When Dr. David Naylor was named U of T’s 15th president in May of last year, many could be pardoned for their cynicism. After all, the previous president, Robert Birgeneau, had left to be chancellor of Berkeley mid-way through his term, and it took nearly a year to find his replacement. This newspaper had even argued that the office of university president should be abolished altogether.
Yet since assuming office on October 1 of last year, Naylor has managed to wrong-foot his critics. He began his tenure with a PR blitz, playing ball with students, sitting in on classes, and making himself visible to the community, as any ambassador of the university should.
He has made the right sounds about adding a student commons on St. George campus. And despite criticism of his administration’s response to this spring’s spate of hate attacks, his statement in response left even some of the vociferous student leaders impressed.
But as he reflects on his first year in office at the presidential house in Rosedale this Sunday, he ought not allow this quick start to fade into complacency. For there are three main challenges his administration must tackle during its coming years.
Foremost among them is the university’s deferred maintenance problem. Ten years of provincial underfunding and neglect took their toll on the university’s maintenance budget. Buildings such as Robarts Library and the Medical Sciences Building are crumbling. A report last winter placed the total value of delayed repairs at nearly $300 million. Clearly, this is unsustainable and the university must commit serious cash-nearly $50 million a year to be sure, and not the $8 million allocated in 2006-to begin to make a dent.
Secondly, his administration must still convince skeptics, including many students, that its commitment to the “student experience” and the re-positioning of U of T as a “student-centered research university” is more than just whitewash.
And what better way to do this than by moving ahead swiftly with plans to build a student centre? Indeed, it is a shame that U of T’s largest campus still lacks such a centre, while UTM and UTSC have had theirs since 1999 and 2004, respectively.
Lastly, the university must sort out its finances without passing too much of the burden onto students through tuition fee hikes (There is a deficit of $9.3 million forecast for the current year.). This could be accomplished by shrinking the university’s bloated bureaucracy and further trimming the salaries of top administrators, who are already among the best-paid in the province.
But perhaps Naylor’s biggest challenge as the university’s de facto CEO might be to groom a successor who will better represent the diversity that exists within U of T’s students, staff, and faculty.
In planning his six remaining years, Naylor has a few advantages as university president. He need not face an electorate every so often, nor must he answer to any Bay Street suits demanding immediate returns. He will, however, have to answer to generations of future governors, students, and, yes, scribblers like us, who will see his portrait in Simcoe Hall’s council chamber and ask: who was David Naylor, and what did he do?
So far, the doctor’s diagnosis seems sound. It’s time to see whether his prescription does the trick.
