Brody reflects on his years at Hopkins, decision to retire

By: Marie Cushing

Posted: 3/27/08

With word of his retirement making national news, University President William Brody was reminded of his 2005 statement to the News-Letter that when he retired, he would play in a piano bar. While no gig offers have come calling, Brody took some time to speak with the News-Letter to discuss his time at Hopkins.

The News-Letter: Now that you've announced your decision to retire, how are you feeling?
William Brody: I was originally pretty depressed to think about not being in my job at Hopkins. The more I get away from that emotion, the more comfortable I am with my decision. It's time. Twelve years has been great, but I haven't had any time to myself and I'd like to have a little flex time.

N-L: When did you decided to resign from the presidency?
WB: Specifically, about a week before I resigned. But when I took the job, I said I'm committed if the Board [of Trustees] wanted for 10 years. Then 10 became 11 ... At 12 years, the decision for me was whether to stay on for another five to seven for another [fundraising] campaign or let a new president come in and define the campaign goals. This is my second fundraising campaign at Hopkins. That's probably sufficient.

N-L: What reaction have you received?
WB: I've gotten lots of e-mails and letters from people saying, "Congratulations, it's been a great run" ... It's been heartwarming.

N-L: What was your impression of Hopkins when you were first approached about the presidency?
WB: My feeling was that Hopkins for undergraduate education was very much underappreciated and that there wasn't a sense of community. It always had a good academic reputation, but Hopkins was not one of the schools that competed at the very highest level for students ... I just thought there was a wonderful opportunity to really create a sense of community, in part by transforming the campus. I think architecture plays a very important role in how people think about themselves and their work. By moving into the Nichols House and being on campus, I think it created a different relationship between the President and the students.

N-L: What are you most proud of achieving at Hopkins?
WB: What I'm most proud of are the people that we've been able to recruit and attract. I think we have the best group of deans and the best group of administrative staff anywhere in the country. An organization only as good as the people you have and I think we created a world class team of people … The world doesn't see that. The world sees the impact. They see all the buildings, the transformation of Peabody and the Homewood campus, and now we'll be building the hospital in East Baltimore. Those things are only possible if you have good people.
People talk about how much money we've raised. It's not the money we raised; it's how well you spend the money, how well you invest the money you've raised and how well you put that money to good use. To do that you have to have good people. So in a way I'm most proud of the people. And the students. We have phenomenal students … Students have just done many things and its just incredible to see.

N-L: What was frustrating about the position?
WB: When you're president, everybody goes right to the top with their complaints, so you always hear the complaints. Whenever somebody has an issue, they think their issue is the most important thing to the University … I had some very unsavory e-mails from parents about mice in the dorm room. You have to deal with a lot of people who have issues.
The thing that was probably the most difficult for me was the death of the students, two students who were killed. You really take that personally because the students in many ways are like your children, even though we don't get to know a lot of individual students - we can't possibly know 4,000 undergraduate students …Whenever there is a tragedy, you really feel that personally. There's always a lot of backlash from parents who think you should have handled things differently. There was a lot of criticism. That was tough.

N-L: What helped you through it?
WB: I had a tremendous amount of support. A lot of students wrote wonderful letters and e-mails in support. My wife, my family and the people who work in my office and at Nichols House were extremely supportive and encouraging. They told me to keep going ... When things go wrong, you always doubt yourself … It's human nature and of course in our society the public wants to be critical too. If you look at [the shooting at] Virginia Tech, people were second guessing, saying the university president should have done this or that. The fact is that in a tragedy you take that all very personally.

N-L: Are there issues at Hopkins you wish you had confronted?
WB: There are probably hundred of issues. The trick in this job is focus and the trick in life is focus ... Somebody once told me you only have so many attention units. So the more you focus on one thing the more likely that one thing is going to get done. If you divide that focus over 20 things, you're less likely to get any one of those 20 things accomplished … You always have many more things you should do, or could do, then you have time to do them.
When I came in, the most important thing I saw for undergraduate education was creating a better sense community, making Hopkins a place with a stronger sense community and creating more interaction so it would be more attractive for students to come to Hopkins. We've outpaced all of our peers institutions in our growth in admissions. We've accomplished that, and it's now time to look at some other things we would like to do.

