William Kelly has a word for his first month on the job — “whirlwind.”
During an interview at his office, Christopher Newport University’s new president said he is still getting acclimated to the community and the job.
“But all of my initial impressions of Christopher Newport are coming to fruition,” he said. “This place is squared away. It’s committed to serving its students.”
Kelly, 58, said he spent his first weeks listening and learning more about the university and its responsibilities to students and the wider community. He met with senior staff and with various local and state representatives. On Monday, he met with the governor and secretary of education. Kelly said is looking forward to students returning to campus this fall and the opportunity to start engaging with them. He also plans to meet with faculty.
Kelly, who retired from a 36-year career with the Coast Guard, will be inaugurated Aug. 14 as CNU’s sixth president.
There is a lot of good work happening on campus, Kelly said. But he also knows it is a challenging time for higher education. Some of those challenges stem from the pandemic.
Kelly said research shows the pandemic had educational and social effects, and “that goes back to about third grade.”
“So we’ll be dealing with those impacts at the secondary level and then higher education for years to come,” he said.
One of the things the pandemic shined a light on is the growing mental health crisis, Kelly said.
“We’ve been telling students for a long time to ask for help, and they are asking for help today,” he said. “And we’re not nearly prepared to do what we need to do.”
He said he and wife Angie plan to bolster mental health services on campus, and will build on the recent grant that CNU received to expand its mental health services.
Another challenge Kelly is looking to address is how to drive enrollment, particularly through raising awareness among prospective students about regional public colleges like CNU.
“This is a great institution,” he said. “It’s got some of the best facilities in the country. We have top-notch faculty who are winning awards. Our athletic teams are winning national championships. But if you’re not coming to campus, you don’t know that. You don’t know what a Christopher Newport University experience is like.”
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Budget
Kelly starts his tenure as CNU and other universities across the commonwealth are experiencing budget difficulties because of inflation and declining enrollment. At June’s Board of Visitors meeting — before Kelly started — university officials said 26 vacant positions were being eliminated and a freeze would be instituted on 10 faculty searches. CNU also will scale back events, reduce hours and overtime where feasible, and implement efficiencies in grounds maintenance and housekeeping.
A university spokesman said officials also are looking at ways to increase revenue. One idea under consideration is offering programs to mid-career professionals, such as certificates and trainings requested by local employers.
“I would say we have a pretty good handle on it here,” Kelly said. “Our senior team has done what they need to do to assess where we’re at financially. It’s going to continue to be challenging across the board. Inflation is, as you know, jacking up prices for everything from the food that we serve our students to the utilities that we pay to the cost of maintenance, and all of those add up.
“I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and working with the team to figure out how we can be a more efficient and effective university while still providing the highest level of service to our students.”
Kelly said he would hold his first meeting with his strategic team next week, where budget efficiencies will be a big focus.
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Title IX review
Kelly also addressed another critical issue facing CNU — how the university handles reports of sexual assault and supports victims. The university formed a Title IX review committee in the spring after a detailed report by The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press about how CNU has handled such allegations. The committee submitted its final report, with recommendations, to the president this week.
Kelly said he knew the report and recommendations of the committee would be one of his first challenges.
He said the issue is “as much personal as it is organizational.”
“At the end of the day, it’s individuals that are impacted by the scourge of sexual assault,” he said.
“So how do we ensure that we are supportive of them, but understand also that we have to operate within the Title IX guidelines, and there’s a process and sometimes we need to do the best job possible to make sure that we adjudicate that process properly, but also do it in a compassionate and empathetic way that supports those complainants that come forward with a complaint of sexual assault or sexual harassment.
“It’s a very fine line to walk, but it’s the job and responsibility of all of us to walk that line, to carry out the process, to adhere to the Title IX guidelines and regulations but to also care and support our community.”
Kelly said he would review the report and form a committee to put the recommendations to action
“I can guarantee you that we will not be sitting on it,” he said.
Kelly said he expects to be able to publicly share some of the report findings and recommendations, as well as an action plan, later this month or in early September.
In a letter he sent out to the CNU community this week, Kelly said, “As the Superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy, I was personally involved with a comprehensive, ongoing effort to improve support and recovery services for victims of sexual assault.”
During his interview, Kelly said he will build on that experience as he addresses the issue on campus.
“The impacts of sexual assault are incredibly damaging to a community, so we have to continue to work tirelessly, each and every day, to let folks know that the safety and security of our community is job one,” he said.
“Job two is, if and when … a student or staff member or faculty member is impacted by sexual assault or sexual harassment, they have to be supported,” he said. “They have to be supported not only through what we call the investigation phase or the fact finding phase, but they have to be supported afterwards as well.
“What I found in my time in the Coast Guard is that the the impacts of sexual assault lasts with the victim long, long after, and it’s incumbent on all of us to be supportive of those members going forward.”
Kelly said transparency is also highly important.
“When you’re in a leadership position, you have to be transparent, you have to be honest, as honest as you can be with with the delicate and sensitive information associated with these with cases,” he said. “But you can’t sit on it, you have to action it. You have to communicate with the community. And that’s my intent with the Title IX report, to make sure that we are as transparent as we possibly can be.”
Nour Habib, [email protected]
