On Wednesday, Oct. 9, The Statesman sat down for an exclusive interview with Richard L. McCormick, the Interim President of Stony Brook University.
The interview was wide-ranging; topics discussed included McCormick’s background, how the University plans to address its aging facilities, the school’s stance on free speech amid the arrests of pro-Palestine demonstrators on two separate occasions during the spring 2024 semester and how he plans to guide the school’s academic growth during his time at Stony Brook.
The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
The Statesman: Tell me about yourself and your background.
McCormick: I spent most of my life on public university campuses. I grew up at Rutgers University, where my father was a member of the faculty. I went away to college and graduate school and to my surprise, returned to Rutgers, this time as a faculty member, where I served for 16 years. During the time I was there, I published some books, became department chair [of history] and at a fairly young age became the dean of Art and Sciences, which I loved.
Later, I became provost at the University of North Carolina [at] Chapel Hill, and then I became the president of the University of Washington. That was a challenging transition; the position of president has so many more constituencies and so many external responsibilities. I learned to do it fine, but there’s a learning curve.
After seven years at the University of Washington, I returned to Rutgers as president, where I served and stepped down as president in 2012, after 10 years. I then returned to the faculty at Rutgers, where I taught courses on American political history, specifically on the history of corruption.
The Statesman: What led you to take on the position of Interim President at Stony Brook?
McCormick: The position had me intrigued. Everybody knows this is a terrible time to be a University President, amid opposition to higher education, protests on campus and unsolvable problems. My wife came here first; she accepted a position as the director of development for the School of Communication and Journalism. She’s been here since last March, and I got to know the University through her. Sometime after [former President] Maurie McInnis resigned, the Chancellor of the State University of New York (SUNY) system, John B. King, Jr., inquired to Stony Brook’s administration about who they thought would make a good interim president.
My wife heard about the position and was asked if I’d be interested, to [which] she replied that she didn’t know. Eventually, the chancellor called me, and I told him I would be interested. I kind of had an itch to get back to higher education leadership, and I knew through my wife that Stony Brook was a really great place.
The Statesman: What are your biggest goals while serving as interim president — what would you like to see accomplished during your tenure?
McCormick: We are a fine university, we have fine research facilities, but we have an opportunity to be great. We need to make significantly more investments in research facilities, and shared resources for researchers and we need to do a lot more to stimulate interdisciplinary research. Most important problems in the world, such as climate change, can only be solved through interdisciplinary research. They’re transcendent issues, and so we need to do more to encourage research across the disciplines and teaching that way too. I’m particularly interested in inspiring more collaboration between the researchers on the East campus studying health sciences and those on the West campus.
The second area I want to focus on is our facilities on campus. The College of Business in Harriman Hall looks like a high school that was built in the 1960s and hasn’t been cared for since. The School of Social Welfare [is] all on one floor, and it’s not in good shape. The School of Dental Medicine has been in the same temporary facilities for the past 51 years. We have two billion dollars in deferred maintenance.
We can’t solve this problem without extra support from the New York State government and SUNY [system], and to some extent, private partners as well. We have submitted information to New York State for our top four priorities for new facilities, and we’ve given them a great deal of information about the resources we need. I’ve had two conversations with Governor Kathy Hochul, and she came to campus when the flooding took place in mid-August. I have invited her back, and I hope she will come to campus again.
The Statesman: On the topic of facilities, I would like to ask you about the Southampton Campus in particular. Southampton has received significant criticism in the past, particularly on the physical state of the campus and the University not upholding a promise it made under former President Samuel Stanley’s administration to restore Southampton Hall, the centerpiece of the campus. What is your response to those criticisms, and do you have a plan to improve the state of that campus?
McCormick: I think the criticism is justified. There are a bunch of buildings that aren’t even usable, and they need to be torn down. Wendy Pearson, Stony Brook’s vice president for Strategic Initiatives, is serving as the Executive Director for Stony Brook Southampton. She has a comprehensive plan for addressing the issues with that campus; some are financial, some have to do with relations with the local community [and] some have to do with the inadequacy of student facilities and support.
There was a long stretch of time this summer when the only food for purchase on the Southampton campus was from vending machines. So I’m very committed to addressing the problems with the Southampton campus.
Recently, Pearson laid out a very impressive agenda of things that Stony Brook needs to live up to its responsibilities in Southampton. First of all, we’ve got to get some dining facilities. We’ve got to get some more academic programs out there. In a different vein, we have to build a new hospital. Southampton Hospital is there, but it’s an old, decrepit building. There are plans underway to raise money to replace that hospital with multiple new hospitals.
The Statesman: Let’s turn to controversies surrounding free speech that have come up on campus. You sent out an email highlighting policies regarding demonstrations and free speech in mid-August. Why did you feel the need to send that message out?
