did offer to stay longer. But they were pretty far along in the search process. I think they’re getting pretty close to announcing my successor.
Really? Who will it be?
I have no idea.
Well, what should the next U.C. president bring, beyond the basics?
This is a big, important, complex institution. It’s now got over 285,000 students and a quarter of a million employees. We’re actually the third largest employer in California. I think the U.C. needs a strong leader who can balance centralized leadership with the desire of campuses to act independently. Sort of like the federal government and the states.
Post-coronavirus, what do your instincts tell you about U.C.’s future?
I think more students will have more of a hybrid education — in-person, high-touch, with professors there with them in the classroom, but also more available online.
How does that differ from, say, the Cal State system, which is going almost entirely online this fall?
Cal State’s presumption will be that everything is online, and you have to go through a complex process to have an exception. I think the U.C. will be much less regimented. The campuses will have more in-person offerings and will be repopulating the dorms at least to some degree.
Former Gov. Jerry Brown, with whom you clashed on spending, thinks the U.C. should completely rethink its business model. Do you agree?
No! He was always looking for a silver bullet on how to reduce the U.C. budget. For a long time, it was the massive open online courses, which turned out not to be successful. I think a university needs a university.
What should universities do to address the broad social unrest we’re seeing?
First, we have to acknowledge the anger that George Floyd’s murder evokes and recognize that it is not a one-off but a symptom of a much more deep-rooted, almost structural flaw in our country. We have never solved the issues involved in being a multiracial democracy.
Police and criminal justice rise to the top. But we also need to fix education, health and housing disparities. And universities need to fix their own houses with more diversity in hiring, promotion and graduate programs. And then put some minds to work on public policies.
Should California repeal Proposition 209 and bring affirmative action back into university admissions?
The Board of Regents hasn’t yet taken a position. My personal view is that if we are endeavoring to conduct holistic admissions, then leaving out any consideration of a person’s race seems to be a real gap.
Then there’s the pandemic, which for kids, seems to be dismantling some of the most important aspects of college.
I totally agree. But I also think students should try to stay in school and make progress toward their degree. While college won’t be normal, the normal reasons to take a gap year don’t exist either. What are you going to do? Sit home and bother your parents? No! Take some courses. Get on with it.
What mistakes did you make in your time at U.C.?
The most serious downer had to do with the audit of the office of the president in 2017 [which accused her of hiding budget reserves and suppressing internal criticism, which she disputed]. I apologized but we certainly could have handled that differently.
You were in treatment for breast cancer then. How’s your health now?
I’m all clear, thank you. But you know, no other institution of higher education does what the University of California does at the level and scale we do it. I worry about whether the people and their elected leaders in Sacramento really understand this terrific asset they have.
What do you think your legacy will be at U.C.?
Growth. Growth in undergraduate enrollment, in minority student enrollment, in transfer students. Applications are up, graduation rates are up — four-year graduation rate went from 63 percent when I started to 70 percent and the six-year rate is now 85 percent.
And I think we’ll be known for taking on big challenges. Having the goal of being carbon neutral by 2025. Being the first university in the country to sue the administration to oppose the repeal of DACA. Taking a leadership role on issues involving sexual harassment and sexual violence.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/us/university-california-schools-napolitano.html
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