Category: Black News

The priority candidate to become the 21st chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln detailed his experiences in higher education and outlined his aspirations for the state’s flagship campus this week.

Across more than 20 public forums, Rodney D. Bennett spoke with students, faculty, staff and the general public about issues ranging from the financial pressures faced by colleges and universities to how he navigates the challenges presented by a polarized political environment.

The forums are part of a 30-day vetting process required by law for top candidates for university leadership jobs. NU President Ted Carter named Bennett the priority candidate to replace UNL Chancellor Ronnie Green on May 22.

Bennett, 56, who led the University of Southern Mississippi for 10 years, said he withdrew from searches at several other universities to focus exclusively on the opportunity before him at UNL, which he called one of the nation’s most important universities.

UNL, he said, is a vehicle for lifting the quality of life for all Nebraskans for decades to come.

“There is an opportunity to do something really special,” Bennett told a forum for the College of Business earlier this week. “And there is a group of people who want to be involved in creating what that something is.”

Leadership style

If Bennett gets the nod from the NU Board of Regents on June 22, the new chancellor said he’ll start the work of reestablishing connections in the state and building new relationships right away.

“The way forward is to be collaborative and develop relationships,” he told a forum for the College of Law on Thursday.

Tall and gregarious, with a noticeable southern accent, Bennett alternated between explaining his experiences in higher education and sharing anecdotes from his personal life, including self-deprecating bits to connect with the audiences.

A fraternity member and proponent of Greek life, Bennett said he thrives on the energy of those he’s speaking with, and plans to meet as many people as he can during the transition to become chancellor.

That will include reconnecting with Gov. Jim Pillen and meeting state lawmakers to hear their expectations of UNL. Bennett said he would also seek out leaders in business, agriculture and communities across the state to solicit their input.

On campus, Bennett said he wants to foster a culture of transparency between administrators and faculty — something he said he attempted to do during his decade at Southern Miss — while also using the established processes to “not get outside my lane.”

Bennett also told faculty at several forums that while they may not always agree on an issue or the best way to proceed, he would hear them out and hope they could “share a turkey sandwich” afterward.

A former leader of student affairs, Bennett told faculty and students he plans to be a “genuine, ongoing and inspirational” presence on campus.

In his past positions, Bennett said he has served as a mentor for students “whether I’ve been asked to be one or not,” and said multiple students have asked him to be a groomsman in their weddings — something he said he declined in favor of reading the scripture.

“It’s an honor that they are thinking about you and remembering you in such a way that they want you to be a part of that particular time in their life,” he said.

Budget challenges

One of the first takes Bennett will have to confront as UNL’s top leader will be the same his predecessor faced: Slashing millions from UNL’s budget.

Green recently finalized $10.8 million in cuts left over from the 2021-22 fiscal year by closing open positions and moving others to non-state aided funding sources.

As much as $13 million will still need to be trimmed from UNL’s budget in the coming year, however, and Carter told regents in late May that the system faces a structural budget deficit of nearly $50 million in 2023-24 and $80 million in 2024-25.

While regents anticipate some additional revenue from a modest tuition increase, UNL would account for roughly half of the amount that needs to be cut.

Bennett said he’s no stranger to budget cuts — he went through a series of reductions at Southern Miss — and has spoken to Green about the situation, but said without diving into the numbers he could not offer a specific recommendation for how to move forward.

At several forums this week, the 30-year veteran of higher education said the budget cuts at UNL, like other universities across the country, will likely mean the campus moves away from being “all things for all people.”

Academic programs where only a few students are enrolled or which have produced no graduates over multiple years could be put on the chopping block, as well as other campus services that are under-utilized or not realizing a return on investment, he said.

On Thursday, Bennett told faculty at the College of Law that cuts to programs or positions would not mean more work for UNL’s employees: “I don’t subscribe to doing more with less.”

Rather, UNL would identify priorities moving forward and develop strategies to move toward those goals, and if there are things that fall by the wayside, so be it, he said.

“You have to say no if the answer is no.”

Breaking down silos

Some of those priorities may focus on fostering greater collaboration between departments across UNL, Bennett said in response to several questions put to him this week.

The need to remove faculty and students from their silos and get them to work together has long been talked about, but Bennett said he has a strategy for making it work.

