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OUDAILY
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OU WILL ADD PSYCHOLOGIST • 3
Boren suffers stroke at Stoops ceremony OU president recovers after medical mishap ANNA BAUMAN @annabauman2
OU officials have not released a plan moving forward as OU President David Boren recovers from
a minor stroke he suffered April 14. Boren spent the day undergoing tests at OU Medical Center, where it was determined he had suffered a minor stroke shortly after giving a speech around 10:45 a.m. at the statue unveiling for former OU coach Bob Stoops. Around 6 p.m., OU officials announced Boren was “in
good spirits” and eating dinner. The OU Public Affairs statement said Boren was transported to the hospital out of an “abundance of caution,” and thanked the OU doctors’ contemporary therapies and timely treatment for Boren’s condition. “He is alert and is communicating with family and his excellent team of
medical professionals at OU Medical Center,” the statement said. “President and Mrs. Boren deeply appreciate the outpouring of love and support they have received.” Boren began to slur his words and struggled to return to his seat see BOREN on Page 3
CAITLYN EPES/THE DAILY
OU President David Boren smiles at the “Salute to Stoops” event April 13. Boren suffered a minor stroke April 14 at a similar event before the spring game.
CAITLYN EPES/THE DAILY
OU President-designate James Gallogly speaks at the presidential announcement in the Molly Shi Boren ballroom March 26. Gallogly will take on the financial burdens of the university when he assumes the presidency July 1.
FINDING FUNDING OU President-designate James Gallogly will inherit financial troubles of university amid state budget crisis
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s OU President David Boren prepares to retire from his role at the head of OU, he leaves with one pressing concern left looming like a dark cloud over the university he has called home for over two decades: financial troubles. Oklahoma’s flagship university has seen its share of financial struggles during Boren’s time leading it, but when Presidentdesignate James Gallogly takes office July 1, he will inherit a university that finds itself on the brink of financial distress — something he may be uniquely equipped to handle. “I’m really concerned,” Boren said. “It’s like standing on the edge of a cliff — we’re getting closer to the edge of the cliff every year, and we run out of tricks. How many times can you offer people voluntary early retirement? How many times can you keep doing things to save money … We stretch every dollar that we can, and we’re out of tricks. We’re out of magic tricks. It’s like a cloud over the future of the university.” In the state ranked last in state funding for higher education, the university has taken a cut from the state legislature nearly every year in the past decade and beyond, according to the Oklahoma Regents for Higher Education. Higher education has seen such severe budget cuts that state allocations for fiscal year 2018 are $41.2 million less than they were in fiscal year 2001. “We’re operating the University of Oklahoma, in state funds, with the same amount we received approximately 20 years ago — how in the world can you do that?” Boren said. “There’s two or three thousand more students, they’re doing more programs than they have
ANNA BAUMAN • @ANNABAUMAN2 before — how can you pay the bills if you’re still getting what you got 20 years ago?” As state allocations have continued to shrink, Boren and his administration have implemented a variety of strategies to manage tight funds, including an increased reliance on private donations. The university has received around $3 billion in private donations over the course of Boren’s presidency, which he said was crucial for funding many of the programs and initiatives he spearheaded, such as endowed faculty positions, new and renovated buildings and additional academic programs. “Where would the university be without that $3 billion? What if we had just had to depend upon our state appropriations? We wouldn’t even be able to be a full comprehensive university,” Boren said. “We would not have the standards we have, we would not have the programs we have, we wouldn’t have the Honors College, we wouldn’t have the (National Merit) Scholars, we wouldn’t have the study abroad (programs), we wouldn’t have all of these things.” When Gallogly takes over as president, he will inherit a university in a budget crisis much like that of LyondellBasell in 2009, when he stepped into his role as CEO of the company. Then, Gallogly transformed the bankrupt company into one that would later become one of the nation’s top producers of plastics and chemicals. The journey to the top included 10 plant closures and 5,000 layoffs, according to a 2017 Houston Chronicle article. Some point to this success, as well as Gallogly’s 29-year career in the oil industry at ConocoPhillips and Chevron Phillips, as an
