Q&A with Mitch Daniels, back at Purdue: ‘Not just keeping the lights on’
One month into his return as president, on an interim basis, Daniels talks enrollment projections, support for an embattled provost and just how much free rein he has in a temporary role.
When Mitch Daniels accepted the job as Purdue president – the same one he held for 10 years and now back on an interim basis after his successor, Mung Chiang, left for Northwestern University – he joked that trustees must have received the same lesson he gave his kids: “Told the Daniels girls to always keep a spare tire in the trunk.”
After four weeks in the temporary role – rubber hit road July 1 for his return to Hovde Hall – Daniels said he’s serious about doing more than simply being a caretaker on the West Lafayette campus while trustees search for the university’s 14th president.
“You know me,” Daniels said in an interview this week with Based in Lafayette. “I’m here to do the job.”
Here are excerpts from that interview, covering his priorities as an interim, his marching orders from trustees and the pace he says the Purdue community can expect in what he insists he hopes will be a short, second tenure as president.
Question: So, what would you be doing right now, today, if you weren’t at Hovde Hall – if Purdue hadn’t called you back?
Mitch Daniels: Let me think. Well, it might have been a pleasant day at home. I have a whole lot of things going on, with companies that have meetings. I spend some time supporting and working with the Liberty Fund. But, you know, there are those days, which I was never familiar with before, when I could actually plan my own schedule. This might have been one.
Question: Is there something, now that you’re back, that you found you missed about being at Purdue?
Mitch Daniels: People for one thing. Most of the folks that are here were here. It’s great to see them, or see them more often than I did. I’m sure I’m going to feel that way as the students come back. I miss that, just the interaction with them. Mainly, I found doing it out of a sense of duty and devotion to the place.
Question: Did you get any marching orders from the trustees? What were their instructions? Or were there instructions that said: You know what’s going on, get it done?
Mitch Daniels: I would think more the latter. I will say that I’m very conscious of the fact it’s a temporary assignment. It’s not a time to be initiating. We’re constantly looking for the next reform or the next bold new program, that sort of thing, which was the way I understood the assignment all those 10 years. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t things – and I think I’ve seen a few – that we can accelerate or slightly better organize. I think it’s a time to maybe lead some evaluation of things that are projects that have been attempted and where it might be a natural point at which to assess their success and either find ways, better ways, to go forward, or decide to redeploy assets in other places.
Question: Have the trustees given you a sense of free rein that you had before? Or as much free rein as you’ve had before going into this temporary role?
Mitch Daniels: I would say yes. I mean, if they want to prescribe some limits or rule certain things out of bounds, I would gladly and immediately comply. But we haven’t had any such suggestion, yet.
Question: Anything that you’ve seen already that you’ve said, OK, this is one thing we can do and to really get going on right now?
Mitch Daniels: I’ve identified the Indianapolis (campus) extension, as one of those. I think it has so much promise for the university as a whole and certainly for Indianapolis and for many of our students, that I’ve already said that I’m going to spend some meaningful time on that. Some really good progress has occurred, but I think a lot more is possible, and we’re going to try to speed it up, if we can.
Question: What specifically with the Indianapolis campus is lacking or was slow from the time of the breakup of IUPUI?
Mitch Daniels: I would start by being complimentary. I mean, they got a couple of very tough jobs done in what I consider a reasonably short period of time. The arranging to, as they say, “teach out” the students who were there. Making new arrangements for the faculty who were there – some of whom are staying, but many who were not. That, I thought, has been very well done. What we want to do is see equally swift progress on moving more programs, making more programs available there, so that more students find this an attractive option for at least a part of their Purdue experience. That’s what we’re concentrating on right now.
Question: Do you see that you can get something done like that in less than a year? Or is this mainly setting up a runway?
Mitch Daniels: Yeah, not done, but maybe on a faster track. The goal is to put some things in motion if we can that will ramp up the growth in student interest. My goal is to create a problem for the facilities people. We have to move even faster on that front to have attractive residential and Purdue-class teaching facilities there.
Question: How about on the West Lafayette campus? I know that Indianapolis was one of the pillars, as they called it, under you and under President Chiang. What do you see as the other priorities on the main campus and systemwide while you’re back?
Mitch Daniels: I don’t have an answer to that right now. To me, things are in strong shape. I mean, I’ve had one official month. I started spending time here before it was the official start date. But from these first weeks, I think friends of Purdue can feel very good about it, about the overall health and state of this university – financially, reputationally, in terms of a strong attractiveness to the students, measured in applications and enrollment. You’re always looking for ways to get better, but the starting point is a strong one.
Question: Do you find this this role is going to take your full time?
Mitch Daniels: Yes. I had, and still have, a couple of obligations that were on the calendar for this summer, before this all came up. I told the board, I can get out of one or two, but not all of them. As soon as school starts, though, yeah, it’ll be all the time. And right now, I’ve had to do a little bit of it from some remote location, but that that’ll wind up, too, quickly.
Question: I read where (Greater Lafayette Sports Report’s) Mike Carmin made the pitch that you should stick around for about three years to help the new AD get settled in as Mike Bobinski prepares to retire. What’s your take on that? (Carm’s case: “Why Mitch Daniels should stay beyond ‘the shortest time possible’ as Purdue’s president to help athletics shift to next phase.”)
Mitch Daniels: Yeah, thanks a lot, Mike. I appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t think that’s either a good idea or anything that’s likely to happen. A part of this assignment, frankly, is to help the board think about and possibly recruit a great new president for the place. We’re already working on that. And I’ve had some ideas. I have a few contacts that I was able to make on behalf of the board. I keep saying that my top priority is get out of the darn job fast as I can. And that’s not entirely a facetious comment.
Question: I was going to ask you about hiring on some other positions, but do you find that you’re going to be in the middle of the presidential search? And were you going to be anyway, given your role at Purdue Research Foundation and as president emeritus and all those things?
