Issue date: 5/6/08 Section: Features

On the second floor of the administration building, in a corner office of airy, rather than imposing proportions, works a man who has long laboured to make DePauw University a better place for students, faculty, staff and Greencastle. The first of his family to go to college, let alone earn master’s and doctoral degrees, he’s supremely conscious of and thankful for what he considers blessings in his life, paramount among those: DePauw University and  the 22 years of his presidency.

President Robert G. Bottoms, genial and calm, is reflective this close to the end of his leadership. Graduation is as much of a demarcation for him as it is for the class of 2008. But the man who was once the assistant dean of a divinity school is still full of questions — he still asks students what they think of DePauw, what they like and dislike about their experiences, what can be improved. While it appears that this kind of leadership won’t be going anywhere, the man is. And he will be missed.

The DePauw: What do you think that people will remember your presidency by?

Robert G. Bottoms: Two things, maybe. The whole diversity issue, the way the campus has changed in terms of the ethnic make-up of the students and faculty. I think if you put that question to the faculty that’s probably the first thing they would say. ... The other is, one of the trustees, referred to me as “Bob the Builder.” The buildings may not be the most important things that have happened while I’ve been president, but that’s what people see.

TDP: What has been the hardest part of your job?

RB: I would mention three things, not in order of importance. Personnel decisions are always difficult. We have a very good personnel process for the faculty, but sometimes, ... those are the hard decisions you get into. ... I think the institution has changed from a very conservative institution to a much more progressive institution over time. That has been misunderstood from time to time, but I think we’re a better institution as a result of it. The other challenge, or the diversity, which is accepted now, was not so easily accepted to start with. We made a lot of mistakes. We had no African-American students to start with and then we increased it and then we had a time when students stopped – “Well, you just brought me here because I’m black”. We had white students – “Well, you just brought them here because they’re black”. That was a difficult time.

TDP: What are some of the biggest obstacles you’ve overcome, or the most tragic event. what did you learn from it?

RB: Probably the Rector Fire. I can still remember it like it was yesterday, how scared I was that Sunday morning when I heard all those sirens. Gwen and I were in church and you could hear all the sirens and then you realize, “Hey.” We go to St. Andrew’s, which is like almost on the campus, and we began to perceive that maybe they were stopping on campus. To walk out and see all the smoke. Bill Nugent, who was the fire chief, did an exceptional job that day. I went right up to him during the fire and I said, “Did everybody get out?” and at that point, they didn’t know. And so you’re just scared to death. It’s Sunday morning and it’s the worst time in the world you can have a fire. ... I think I learned the importance of teamwork and the way the college came together. We had a real housing shortage and the town helped with that.

Also, the Delta Zeta incident was tough. We didn’t have any control over what the writer from the New York Times wrote. It was inaccurate, but all of a sudden you wake up and there you are on the front page of the New York Times. I was in Florida at the time. Sunday morning we walked to get a New York Times and a Sarasota paper, and not only were we on the front page of the New York Times, but we’re on the front page of the Sarasota Times. So people picked it up all over the country, and I thought it was a misrepresentation of DePauw, and I thought it hurt the image of the University.

TDP: What do you consider the highlight of your presidency?

RB: I think the progress we’ve made in terms of making this a more internationally diverse community. I just think that’s fundamental. I just don’t think we learn much from people who are just like us. And 25 years ago we all pretty much looked alike — faculty, staff and students. ... That’s probably one of the most important things I’ve done. Anybody could have built buildings.

TDP: Do you have any regrets?

RB: I really don’t know that we, as a community, have taken advantage of the many voices in our community. Some of the times when I feel best about where we’ve come is when you begin to see international students and underrepresented students perform in plays, play in the symphony, sing in the choir, work on the paper. Then you begin to think, “Hey this is really working. It happened.”

TDP: Where do you think your career would have gone had you not come to DePauw?

RB: I don’t know. I had a very good experience at Vanderbilt as a student, and I loved working there, but I had grown to realize that I didn’t like working in a large university. So if I had not come here I probably would have gone, to another, compared to a Vanderbilt, small liberal arts college.

TDP: If you were 18, would you go to DePauw?

RB: I think if I were 18 years old, this would be a very good place for me. We have strong faculty; study abroad is very important, I think the diversity is really important. The board of trustees, in a great gesture of appreciation, will make it possible for our grandchildren to come here, if they choose to. One of the reasons I appreciate it is that I think it would be good for our grandchildren. Growing up in California, I would love for them to come here. I think we have a good place and so, yeah I would come. Although, I have to tell you ... when I was 17 and 18 and making up my mind where I wanted to go to college, I don’t know if I had the maturity to even make the right choice. I went to the University of Virginia, because it was farther from home than any other place I’d been accepted, and I was mad at my mother. So there you go.

TDP: Would you join a fraternity at DePauw?

RB: I would go through rush. I would look at it, sure.


TDP: How do you plan to adjust from president to president emeritus?

RB: By really devoting a lot of time and effort to work at the Prindle Institute. I feel like I’m starting a whole new career. That’s what I want to do with my life right now.

TDP: If Brian Casey does something you disagree with, are you going to say anything?