N-L: Do you think the University should officially divest from Sudan?
WB: You can't divest if you don't own anything. The University doesn't own anything in Sudan. There are no major corporations or minor corporations in Sudan that we would be invested in. It's very different from South Africa where there were companies - and I wasn't really around at the time - but we did have students involved in the committee that looked at our investments … In Sudan, it's sort of a non-investment issue, and we haven't been able to get that message across.
...We probably are invested in Coca Cola, I would guess, or in Pepsi-Cola or one of those companies. Should we not own stock in Pepsi-Cola because they sell in the Sudan? I think that gets to be too complicated. Should we invest in companies in Russia or China because they don't promote democracy? That's a broader issue.
N-L: Hopkins tuition has grown over the course of your presidency. Do you think you could have done more to make Hopkins affordable?
WB: Well if you look at our financial aid package, the net cost of coming to Hopkins has not grown. Yes, inflation has grown but the net cost - tuition minus financial aid - has remained competitive.
We're now in a very challenging situation because several universities like MIT and others have introduced much richer financial aid packages. They have endowment per student that dwarfs our endowment per student … I think that the big priority for the next campaign is trying to raise more resources for financial aid. I think it's critical.

N-L: Since you took office the endowment has nearly tripled, and many have credited you with this. What makes you a good fundraiser?
WB: [Laughs] It's a team effort. One thing that's different at Hopkins is, I'm not the only one doing fundraising. We have a whole team of people, including deans and faculty ... and a superb development organization. I enjoy fundraising because it's about connecting Hopkins to people who are passionate about something that Hopkins is doing.
...It's about connecting. A number of times I go talk to somebody who, let's say, runs a large foundation and has a lot of money. They say "Well, Bill, you're wasting your time. Hopkins is not of interest to our foundation or to me. We're not going to give Hopkins any money." I actually like to hear that. Then it becomes a challenge.
…The most moving gift I got was for 10 or 15 dollars. There was a man who had cancer who was hospitalized at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was in and out of the hospital and eventually died. His son, who I think was about 11 years old, was so impressed with the care his father got and was so compassionate that he took his life savings, which was 10 or 15 dollars, and donated it to the cancer center. We found out that the son loved play lacrosse and was great Blue Jays fan. We called up lacrosse coach Dave Petramila and he invited the son to a game, to sit on bench and made him the honorary captain of the team, had him into locker room, gave him a jersey. That's what it's all about.

N-L: What do you plan to do now?
WB: I don't know. It's kind of scary. I've never been a situation where I haven't had a job or hadn't known what I was going to do next. So I'm going to take some time and think about what I'm going to do in the next phase of my life … I'm planning on staying in Baltimore. I have some books I want to write and a bunch of things I'm going to get done.

N-L: Will you still play a role at Hopkins?
WB: I'll always be involved in Hopkins one way or another. The question is, what is the role? When new president comes I will be as far away as I can be because I don't want to interfere … For a year or so I'll stay away. Depending on whether or not I've taking on something full time or not, I might work at Hopkins. Maybe I will help out with the international programs … Right now I'm noncommittal.

N-L: Have you given any thought as to who you would like to see as the next president of Hopkins?
WB: No. I'll completely stay out of it. I just want somebody who can figure out the next steps for Hopkins and take the University to the next level. I think it's a very attractive position and hopefully it will attract the right person … My personal view is the person is more important than the background but I will leave that up to the search committee.

N-L: Do you have advice for your successor?
WB: Enjoy the ride. Attract the best and brightest people around you. Consult widely with the Hopkins community, because there are lots of bright people with great ideas.
The best piece of advice was what Michael Bloomberg told me when he stepped down as chair [of the Board of Trustees], which was "Brody, don't screw it up." Whoever comes in next, don't screw it up.