Gamble sees bright fuure for MSU

Even with a possible budget cut of $1 million to $4 million
looming, Montana State University President Geoff Gamble
exuded confidence and optimism Monday in his state of
the university speech.

By GAIL SCHONTZLER Chronicle Staff Writer

"This university has the right stuff," Gamble told a crowd of
about 300 professors, administrators and employees, who
applauded warmly.

"I’m confident we can build off our strengths … we can convert every challenge to an
opportunity."

Gamble, who became president 16 months ago, said MSU’s research grants will grow this year
from $61 million to $68 million. Its faculty are doing cutting-edge research on fuel cell
technology and combating bio-terrorism. And its students have racked up prestigious national
honors, including two USA Today academic all-stars and three Goldwater scholars.

He acknowledged that the state’s shrinking budget surplus may well trigger automatic
reductions in all state agencies’ revenues. For MSU, a 3 percent reduction, which would cut
$1.25 million from the $88 million budget, would be "doable," Gamble said. If the cut went as
deep as 10 percent, he said, that would be "interesting."

"Let’s be careful and not fall into a victim mentality," he said. It’s easy to think if the state can’t
come through with as much money has expected that "all is lost," but that’s not so, he said.
Nationwide, most state universities are facing far worse budget cuts, including $30 million at
the University of Idaho and $15 million at Washington State.

"We’re very thin financially," Gamble said, adding, "We’re not emaciated."

Gamble said he had set a personal goal of raising $10 million in two years from private donors
to beef up scholarships for students. Already $8 million has been raised, he said, so he’s
increasing his goal to $15 million.

He said he just returned from Kalispell, where MSU professors taught 100 classes to high school
students in an area where a minority go on to college. He said MSU should be proud that one
school official told him MSU is getting a reputation as the state’s leading academic college,
where serious students go to get a good education.

Gamble acknowledged problems, such as two major financial crises, shortfalls of $1 million in
athletics and $2.3 million in uncollected student tuition going back several years. These things
happen at universities, but steps are being taken to avoid such surprises in the future, he said.

Another problem is that every year 2,500 students drop out, and MSU needs to do a better job,
especially in keeping the top academic students, he said.

MSU has made progress toward his goal of making the budget an "open, inclusive, data-based
and balanced" process, he said, and invited everyone to Thursday afternoon’s open forum on
the budget plan at the SUB.

Afterward, it was hard to find anyone critical of the speech. Even Ed Mooney, a professor
outspokenly critical in the past of MSU’s spending decisions and budget secrecy, said he liked
Gamble’s "tone and direction." John Amend, former Faculty Council chair, said, "I think we
have good leadership."

Regent Richard Roehm of Bozeman called the speech "outstanding. He is such a great leader
that he has changed the whole tenor and operating philosophy of the university. He has a
totally positive attitude toward everything."

Gail Schontzler is at [email protected]

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