RB: Not publicly. And probably not to him. I have a strong commitment to not getting in the way. There are some people who think, probably, it’s unwise, for the former president to stay around. I’ve been very impressed with Brian Casey, and when I say that it’s not an expression of politeness. I think we’ll have a good relationship. I don’t plan on giving him advice; I will answer any questions he wants to know.

TDP: What are you going to do with your free time?

RB: It’s my desire not to have any free time. I don’t think I’ll have any free time, but I’ll get to spend my time in a different, maybe more productive, intellectually challenging way. One of the things I want to do over the summer is to review a lot of material and explore some readings I haven’t gotten a chance to get to, to prepare for discussion groups with the Ethics Institute and students next year. Will that take as much time as running around doing things presidents do? Yeah, it will. It will be a different kind of time. I don’t play golf. I don’t have a lot of hobbies. I’ve spent most of my time working and that’s sort of how I imagine life, is finding some niche that you can work in, that you find fulfilling.

TDP: Was there ever a time before now when you considered retiring?

RB: Yes. I thought about it for several years. I still think of myself as a young man, but I’m a lot older than your parents. But I think anytime that you get into your sixties or so, you think about when would be the appropriate time or if you get really frustrated or really irritated.

TDP: How much of an influence has your wife, Gwen, had on you and the decisions you have made as president?

RB: Gwen has been a tremendous supporter of the University and a supporter of me personally. She has tried to cheer me up when I get depressed. She’s tried to keep my ego in place. She’s been a supporter in a very personal way. She’s been active in the life of the University. But we’ve not discussed things like personnel issues, so she’s not really injected her life into the middle of important decisions. It’s been more personal support for me and public support of things like our athletic teams and the arts.

TDP: What have you learned from students?

RB: One of the things I hoped for students, I think it’s important for students to dedicate part of their lives to serving other people. There are a lot of people who don’t have very good things to say about your generation. I do think ... maybe you’ve grown up in a world where things have been easier economically. Now we’re threatened with the whole sustainability issue. Nobody that I’ve heard running for president has figured out the war issue. We have these racial divisions. It will not be an easy time. But one of the things I’ve learned from students, if you’re involved in the dialogue, students respond as people have responded in the past. They do get involved.

TDP: What have you learned from the faculty?

RB: I think that this is a good faculty in the sense that it’s become much more scholarly, and you will find in your jobs and in your lives, there’s still no substitute for knowledge. Not opinions — knowledge. Not bull sessions — knowledge. And I think this faculty is well-trained.

TDP: Tell us a story about a student you feel you personally helped.

RB: Not any that I would name by name. We have an alumnus who is the principal of a charter school, an inner-city school in a large city. And he asked me to come speak. I didn’t even know him. When he introduced me, he said, “You are the reason I stayed at DePauw. You may not remember when I came to your office perplexed and I was ready to leave the school.” Well, he was right, I didn’t remember, but sometimes I think those conversations matter. We have the Swisher Fund, and that’s kind of a discretionary fund that the president has. That’s let me make grants to students from time to time who were going to have to drop out of school for financial reasons. I get a chance as president to do some stuff like that. It doesn’t make me great; I just happen to be in the right place at the right time. Those are the kinds of things I remember.

TDP: Who is your model for leadership?

RB: Vernon Jordan has always been an important counselor to me. For 20 years, he’s always had the talent and the ability to say encouraging things to me. I’ve learned a tremendous amount from John Roth. He, perhaps as much or maybe more than me, should get credit for helping get the Ethics Center started. He knows how to cause things to happen. And Doug Smith. Doug Smith teaches the course on happiness during Winter Term. He’s an example of a leader who’s been successful in business — running a university is a business — but also has the same kind of humanitarian interest that I’ve tried to have in my life.

TDP: Who do you plan to vote for in the presidential election this November?

RB: Well, that’s a hard question to answer, because I don’t know whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will be on the ballot. I wouldn’t have answered this question a year or two ago, but since I’m retiring, I don’t care. My wife and I are both supporters of Barack Obama. I happened to have served upon a foundation board with him for a dozen years. He just impresses me. I’m leaving office in like a month, so I don’t mind talking to you as an individual, but that’s not a University endorsement.

TDP: Of all the speakers and guests who came to DePauw during your tenure as president, who were you most impressed by?

RB: Early on, Elie Wiesel. He was among the deepest thinkers to speak here. You could hear a pin drop. And it wasn’t because he’s such a good speaker; it was because he was so connected to the audience about the atrocities of the Holocaust. I enjoyed Paul Rusesabagina also. And he was a speaker who motivated some students to do things. Cornell West, early on. The last time Ralph Nader was here, I really liked Ralph Nader, and I was really surprised, not that I liked him, but by how he changed his message. It was about the principles upon which he grew up. I thought he connected with students.

TDP: Which University course would you most like to take?

RB: This might not surprise you. If I had the time as a student or as a graduate student to take some courses to really explore an area I don’t know as well as I would like, it would be the whole area of world religions.

TDP: What’s your favorite item on the Marvin’s menu?

RB: I’ve been at DePauw 30 years, and I’ve only eaten at Marvin’s once. So, I’m not that qualified to talk about my favorite meal on the Marvin’s menu. I did have a garlic cheeseburger though, and I thought it was awfully good and greasy.

TDP: Sum up your time at DePauw in one word.

RB: Challenging.

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