The Statesman sat down with Interim President Richard L. McCormick for an exclusive interview on Thursday, April 24.

Interview topics included the University’s responses to ongoing political events, particularly federal funding cuts to research and the dismantling of the Department of Education, recent on-campus events and the conclusion of his term as interim president. 

The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 

The Statesman: How have you been lately, especially as many campus traditions are occurring this spring semester?

McCormick: I love the spring semester at colleges and universities because there’s the improvement of the weather and students are out on campus. 

I was walking around a good deal [on Wednesday, April 23], and the Staller Steps were full of  students, some were studying, some were playing Frisbee. Spring is great, and it brings a lot of traditional things intrinsic to higher education. It’s a time of year to celebrate who we are — especially our graduating students — but more broadly, to celebrate the kind of institution that we [are].

At the same time, it has been a difficult semester because the new initiatives coming from the federal government have been harmful. Stony Brook hasn’t been hurt nearly to the extent that some of the elite private universities such as Harvard University, Columbia University and John Hopkins University were, but we have felt some of those changes. 

As of [Wednesday, April 23], we have 17 faculty members who have lost their funding and the University has lost at least one grant. When a faculty member loses a grant that affects the graduate students, it affects the postdoctoral fellows who are in his or her lab. 

We are preparing to provide emergency funding for as many of those as we can. Even if we’re not hit the way Columbia University or Harvard University is, these are real people whose careers are in jeopardy because of the federal cuts. Imagine if you were a second-year graduate student and your mentor lost funding, your funding would be gone too. It’s a serious thing. 

With respect to other changes, Stony Brook is not abandoning its commitment to opportunity and access. We couldn’t if we wanted to, it’s who we are as a university. The only thing that we’re doing in response to the federal government’s concerns about those things is making sure that there are no programs that are racially exclusive. 

If it’s an opportunity, it has to be available to everyone, not based on race. I don’t think we have any programs like that. But, if we did, we would have to broaden them to admit everyone. Other than that, we’re not making changes to what we believe and at the heart of what we believe is access and opportunity for everyone. 

SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. has a phrase that he’s used often, “There will be no anticipatory overcompliance,” meaning, “Don’t go taking websites down because you think you might be ordered to do so.” We’re going as though we believe what we believe … not in anticipatory overcompliance. 

Some universities have completely sacked their [diversity, equity and inclusion] programs, fired a bunch of people, taking all that stuff off their website — we’re not doing that. 

The Statesman: You signed a letter, alongside many other university presidents, recently condemning the actions of President Donald J. Trump with regards to cutting federal funding for research. What compelled you to sign the letter?

McCormick: The same reason that compelled the other 200 or so presidents to sign it. 

These reductions in support for research pose serious threats to one of our University’s core missions, which is the creation of new knowledge and the use of that knowledge to benefit the economy, healthcare and everything we value. For 80 years, there has been a compact between the federal government of the United States and research universities: investing in research to be done at those universities and every conceivable field of science, and to some extent social sciences, has benefited our economy and healthcare.

The Statesman: You mentioned that this semester has been a little difficult. What are your thoughts on other situations happening around campus, such as the 11 students’ visas being terminated as well as the pro-Palestine protests and the Graduate Student Employees Union protests? 

McCormick: We’re very alarmed about the students that have lost their visas. It’s 11 so far at Stony Brook. As far as we know, they’re all still in the United States and they’re all free to continue their education. (As of Monday, April 28, those 11 international students’ visas have been reinstated). 

We are trying to provide them with resources to make sure that they have at least the minimum they need [to stay afloat]. We’re looking out for them. We’re concerned about them. They are our students. We believe in them and we’re going to protect and support them. 

Last spring, there were significant [pro-Palestine] protests that led to some arrests both in late March and on May 1. This year has been very different. 

Their passions are just as strong. People feel just as strongly about events in the Middle East as they did before. But, the protests have been within the bounds of our rules. 