McCormick: Because we anticipate, like university campuses all over the country have, that there will be protests this year. If all the future protests that occurred were peaceful, then that would be wonderful. But, things may get rough again, and if that occurs, we will try everything to de-escalate the situation. If students are making more noise than they should, if they’re blocking entrances to buildings, if they’re interfering with somebody else’s gathering, we will make every effort to dissuade them from doing so.
Arresting students would be my last resort. I’ve never had to do that. I think I would collapse in tears if I had to, so I’ll do everything I can to prevent that.
I wasn’t here on May 1, but the administration then went through several steps to avoid arrests. They told the protesters to please leave, please make way for the students who reserved the Staller Steps. And the students who didn’t move basically agreed that they wanted to be arrested. I hope that doesn’t happen again.
The Statesman: Divestment from Israel was one of the top demands from the protestors and continues to be today. Is this something Stony Brook would ever consider?
McCormick: There is nothing to divest from. We have no investments in Israel. For example, I have a pension through the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America. I don’t know what they invest that money into. I don’t buy my stocks directly; someone from the company does it. And there may be some investments in Israel. It’s the same through Stony Brook. We don’t directly invest in Israel or anything else; there’s a process for doing so, much like a mutual fund. So there are no direct investments in Israel to divest from.
We do have academic collaborations with universities in Israel. They aren’t particularly prominent compared to some other countries, but we aren’t giving them up. If a faculty member wants to go to a conference, they could do that. It would be a terrible infringement on freedom to say to a student: you can go and have a study abroad semester, but you can’t go to Israel. What do you say to a faculty member? ‘Thank you for doing collaborative research, but you can’t do it because you want to go to Israel?’
The Statesman: During a faculty senate meeting last semester that took place after the arrests on May 1, there were a lot of concerns brought up about the division of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and its role on campus. What are your thoughts on those criticisms?
McCormick: My thoughts are that ERM is invaluable. It includes our police department, which of course keeps us safe. It includes some information-gathering about people, let’s say for example in New York City, that intend to stir up trouble on the Stony Brook campus. They rightly keep track of that stuff.
I am familiar with the concerns about ERM, and I have satisfied myself that the concerns are exaggerated. They keep us all safe. There are risks to safety. We have a very divisive presidential election less than four weeks away, and it has led people to be very divided and that could cause issues. And ERM is here to keep us safe, they aren’t spying on students or faculty. They are there when safety is a risk.
The Statesman: You said that ERM isn’t using its information-gathering arm on students or faculty. What exactly is it surveying, then?
McCormick: ERM’s top priority is campus safety in all its forms which requires us to be in a position to prepare and anticipate any category of threat, everything from severe weather to mental health crisis and active shooters. ERM maintains active awareness of what is being made public on social media. Doing so allows them, for example, to help a student who may be showing signs of mental distress through posts on social media which in these cases is often brought to our attention by a concerned friend or parent. ERM would be remiss if they didn’t respond to messages on open source channels that pose a threat to our campus or community members.
The Statesman: Turning back to general University affairs — you mentioned earlier that support from SUNY and the New York State government was crucial to the growth of the University. How is progress coming on getting that support?
McCormick: Well, I guess you could say that we’re near the beginning of that conversation. We’re hoping to alert people within SUNY and New York State to Stony Brook’s needs, and we’re in the process of seeking a meeting with Carl Heastie, the speaker of the New York State Assembly, to try and make it clear that new buildings and repairing the buildings we already have are our top priority.
When Governor Hochul came to visit after the flash flooding took place, I had sort of a sidebar conversation with her and invited her to come back. She said something pleasant, like what a governor would say but didn’t promise anything. If she comes back, we’d love to show her a few of our buildings and make our case to her. Tell her that you designated us a flagship university, but we can’t be a flagship in these buildings.
The Statesman: During your State of the University address, you mentioned that you wanted to improve Stony Brook’s academic strengths in the arts and humanities. Stony Brook has always had a reputation as a very STEM-heavy institution. Is this something you would like to change, to make our reputation more about general academic excellence rather than being so focused on STEM?
McCormick: I don’t want to change our reputation for excellence in the STEM fields. I’m proud of our strengths in engineering, medicine, physics, chemistry and mathematics. But I want to make sure that we don’t neglect the humanities, the arts and the social sciences. A great university has to be great in those fields.
If people think we are a very STEM-focused university, that’s good. I want them to think that. But, I also want students to be able to take outstanding courses in other fields. My own field is history. I also want to make sure they have outstanding opportunities in history, English, linguistics and music — those are all great subjects.
The Statesman: Given that your position is temporary, what are your plans for when your time as interim president ends?
McCormick: Well, I hope the search for a permanent president takes a while. I like it here. I like going to work every day, and I will respond to these challenges until my time here is up. I worked as a university professor, so I will probably do that for a few more years.
I don’t have to do that in New Jersey, though I could if I wanted to, I wouldn’t be a full member of the faculty — I’d be retired. But my daughter is in school here. My wife is employed here, and it’s certainly possible that we can stay here. I can’t say that we have decided yet.
