Reflections

An Interview
with James J. Whalen

By Dave Maley

Editor's note: A few days after Commencement, when the campus had begun to settle down to its summer routine, the "Ithaca College Quarterly" interviewed President James J. Whalen in his Job Hall office. Here's what he had to say as his final days in that office approached.

ICQ: Is there a particular moment you can point to when you felt proudest about being president of Ithaca College? Whalen: I take great pride in the accomplishments of our students and faculty. When a student got admitted to four top medical schools, that made me feel good and say, "Wow, that science program of ours is really doing the job." There are times in that concert hall in Ford Hall when you feel, "This is my college, my school," and you can sit there and be really proud of the performance. There have been the great games, the national championships. That was the best part of the whole thing-being with the students, being able to get out there and talk and participate as much as I had a chance to. I'll miss that. ICQ: Do you have any regrets or second thoughts about actions you took, or didn't take, in your 22 years as president? Whalen: The downsizing was something I would have preferred not to have gone through. But I felt very strongly that, when the board said it had to be done and asked me to stay to do it, it was my responsibility to get it shaped up so the next president didn't have that. That would have hurt me a lot: to have a person coming in behind me and having something like that to do. I'm convinced that what we did has secured the College for a significant period of time. I won't say for all time, because when Peggy Williams comes in she's going to have to work hard at developing more resources for the institution and doing all the political lobbying that I have had to do. But the budget has been reduced in a way that I think we can handle and still be very successful. I think it will be a richer and a healthier school. ICQ: Were there ever any times here when you just thought about calling it quits? Whalen: People don't understand the complexity of this institution. We tend to be called a small, private, liberal arts college, but that's not quite right. It's a complex comprehensive institution, a small university, and so the difficulties that most presidents of colleges and universities face pretty much are faced here in this office. The two times when I found it most stressful-not that I didn't feel up to the task, because if I had not felt that I would have gone-were when the collective bargaining push came right after I arrived here and the downsizing as I was preparing to leave. Nobody is indentured in these offices. I've often heard college presidents bemoaning their fate and I've wondered why, if they feel so bad about it, do they stay. I think it's a good job. I'm hurt sometimes by what people say, and I don't want to be seen as having only a corporate mentality, but if that's what it takes to get this place secured on down the road, then that's what you do. I've enjoyed it; I wouldn't have stayed if I didn't. ICQ: Is being a college president any different now than it was when you started? Whalen: I think to some degree it is more difficult because there are so many more challenges now. Just financing an institution today is a problem. Governance-who's in charge-is challenged today like it's never been challenged before. A big challenge we've never been able to resolve among the various higher education associations deals with the most efficient way to spend a dollar on behalf of students. It's a job in which you have to be able to live comfortably with confrontation. Oftentimes people assume that if there's confrontation, the president caused it. But it usually develops mutually or from somebody starting an issue you didn't want anyway. Having to say "no" is tough. Although I enjoy being able to say, "I can get some money for that," or "Yes, we'll do that," there are so many times when you have to say, "We just can't afford to do that." It's debilitating after a while because people feel that somehow there ought to be a way, and they go away taking it personally. On the other side, the president also has to not take it personally. It is hard sometimes at the end of the day after you've gotten beaten up a little bit. So you go home and get a good night's sleep and try again the next day. Again, if you don't enjoy it, you shouldn't be there. ICQ: Are you a different person than when you arrived here at Ithaca? Whalen: I don't think so. I am what I am, and I haven't changed all that much. I have a certain idea of what I think is excellence that we should struggle for. I have a feeling about how life should be governed in institutions, and I don't think I've ever changed that. I do believe that somebody has to be in charge. Participation and discussion are always important, but nobody ever fired a committee. Sometime, somewhere, somebody has to say, "Okay, this is the direction in which we're going." If you make enough wrong decisions, the trustees will come down and tell you to move your car out of the slot. Being a leader requires that you have a set of standards, that you believe in yourself, and that you believe there's a right and wrong. ICQ: Is Ithaca College a fundamentally different place than when you arrived here? Whalen: There are the obvious signs, in buildings and numbers of students and faculty, but I think where we have really advanced is in quality. Our music school, for example, was always excellent, but I believe you can get better, and over the years it has. The measurements of quality of students and of faculty in degrees and research and teaching have significantly changed, and I think they are very proud of that. Not that I ever want to be a slave to board scores, but student scores are better now, and that's a sign we're getting the kinds of students we'd like to get. ICQ: Right after you had been hired as Ithaca's sixth president, you said, "No one can walk on water, but I hope I can swim fairly well." How do you think you've done in the water here? Whalen: I sure haven't been walking on it. Sometimes I've been swimming in it and sometimes I've been submerged for longer periods than I would have liked, but I've always gotten my head up out of the water in time to breathe a little bit. I had a good time. You don't miss things that you didn't like, and I will miss this job a lot for many different reasons. I will miss the people, the challenge, the opportunity to be involved, to participate, and to feel that I can make a difference. That's very important, that you feel you can make a difference. I think I made a difference in those 22 years.