A Game Plan for Making Cal State an Education Powerhouse

By one standard, Charles B. Reed is coming down in the world. A former quarterback, the leader of Florida’s public universities is leaving the home of the Gators, the defending national football champions, to become chancellor of the California State University system, which is not known for placing teams in the pigskin Top 20.

By other measures, though, Reed, 56, is stepping up. As chancellor of the Florida State University system, he oversees 10 campuses with 225,000 students. At Cal State, he will head the largest university system in America, with 22 campuses and 337,000 students. His salary will be higher too, $254,000 compared to $205,000. Of course, there’s no state income tax in Florida. And Reed says it’s not money that prompted his move to Cal State, effective in March. “I see it as a bigger challenge,” he said. “It is a more complex state and a bigger system. It’s poised to move to the next level of quality and influence in California.”

On Monday, the day his appointment was announced, Reed spoke with Times education writer Kenneth R. Weiss at a hotel near Los Angeles International Airport. It was a standard room--no fancy suite for this public servant--and the stocky Reed sat a small table, leaning forward. His wife of 33 years, Catherine, sat on the bed. She became his girlfriend in the seventh grade, when they were growing up in the coal-mining town of Waynesburg, Pa.

QUESTION: Given your love of football, aren’t you going to miss the excitement of presiding over campuses with teams competing for the national championship?

ANSWER: One of my hobbies is watching sporting events. But I do not need to go to the Sugar Bowl every year. Athletics does many things that other parts of the university cannot do for the alumni and the community. The most important part is that it gives a lot of people scholarships.

Q: Why do you want to leave the Florida system?

A: I’ve been there a dozen years. If you look and say, ‘OK, if you are going to make a change, you better do it now. And if you are going to make a change, why not do it where it’s going to be a huge challenge? There will be some risks, so you’ll have to live on the edge. But there could be big payoffs.’

Q: Were you considering other positions?

A: I wouldn’t consider any other system. This state university system is potentially a world-class place. If you can do it in California, you can do it anyplace. The eyes of the rest of the country always look to California.

Q: What is your vision for CSU?

A: One, I see the Cal State University system has the opportunity to be one of the most important economic engines for the state of California by preparing the work force for the 21st century. And, two, improving all of public education, from K-16. One of the things that the board has done is adopt the technology plan, which is exciting, about putting in place a virtual university and reaching out through technology everywhere.

Q: Are you a technology enthusiast?

A: If you find out how to provide support services. I am convinced that the people in the Open University in England have figured out how to give the personal attention as well as the information to people. I didn’t see this in [Cal State’s] technology plan, but if you could harness the creativity of the Silicon Valley people and the Hollywood people with the academic people, that would be powerful.

Q: Cal State Chancellor Barry Munitz has spent considerable time with other top California educators working on lower education reform. Is that something you will pursue?

A: Absolutely. About 65% of the public school teachers come from the CSU system. One of my observations is that the public school system is in trouble, like in Florida. If you are going to improve public schools, you are going to have to do it through the CSU system. I’ve talked to business leaders, and they say one of the biggest things that concerns them is, “How can we improve the public schools so we can attract and keep good people with our companies?”

Q: How exactly do you begin improving public schools?

A: You start by improving the preparation of teachers. You retrain existing teachers in the public schools. But it’s more than just educating teachers. It is figuring out how you educate parents, mothers who have newborns, improving the welfare system. We now know that children from birth to age 3 or 4 learn more than any other time in their lives. And so if we help those preschool, pre-kindergarten days, then the public schools will have a better chance, and colleges and universities, which get about 90% of their students from the public schools, will have a better chance.

Q: Students only pay a fraction of the total cost of education, but that cost is very real to students and their families. Where do you stand on fee increases?

A: If tuition and fees affect access, then you have a problem. If you increase fees, then you have to figure out how to increase need-based financial aid so you do not make your fee structure an impediment to access. Having said all that, if you are going to build a quality institution, then somebody has to pay for it. It’s balancing access and quality with financial constraints.

Q: During your tenure in Florida, you faced many crises: a serial killer murdering five students in Gainesville, NCAA investigations, huge cutbacks. What were the the most difficult?

A: The most tragic were the murders at the University of Florida. [And] when we had to cut $165 million and downsized and closed centers and institutes in 1990 and 1991. The NCAA investigations were simply managing a mess. The biggest mess was at the University of Florida in 1986 and 1987. I had to fire two football coaches and a basketball coach and everything that went with them. [But] that’s what you get paid for. The integrity and quality of the institution is what you have to focus on. If somebody or something is threatening that, then it’s not as tough of a decision as you would think. Then batten down the hatches and let it go.