“You can talk about it until you’re blue in the face,” he said, “but if the university is not rewarding or denying through the allocation process the resources that break down those silos, it’s not going to happen.”

Tying budgets to creating an interdisciplinary approach to education and research is one part of the strategy. Bennett said the other part is psychology.

“You have to convince people that you’re not going to lose something by working together,” he said. “You have to create a climate that eliminates the fear of loss.”

Regain AAU membership

UNL was booted from the Association of American Universities in 2011 after two-thirds of the group’s members, including peers from the Big Ten Conference, which UNL had recently joined, voted to end its membership after 102 years.

The AAU based the decision on several criteria — research expenditures, the number of faculty belonging to several national academies, faculty awards and citations — where UNL ranked among the bottom of the organization.

While previous chancellors and other university leaders have signaled their intention to move on from being AAU members, Bennett said he would work to put the flagship back in the organization’s good graces with an eye of eventually rejoining.

“It’s such an internationally recognized designation of excellence,” Bennett said. “It demonstrates what an institution is about and what they are able to accomplish.”

Bennett said a combination of enrollment growth, improving graduation rates, and boosting support for graduate students who will expand UNL’s research portfolio and funding would put the university on track for accomplishing that goal.

If UNL were able to regain admission — Arizona State University, George Washington University, the University of California-Riverside, the University of Miami, Notre Dame, and the University of Southern Florida recently joined — Bennett said the benefits would be plentiful.

AAU membership would help with student and faculty recruitment and retention, boost research funding, and will generate excitement among donors and the business community, he said.

“Why wouldn’t we?” he said. “There’s so many resources here, there’s so much talent here, it’s sort of the thing that’s missing in many ways.”

Navigating politics

Bennett is no stranger to traversing difficult political environments.

When former NU President Hank Bounds, then leader of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, appointed Bennett to lead Southern Miss in 2013, he became the first Black leader of a predominantly white campus in the Magnolia state.

There was hate mail warning Bennett not to bring his family to Mississippi. Anonymous internet accounts told him to not even bother unpacking his boxes.

“The politics sort of hit me right upside the head right out of the gate and it really did not stop throughout the 10 years of my service there,” Bennett said.

It got even rockier two years later when Bennett made the decision to remove Mississippi’s state flag, which included the Confederate battle emblem, from campus.

Putting a symbol that for many represented slavery was antithetical to the kind of welcoming campus community Bennett said Southern Miss was trying to create.

But it generated backlash in the former Confederate state, with some calling for Bennett’s removal and others suggesting the state defund the university.

Bennett credited the relationships he had built at the state Capitol and elsewhere with allowing him to continue in the position. Mississippi later changed its state flag in 2021.

“When you’re handling those types of political issues, the ability to move the needle requires a certain type of relationship and calmness and resolve and courage,” he said. “We were able to do that, and I’m very proud of that work.”

Nebraska, like Mississippi, is a conservative-led state, and Bennett said he plans to regularly interface with state leaders and the federal delegation to build those same kinds of relationships in order to help be a positive influence on potential changes made to higher education at the state house.

That can help build understanding and head off issues on campus around areas like free speech or academic freedom that stir up political disputes, he said.

Diversity and inclusion

Among the biggest concerns Bennett said he has about the changing face of higher education is attacks on programs to create more diverse and inclusive campuses.

In Florida, where Bennett currently resides, lawmakers have banned public colleges and universities from spending money on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Bennett said he found those efforts baffling.

“Each of us are made better when there are people who are around us that think different, that believe different, look different, and challenge us to sincerely and genuinely embrace our differences,” he said.

As chancellor, Bennett said UNL — which opened its diversity office in 2019 — should lean into the effort, and help drive the conversation about what diversity means on a university campus.

“Most people want us to prepare young people to take their rightful place all around the world,” he said. “We all know as they do, they are going to encounter a lot of differences. If we are doing our job as educators, I think we have an obligation to put them in front of as many scenarios as we can.”

Bennett said he and other university leaders also need to be vocal in addressing the importance of those issues and defending them, which he said will help show UNL is a welcoming place for all.

What comes next

With the conclusion of public forums, UNL community members as well as others are encouraged to provide feedback to Carter as the 30-day vetting period wraps up.

Comments can be submitted at https://nebraska.edu/unl-chancellor-search/feedback.

Regents will take a vote to approve Bennett on June 22.