Central Rotarian Jim Peters introduced KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little by listing all the areas she oversees and likening her to a CEO of a big company.
Speaking at the Oct. 1 meeting, Gray-Little talked about her responsibilities which range from dealing with the budget to working to prevent sexual assaults on campus to wondering what to do with the old rails for a trolley car that were unearthed recently during street repaving near the chancellor’s residence.
“We are very concerned” she said when talking about state finances. Twenty percent of KU’s budget comes from the state, the rest from tuition, research grants and other sources. “Working with the legislature is very important,” she said, and with the regents. “The regents are my bosses,” she said.
The regents are considering developing a performance funding proposal, which, without additional funding, has not been a success in several other states. “This is a concern,” Gray-Little said.
KU is establishing a task force to deal with sexual assault on campus. When incidents are reported, there is a robust policy for investigation, she said. “If the incident has also been reported to the police, we work together with them. “ In 2013 there were 12 cases of sexual assault reported, two were dropped and six resulted in expulsion from the university.
She also talked about campus construction, with new residence halls going up and construction soon to start on an energy environment center and a health building, roads being repaved and trees planted.
She said perception and reputation are important to a university and discussed research and acting on recommendations from committees and alumni.
She took questions from the audience about a variety of subjects including distance learning, (“KU wants several options,”) and working with international students.
And no one said a word about football.
