WEBVTT - GMU President on Inclusive Excellence

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<v Speaker 1>You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer on

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Radio. Blomberg Business Week on this Wednesday Carol Masser

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<v Speaker 1>along with Paul Sweeney, and joining us right now is

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg News Higher Education finance reporter Janet Lauren on the

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<v Speaker 1>phone in New York City. We talked so much about education.

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<v Speaker 1>She covers it so well here at Bloomberg. UH. And

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<v Speaker 1>as we know, Higher ed in particular has been dealing

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<v Speaker 1>really with two pandemics, and that includes of course COVID

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen and also systemic racism in our society. We've got

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<v Speaker 1>a gut check on both. Thanks to Dr Gregory Washington

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<v Speaker 1>joining us. He's president at George Mason University. He joins

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<v Speaker 1>us on the phone from Fairfax, Virginia. Dr Washington, so

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<v Speaker 1>nice to have you here with Janet and Paul and myself.

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<v Speaker 1>You became president in July. UM talk about timing, and

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<v Speaker 1>you came into the job. You had a lot to

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<v Speaker 1>deal with UM between the virus and of course, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>as I said, we had a dual pandemic. We've been

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<v Speaker 1>dealing with systemic racism in our society, and you've talked

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<v Speaker 1>about and written about the school dealing with its own

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<v Speaker 1>identity crisis. Tell me about coming into this job kind

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<v Speaker 1>of what was on your mind and how you prioritized

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<v Speaker 1>everything and how you dealt with it. Well, I'll be

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<v Speaker 1>honest with you, it was like drinking to a fire hole.

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<v Speaker 1>I Uh, it was. You know. We we were actually

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<v Speaker 1>dealing with three crises and so, uh, the two you

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<v Speaker 1>just mentioned and being the pandemic in our crisis and

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<v Speaker 1>racial inequity. But also we're dealing with a budget crisis

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<v Speaker 1>because many states were struggling to support their state universities,

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<v Speaker 1>and so we had a hundred and twenty four million

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<v Speaker 1>dollar budget gap that I had to manage as well.

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<v Speaker 1>So uh, suffice it suffice to say, to take care

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<v Speaker 1>of the racial inequity problem required money which I didn't have. Right, So, uh,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, we tackle the problem as I tackled most

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<v Speaker 1>problems as an engineer, right, and in a methodical kind

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<v Speaker 1>of way. Right. You you eat an elephant one bite

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<v Speaker 1>at a time, and uh, and and you tackle it

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<v Speaker 1>by bringing groups of people together to help you solve

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<v Speaker 1>the problem. And so we established a task force on

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<v Speaker 1>Racial inequity and begin and started that task force working

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<v Speaker 1>towards coming up with solutions that we're going to help

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<v Speaker 1>the campus and as they're makest out of pandemic. We've

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<v Speaker 1>put together a separate Safer Return to Campus task force

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<v Speaker 1>that's focused on that and and we've had premendous results

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<v Speaker 1>in both and and that is propelling the institution for

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<v Speaker 1>at this particular point in time. So, Janet, you know

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<v Speaker 1>Dr Washington talking about the precarious finances which we're hearing

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<v Speaker 1>across so many different industries, and that includes higher education.

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<v Speaker 1>What's your reporting been generally about what some of these

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<v Speaker 1>big colleges, universities, how they're trying to piece it all

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<v Speaker 1>together from an economic perspective. Well, it's sorry, just gonna you,

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<v Speaker 1>Janet Lauren. Well, it's a tough time, partly because revenue

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<v Speaker 1>isn't what schools are used to sing about this time. Uh.

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<v Speaker 1>Fewer enrollments means less money. Uh. Fewer students on campus

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<v Speaker 1>means fewer students are paying for UM storms here there,

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<v Speaker 1>fewer students are paying for dining services. UM they've all

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<v Speaker 1>had to many of them have had to offer refunds

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<v Speaker 1>for housing when students left in March. UM. Now George

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<v Speaker 1>Mason is bucking the trend. A little bit in enrollment.