indicator he will bring valuable financial skills to the table. Nick Hathaway, OU’s vice president for strategic planning and administration and finance, said he thinks Gallogly is a proven strategist whose abilities in financial management will be beneficial. “Having experience in leading a very large organization through difficult times in the past I think will serve him well, and he can rely on those experiences and apply those skills to this situation,” Hathaway said. “One of the critiques it seems our critics would like to lobby toward higher education is that we’re not appropriately business-minded, and I think having someone with his background as our champion is actually going to be a really great voice with which to talk to our critics.” Ha t h aw a y s a i d h e t h i n k s Gallogly’s experience outside the realm of higher education gives him an outsider perspective that will challenge the administration to think beyond its previous strategies. “When you talk about building diverse teams and finding effective solutions, the strength of a diverse team is to bring people from different perspectives to find the best solution,” Hathaway said. “I think he’s going to challenge us with perspectives and ideas that maybe haven’t been sort of runof-the-mill kinds of ideas around here, and I’m sure some of those are going to be effective in maybe helping us move forward.” Beyond financial skills, Gallogly’s connections to the oil industry could also be helpful in finding funding. Many of the largest donations to OU come from donors in the oil industry, said Chandra Rai, director of the Mewbourne School of Petroleum
and Geological Engineering. Gallogly himself, who was involved in the largest one-day donation in university history, is no stranger to the importance of private giving. OU’s College of Engineering now bears his name, with a biomedical engineering school and a building to house it thanks to a joint $30 million donation from Gallogly and the Stephenson family in 2015. “This university … has received tremendous support from the oil industry,” Rai said. “The big donors to this university, not to this college, to this university — whether you take the residential hall or football club … I can keep going down and down the list — they’re all big contributions from oil companies. And everyone else is benefiting, everyone is benefiting. So if his connectivity can bring some funding, soft money as they call it, to the university, it will be good for everyone.” Due to Gallogly’s extensive career in one of the state’s largest and most economically viable industries, Rai said he thinks big donors could be just a phone call away from the former oil executive, something that could be necessary in light of a lack of state funding. “I don’t have any hope from the state. I have been over here for 20 years, and all these years I have seen the state contributions to higher education is going down and down and down, so I don’t see that trend changing,” Rai said. “This is a flagship university for the state of Oklahoma, so more resources anyone can garner is good for the university.” A critical component of development and fundraising is having connections to potential funding sources, Hathaway said. “If you already have established
relationships, then you’re ahead of the game,” Hathaway said. “I don’t know (Gallogly) that well, but my sense of him is that he’s got a lot of connections with people who could really help the university move forward.” Gallogly has shown early promise in this area already, having met with OU alumni in New York in early April and scheduled a similar meeting with Houston alumni later this month. Even with high expectations for Gallogly’s financial capabilities, Boren said the president’s role in recruiting funds is not always entirely effective, especially in terms of state funding. Despite great efforts on his part, including inviting each newly elected legislator to dinner at Boyd House and pouring a third of his life savings into a failed penny tax bill that would have increased education funding, Boren has not had success in getting the legislature to budge. “That’s unfortunately not under the control of the president of the university,” Boren said. “You can do what you can do … but you can only do so much, you can only do what you can, and I really tried.” In light of recent teacher walkouts and a revenue-raising measure to fund $6,000 teacher raises, Boren pointed to a glimmer of hope in the situation Gallogly is about to step into. “I wish (Gallogly) luck, I’ll just continue to try to help him in any way I can,” Boren said. “But I think that the tide is about to shift. I think the people of Oklahoma have had enough of us being last in all the things that matter and first in all the things we don’t want to be.” Anna Bauman
anna.m.bauman-1@ou.edu