We spent a lot of time last summer, [and] I take no credit for it because it was underway before I got here as interim president, looking through all of the rules and regulations regarding the protection of free speech and the rules that you have of what you can say and want. You can say something that I don’t like. You can even say something that I find offensive, but you can’t prevent me from doing what I came to Stony Brook University to do.

We’ve publicized [these policies throughout the academic] year again and again, and happily, people have followed the rules. There has been no occasion for arrests. 

One incident occurred in November: a banner was flung over a building for a while. It was taken down pretty quickly. We tried to find the person who did it, but we could not. That was a violation of the rules. We don’t know who perpetrated it so until we find out, there’s nothing we can do. 

As far as graduate students, I’m very sympathetic. The basic negotiations with the graduate students occur at the levels of SUNY, not at the level of Stony Brook University. In the last several years, Stony Brook has … voluntarily increased support for graduate students. 

It’s not enough. This is an expensive place to live. Housing is especially expensive and we sometimes lose graduate students who want to come here but can’t afford to live near Stony Brook. 

We have, within the bounds of our [University] budget, addressed it repeatedly and we will again. I don’t blame graduate students for being concerned. They have rent to pay, bills to pay and in some cases families to support.

The Statesman: How is the University going to be able to handle all of these multiple, equally pressing issues at once?

McCormick: I’m pretty proud of the way we’ve handled them so far. 

I think we’re coping well. Certainly the protests have been in hand. They’ve been all law abiding and we’re responding as best as we can to the federal threats. 

Our Vice President for Research Kevin Gardner has a weekly town hall online that has had around 400 faculty and staff members joining, and he was focused mainly on the threats to research and what we’re doing. 

Of course, we’re not suffering nearly as much as some universities are, with Columbia University and Harvard University being the best examples. 

I take pride in our effective responses to the challenges we’re facing. 

The Statesman: Another point of great concern with the Trump administration is the threat to dismantle the Department of Education. How would such dismantling impact us?

McCormick: We are concerned about that as well. 

The Department of Education is responsible for one of the most important things in higher education and that’s loans and grants like the Federal Pell Grant Program. With so many employees having been laid off there, we are wondering whether our students will get the Pell Grants that they’ve earned? Will they get the federal loans that they’ve applied for?

We’ve been assured that those programs are not under threat. But we’ll see. 

The Statesman: How would the Department of Education’s layoffs impact the University in regards to the Office of Financial Aid and the University Registrar?

McCormick: It’ll have a big impact. If students are unable to get their federal loans or get the resources associated with their Pell Grants, that will have a huge impact on the students but also on us. They won’t have the money to pay us. 

Let’s take the Trump administration at its word that these federal aid programs will continue but at a slowed pace. We will do everything we can to protect students. We will think the money’s coming, you can enroll in classes and we’ll wait for the money. 

We are not going to throw students out of school because through no fault of their own, they failed to get the money from the Department of Education. 

The Statesman: You also announced a revamped version of the University’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Board in an email sent on April 2, why?

McCormick: ADA is 35 years old, but it’s recently been significantly upgraded. 

Over the years, we had an ADA advisory committee, including faculty, staff and students. It has done a lot of work to improve accessibility of things like parking, elevators and websites so people with disabilities can have the same access as everybody else. 

There are new rules affecting digital accessibility, so everything that appears on a university website has to be accessible to a disabled person. That means significant revisions of many websites are going to be carried out at Stony Brook so that digital accessibility is the new standard. The deadline is April 2026 for that to go into effect. 

We need a new committee to advise us on how to make that happen. One has just been appointed or soon will be.

The Statesman: You mention a focus on digital accessibility, but what about concerns of physical accessibility on campus?

McCormick: We’ve been committed to that for a long, long time and we still are. 

If you or anyone is aware of a building or other facility that’s inaccessible to a disabled person, we want to know about it because that’s not appropriate. We have to fix it. Those commitments are longstanding. We maintain those commitments and then address digital accessibility as well. 