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<v Speaker 1>We just had some numbers from the National Clearinghouse data

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<v Speaker 1>source which talked about a decline of fourteen percent for

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<v Speaker 1>freshman enrollment and overall enrollments were down, but your enrollments

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<v Speaker 1>were up about two percents this year with record enrollments. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>can you talk a little bit about how you accomplish

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<v Speaker 1>that and where those numbers come from. Well, they primarily

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<v Speaker 1>come from in stay students and uh, you know, we

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<v Speaker 1>are the beneficiaries of a region, being at a part

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<v Speaker 1>of the region of the country where uh the population

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<v Speaker 1>is still growing, and that helped us. But because we

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<v Speaker 1>actually brought students back to campus and we did sell

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<v Speaker 1>in an aggressive way, students didn't, uh you know, feel

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<v Speaker 1>the need not to come back. Right there was if

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<v Speaker 1>you if you could if you could take all of

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<v Speaker 1>your classes online, or if you were gonna hit be

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<v Speaker 1>hit with exorbitant fees and costs in terms of going

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<v Speaker 1>to school. People started to ask the question, maybe I

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<v Speaker 1>should take a gap year, maybe I should take some

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<v Speaker 1>time off and not come back. Well, we made it

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<v Speaker 1>advantageous and we made it uh clear to our students

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<v Speaker 1>that we were going to provide an environment for them

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<v Speaker 1>that was maybe not quite what they had uh two

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<v Speaker 1>years ago, but something really really close. So we worked

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<v Speaker 1>really really hard with providing all sorts of ways for

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<v Speaker 1>students to congregate safely and for them to enjoy fast

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<v Speaker 1>food through our mobile robotic food delivery services from and

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<v Speaker 1>so we've put a lot of different uh, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>students can go to movies together, they go to we

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<v Speaker 1>have this large drive in movies where students actually can

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<v Speaker 1>do that together. Uh. And and we did lots of

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<v Speaker 1>virtual kinds of engagements with students. We have Tiffany Haddish

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<v Speaker 1>on campus and other kinds of things. So so we've

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<v Speaker 1>been able to figure out different ways to basically invent

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<v Speaker 1>a new normal, which is what I think institutions are

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<v Speaker 1>gonna have to do because they're gonna be dealing with

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<v Speaker 1>the virus. Well, we just have about a minute and

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<v Speaker 1>then we'll do some news. But in about forty five seconds,

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, how much does this set you back? This

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<v Speaker 1>the virus financially And again just about forty five and

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<v Speaker 1>then we'll come back and talk some more. Well, look,

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<v Speaker 1>the reality of the situations, it sets in spectrumendously. Um,

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<v Speaker 1>We're we're talking about a average student twelve thousand dollars

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<v Speaker 1>per heads for room and board. And if you and

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<v Speaker 1>and we got sixty eight hundred slots, so you just

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<v Speaker 1>do the mask, that's seventy eight million dollars loss And

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<v Speaker 1>we don't bring students back to campus, and and the

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<v Speaker 1>numbers just go up from there. So the number the

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<v Speaker 1>losses are huge, over a hundred million dollars for US,

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<v Speaker 1>and we brought students back, if we didn't need to

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<v Speaker 1>be closer to hundred fifty two hundred million. Jannet. We

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<v Speaker 1>were talking about financials there, and I know that's you.

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<v Speaker 1>It's something you keep a close watch on when it

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<v Speaker 1>comes to colleges and universities. Yes, and then addation to

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<v Speaker 1>um less revenue coming in, we've been hearing a lot

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<v Speaker 1>from colleges about more money they're spending on things like

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<v Speaker 1>toxi glass and trying to configure testing and paying for

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<v Speaker 1>testing and uh and so much more. And I would

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<v Speaker 1>love to hear about some of the expenses that have

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<v Speaker 1>seen at George Mason that perhaps you weren't necessarily expected. Uh. Yes, Look,

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<v Speaker 1>the biggest expense for us has been the preparation for

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<v Speaker 1>testing UM putting in place. Uh, you know, the average

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<v Speaker 1>cost of a test can run upwards of a hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and twenty dollars per test and UH and that's when

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<v Speaker 1>you count take into account not just the test itself,

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<v Speaker 1>but the corresponding infrastructure that you actually have to have

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<v Speaker 1>in place to ensure that the students get the results

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<v Speaker 1>that they get him in a reasonable amount of time.

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<v Speaker 1>You have to coordinate the results with the with the

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<v Speaker 1>local health department so that they understand when the potential

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<v Speaker 1>operak uh is occurring. And then you have to uh

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<v Speaker 1>be able to record the results in the proper format

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<v Speaker 1>relative to medical records. So there are a whole host

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<v Speaker 1>of additional infrastructural costs besides the cost of the test

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<v Speaker 1>themselves that go on top of it. And so you

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<v Speaker 1>could easily spend upwards of a Protestant and universities that

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<v Speaker 1>are spending that without questions. And then you've got to

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<v Speaker 1>get your campus is ready for students and staff to

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<v Speaker 1>come back. And so that signage that's plexiglass, that's UH

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<v Speaker 1>putting information on the floors, that's changing UH you know,

