ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, September 26, 1996 TAG: 9609260068
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR AND ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITERS
NOTE: Below
AS RADFORD UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT Douglas Covington faces a consultant's evaluation, he expects his skills and qualities to stand him in good stead.
Radford University President Douglas Covington says he doesn't want to speculate about his upcoming evaluation, initiated by the school's board of visitors 16 months after his arrival.
But he did say that he knows he's accountable, that he wants a fair hearing, and that he inherited a number of complex problems that can't be fixed overnight.
"My hope is, a person who's been on the job one year and has contributed to a good deal of progress in the course of one year ... I would hope a fair evaluation would recognize and appreciate and reward the accomplishments that have been made," Covington said at his campus office Wednesday.
Among the "long-standing" problems that awaited his arrival on June 1, 1995: a severe drop in enrollment, a restructuring plan the state had rejected the previous year, and no strategic plan, he said. In addition, the university had never conducted a capital campaign, a step it now is contemplating.
Asked if he believed his job is at risk, Covington replied:
"I don't think that any president of a university in today's society can take his job for granted. I'm still of the opinion that if I'm competent, if I'm diligent, if I'm loyal to the university and I'm honest - and I am all of those things - that's the best security that one can have."
Covington's evaluation will be an objective and "completely revealing" examination, said James Fisher, a board consultant who has been directed to conduct the evaluation.
Fisher, of Annapolis, Md., is an expert on leadership and organization at colleges and universities. He is "widely known" among university presidents, Covington said.
He and Covington first met in the late 1970s. Covington sat on the board of the Washington, D.C.-based Council for Advancement and Support of Education, which Fisher formerly led.
But, Covington said, he has not been in touch with Fisher for at least 10 years.
Fisher said Wednesday that his examination "will be a general evaluation of the institution, the academic program, the student body, the faculty, the governance, public relations, fund raising.
"But it will be pointed toward Dr. Covington."
Fisher said he and an associate - someone with no ties to Radford - already have started an evaluation process that could take 30 to 40 days. Their evaluation will include a two-day visit to the Radford campus next month, during which they will conduct one-on-one interviews with members of the university community, from the editor of the school newspaper to faculty members to city residents.
All will be asked the same questions from a confidential standardized questionnaire, Fisher said. He plans to stroll the campus, holding impromptu chats with students at their regular hangouts and dropping by faculty offices.
"I may do the same with cab drivers," Fisher said. "The end result will be a compilation based on interviews."
Rector James Stutts and Vice Rector Karen Waldron said they had no reason to expect the evaluation to be negative.
But "if problems are found, let's address them," Waldron said. "If they are insurmountable, then we will address them as well. But I just don't think that's the case. It's a clear-cut evaluation of what's happening at the university and Dr. Covington, not a witch hunt, as portrayed."
Al Pearson, a Radford political science professor, said there is nothing wrong with evaluating Covington, as long as the assessment is fair and impartial - "not a hanging jury."
"If a president doesn't measure up, so be it; take whatever corrective action," Pearson said. "But don't judge a person, then evaluate him. I think that's what they've done."
Fisher declined to offer an assessment of the university. But he said the board may have made a mistake in not having a review of the university after Donald Dedmon's departure. Dedmon resigned the presidency in 1994 under pressure from faculty. He had been president for 22 years.
Fisher conducted a board retreat last month. Its purpose was to discuss the board's responsibility and its relationship with Covington, Fisher said. Covington did not attend.
"The tendency has been, at all institutions, for board members to micromanage, to get so involved in institutional affairs that they are unable to evaluate the president fairly," Fisher said. "The board operates at the policy level, typically. But they get involved in affairs that should be delegated to the president."
Colleges and universities should develop a program of goals and objectives for the president, give them to the president, "then leave the president alone," Fisher said.
"Then at the end of a particular period, evaluate him. Either applaud him or make the tough decision about him. But if you dabble with the administration, it's impossible for the board to fairly assess the president."
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff When Douglas Covingtonby CNBbecame president of Radford University last year, a number of
complex, long-standing problems were waiting for him. color.