The Statesman: You mentioned in your State of the University address last semester that now is not a great time to be a university president because there’s a lot of struggles. Since the University announced Andrea Goldsmith, the current dean for the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University, as the next university president, why are you still committed to addressing current issues when your term is ending Thursday, July 31?

McCormick: I believe so deeply in public higher education. 

For my whole adult life, I’ve been at public research universities. I’ve been at Rutgers University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Washington, I’ve been back to Rutgers and now here I am at Stony Brook. 

I’m not a religious person, but the closest thing I have to religion is a belief in the multiple missions of institutions like Stony Brook. I jumped at the chance to be an interim president. 

I’m too old to be a real president, but I’m not too old to be an interim president. I said when I took the position, my title will be interim president, but I’m going to be the president. By which I meant, I would not just keep the lights on and the trains running. I would look to the future even though I’m not going to be here for the future. 

You could say that as interim president, my time’s up July 31, and I shouldn’t think about anything beyond July 31. I do not agree with that. I want to be just as far-sighted as I would have been if I was the permanent president. 

The Statesman: Have you met Goldsmith yet?

McCormick: Yes. 

She is an extremely accomplished academic. She was part of the faculty at Stanford University for 21 years and now she’s the dean of engineering at Princeton University. She’s published hundreds of papers. She has two startup companies based on her own research and she sits on the board of three to four for-profit companies. She is as qualified as anyone could be to be president. 

Here’s what I like best: she’s a nice person. I think the president has to be a pleasant person, and this especially matters here at Stony Brook where there’s a culture of collaboration and people working together and people having each other’s backs.

The Statesman: What are you going to be doing after you leave the University?

McCormick: I have the privilege of still being a faculty member at Rutgers University. I’ve been on leave without salary this year because I’m working here, but [Friday,] Aug. 1, I’ll be back at Rutgers University as a faculty member teaching and writing. I’ll continue what I was doing before I came here. 

The Statesman: Have you started the transition process?

McCormick: [Goldsmith] and I are in email communication almost every day. I’m going down to New Jersey on [Monday,] May 12 to spend some time with her face-to-face, and I’ve also seen her face-to-face a number of times.

She’s being briefed not only by me but by lots of other people. There are many decisions in which she’s already engaged. This time of year is when we’re preparing our [University] budget for next year, hoping that the [New York State] legislature finishes its work and gives us a budget — she’s very much involved in those conversations.

The Statesman: Any words of advice that you would tell Goldsmith when she becomes president?

McCormick: Be far-sighted, look to the future. This university has been here since 1957 and it’s going to be here for a very long time. Planning for the future, planning for future excellence, planning for future distinction in research, making plans about its enrollment growth which means that we need more housing [are some words of advice I will make clear to her]. 

Another thing is that you’re becoming president of a university with a very special culture and community. They want to like their president: get out there, walk around, talk to students, staff and anyone you come upon and listen to them. 

The Statesman: How are you looking toward Commencement since it’s going to be your first and last one?

McCormick: I’m loving it. 

I love the pomp and circumstance of Commencement. It celebrates the students who are graduating, but as I said earlier, it also celebrates the University. This is Stony Brook University at its finest. We’re proud of those who are receiving their degrees today, and we’re proud of the institution that is granting them that degree. 

It’s appropriate to celebrate. In all walks of life, we celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, marriages and commencements. That’s just an important part of who we are. 

The Statesman: Is it appropriate to celebrate given the tumultuous time we are in?

McCormick: It is essential. We are who we are. There are tough times, especially from the federal government with particular challenges but we have to celebrate who we are. That’s who we intend to continue to be and we will surmount these challenges. 

It’s only by affirming what we believe and celebrating our institution that we can do that. Is bad stuff happening? Absolutely. But is there a great university to celebrate? Are there several thousand student graduates to celebrate? Absolutely, yes.