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<v Speaker 1>entering and exiting UH protocols for how people will enter

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<v Speaker 1>and exit buildings that may even be modifications and changing

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<v Speaker 1>to the air handling systems and upgrading air handling systems

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<v Speaker 1>and buildings to accommodate. Uh, you know, people will be

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<v Speaker 1>in those buildings with COVID right. Hard to do, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>in a normal year where revenue flows are normal. Harder

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<v Speaker 1>to do when they're not exactly So, what does spring

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<v Speaker 1>look like? What does you know a year from now,

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<v Speaker 1>next fall look like? Let's start with spring. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>what are you guys expecting. So we're not managing the

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<v Speaker 1>virus too well right now as a and what that

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<v Speaker 1>means for us is that we're going to see, Uh,

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<v Speaker 1>the spring looked very similar to the fall. It's going

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<v Speaker 1>to be a restart, right. Our students are gonna go

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<v Speaker 1>home many you know, many campuses, despite the outbreaks that

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<v Speaker 1>you've heard about, a significant number of us have actually

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<v Speaker 1>have environments that have positivity rates lower than the surrounding

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<v Speaker 1>communities in which the students come from. And we'll go

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<v Speaker 1>to and so that's the case for George Mason. Our

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<v Speaker 1>students will undoubtedly, over the break, some of them will

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<v Speaker 1>bring the virus back to the campus, and so we

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<v Speaker 1>have a pretesting regiment that we had to put in

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<v Speaker 1>place to account for that and Uh, and it looks

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<v Speaker 1>like we're starting all over from scratch again, but this

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<v Speaker 1>time was just a little bit more knowledge because we

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<v Speaker 1>did learn a lot from the fall. But it is

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<v Speaker 1>indeed a restart, and so uh, lots of pretesting getting

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<v Speaker 1>the students here and then managing student behavior to keep

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<v Speaker 1>out breaks on happening and get us throughout the end

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<v Speaker 1>of this way. So we'd be remiss. Go ahead, John,

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<v Speaker 1>and I know we were both kind of all messaging

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<v Speaker 1>each other because we'd be remiss if we don't go

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<v Speaker 1>and ask you about what has been you know, the

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<v Speaker 1>other crisis, and that is racism. And you've got a

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<v Speaker 1>university George Mason named for a slave owning founding father.

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<v Speaker 1>Are you guys talked talked, I mean talked to us

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<v Speaker 1>about that? I mean, are you thinking about a name change?

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<v Speaker 1>What happens? So actually it was believe it or not.

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<v Speaker 1>The very first question that I was asked by a reporter.

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<v Speaker 1>I thought I was gonna get a question talking about

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<v Speaker 1>how is it to lead an institution, you know, in

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<v Speaker 1>these difficult times. And the very first question is George

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<v Speaker 1>Mason was a slave owner. What are you going to

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<v Speaker 1>do about that? And um, so, so I actually I

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<v Speaker 1>went to work. I actually I learned a lot about

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<v Speaker 1>George Manson, but I also learned a lot about the country. Um. Look,

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<v Speaker 1>twelve of our first eight team US presidents own enslaves

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<v Speaker 1>individuals at some point in their lives, and nine of

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<v Speaker 1>them while working at the White House. Okay, um forty

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<v Speaker 1>one of the fifty six signatories of the Declaration of Independence, right,

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<v Speaker 1>five of the fifty five men who wrote the Constitution

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<v Speaker 1>all owned plays. It was part of the the economic

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<v Speaker 1>system of our country at that time, and so to

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<v Speaker 1>throw all of that out, you would literally have to

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<v Speaker 1>throw out the country. And so we took a different approach,

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<v Speaker 1>and that is two commemorate individuals like George Mason and

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<v Speaker 1>Thomas Jefferson and all those individuals like that for their contributions,

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<v Speaker 1>but not celebrate uh them for how they handle slaves.

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<v Speaker 1>And it sounds like a cliche, but it was one

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<v Speaker 1>of the things. And then we used it to enter

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<v Speaker 1>the campus into a discussion of the contributions many of

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<v Speaker 1>those enslave individuals had on the campus. Dr Washington actually

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<v Speaker 1>for us came out into a great play. Dr Washington,

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<v Speaker 1>We're running out of time, do come back? Because I

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<v Speaker 1>would love um to continue this conversation with you, and

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<v Speaker 1>here you know how you guys are managing through and

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<v Speaker 1>just dealing with those three crises. I really appreciated Dr Washington,

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<v Speaker 1>President at George Mason along with our Janet Lauren Bloomberg

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<v Speaker 1>News Higher Education finance reporter. You're listening to Bloomberg Radio