Locatelli speaks on campus issues

From Staff Reports

Editors of The Santa Clara met with University President Paul Locatelli, S.J., on Monday to question the president on recent controversial issues, as well as the future of the university.

Locatelli, now entering his 19th year as president, said that his fourth term, which began last year, will probably be his last. But he is hardly preparing for retirement.

In fact, his recent appointment to the Secretary for Higher Education for the Jesuit Order will have him flying to Rome about twice each year. To compensate, Locatelli said he has resigned from nearly 10 boards of directors, which will make his life "more focused."

The following are excerpts from the hour-long conversation with Locatelli on a variety of campus issues.

* On dorm security:

Security is an issue that has arisen this year more than in the past, not only in the residence halls but around campus.

We want to do some pilot programs on how to improve security in the residence halls.

You can't have it both ways. We're not infringing on their personal identification or anything like that, but they do have to use their IDs to get back in the residence hall -- either that or you don't have any security. So I don't see it so much as an invasion of privacy as it is an inconvenience.

* On The Bronco:

I want The Bronco to be for our students, not for other people. In fact, I'm not even sure we're calling people coming to the Bronco "guests." Right now, the (new) guest policy is going to be one for one: one student, one guest, or within reason.

* On club sports:

In the ideal, they want to add more club sports. The reality is that we don't have the space to have the club sports and still have recreational sports. So that, again, is a facilities issue as much as it is anything else.

* On theme party coverage:

Some students are very concerned about it. Why do you think we had so much media attention when you look at some of the other things that have happened on other campuses that are far worse? I'll give you an example: At NYU, they had a rally near Central Park, with a big sign, "Find the illegal immigrant." And they had about 200 people there embroiled in this whole thing. So why didn't that get more attention? That didn't even make The New York Times; it didn't make The Associated Press.

I think the fact that it was called just a "south of the border" party and not given the context that there was a birthday party for someone who is Mexican-American and, in my understanding, put on by a Latina... I don't think that context was ever found; it was always put as a theme party, and these terrible things happened from these pictures, which they were, but I think it just had a perfect storm.

* On 'broader party' issues:

I think it's a societal issue. The number of race issues that are going on out there right now, it's a reflection of the broader society. The thing that I find, the difference between this party and some of the things going on out there, is this was done unintentionally and, basically, for lack of a better word, out of ignorance.

People didn't realize what the impact of those pictures were. The way they were dressed -- they were stereotyping, not intending to hurt or demean anyone. But the fact that they didn't understand stereotyping demeans and hurts somebody shows we have some work to do.

I think long term, we'll be a lot better off because it raised the issue of what we already identified: How do we process and develop a community of inclusive excellence, which is how do we develop a community that's diverse and respects diversity?

It's not a failure of the university. They've all taken the courses; they've heard it enough times. I think it's just a broader problem in society. I think everybody ought to go see the movie "Crash." Everybody is prejudiced in some way, shape or form. Any person who says they're not prejudiced in some way, shape or form, at some level, is just not telling the truth.

* On response after party:

I got some irate phone calls. All the phone calls I got were that I am violating freedom of speech and freedom of assembly and ought to keep my nose out of students' business, especially because it's off campus. And, "Why am I so sensitive to all of this?"

What kind of a world are these people living in? Well, they're angry, and they're basically racist. They're all anonymous; they call at around 10 or 11 at night, as if I'm going to be there.

* On the new core:

Can we do better? Of course we can do better. And that's why no part of the university will be able to exempt out of diversity (in the new core).

The new core curriculum is much more comprehensive and much better at addressing a whole series of issues. I think the issues of race and culture are going to become even a greater set of issues than they've been in the past. Globalization has moved it far beyond just two different races, but a multicultural, multi-religious world.

What Harvard is talking about now is what we talked about in the 90s. So they're 10 years behind.

* On Davey's retirement:

Dick Davey's contract was finished and ended two years ago. We extended it for two years. At the time, he talked about retirement. He's talked about retirement, said he was going to retire at the end of the season.

He wanted to announce it after the season was over. I was asked about that and said we ought to recognize him and honor him at one of the last two games.

That's what our intention was, and that's what I told him. And I talked to Dick about it, and he agrees. But he didn't want to be recognized. He wanted the announcement to be at the end and ride off into the sunset.

* On Davey's media coverage:

They don't have most of the facts right. I'll give you one example (of) the trustees getting involved. The trustees have never even talked about this. This doesn't even come up on their radar screen.

* On Davey's replacement:

We're going to be searching for a coach. And we will look for a coach that has integrity, one that will make sure the players are student-athletes and not athletes and that they will graduate.

I'm not part of the recruiting or discussion of who the next coach will be. Everybody thinks that I sit in my office and make these decisions; that's not the way the university works.

Jeremy Herb, Ryan Groshong, Allison Sundaram, Sarah Maciel, Jessica Silliman, Mike Kaufmann and Jon McDonald met with Locatelli. E-mail editor@thesantaclara.com.