Dean Rodney Smolla named new president of Furman

On December 15, 2009, over 300 students, faculty, staff and friends of the university crowded into Younts Conference Center to welcome attorney and Washington and Lee School of Law Dean Rodney Smolla as the new President of Furman University. Retiring President David Shi was on hand to congratulate his successor for attaining what he called "the best job in education." Smolla will become only the 11th president in Furman's 184 year history when he assumes office on July 1.

"Furman may not be my life's alma mater, but it is now my life's cause," said Smolla, who graduated from Yale in 1975 and Duke Law School in 1978.

In his wide-ranging address Smolla quoted the Apostle Paul, Irish rock band U2, writer John Milton and American "philosopher" Yogi Berra. He recited the university's proud history and shared his vision of Furman as a "community bound by a shared aspiration to lead what Teddy Roosevelt called the strenuous life - to lead lives of intellectual vigor and moral compass."

Smolla himself has led a strenuous life - first as a football admit to Yale, then graduating first in his class from Duke. He has taught law at more than a half dozen universities, was the law school dean at both the University of Richmond and Washington and Lee. He is one of the country's foremost legal experts on First Amendment issues. One of his most notable cases, later turned into the movie "Deliberate Intent," starring Timothy Hutton as Smolla, involved a suit against the publishers of "Hit Men," a book that gave advice to murderers.

Smolla said he was moved to apply for Furman's top position after visiting the university with his stepson Miles last year.

"When you as a parent start to visit and come to orientation and so on, you get to know a lot about it," he said. "The values of Furman seemed to be very much my own values."

For his own part, Miles Taylor, now a freshman economics major, said, "I'm really happy for him. I think he's happy to be somewhere where he can make a difference."

Smolla was chosen after a months long search process that whittled down a pool of 80 applicants to 13 semi-finalists. Three finalists then each visited Furman in early December. During his visit, Smolla answered questions from groups of staff, students and faculty in public forums.

"One of the things I won't do is take a specific stand on pending policy issues. That's not the right style," he said in response to a question about Furman's new integrity pledge. "Any new president comes into the ongoing conversation and listens and talks and gradually takes positions, but the whole idea of being a democratic leader is not like running for political office where you have a platform."

Despite this view, Smolla's answers gave some insight into the perspective he will bring to the presidency.

To the students, he said, "On a certain level, this is all about you. This gorgeous campus, all of the dedicated faculty who teach these courses, the tremendous support staff, the people from past generations who have given money, served on alumni associations and boards and have come back for reunions and transcend generations and geography; all of that has been put together to create a great experience for you for your four years here."

"Yet," he continued, "the secret to the good life, the core value that is at the center of Furman's mission, is to help you realize, deep in your hearts, that it is not all about you."

When asked what he would want to change, Smolla said "In a large part the new president's job would be to not mess it up. The place has a strong sense of its identity and its values and that should be kept."

However, he did name increasing Furman's diversity, including international students, improving its visibility around the country and building the endowment as areas in which he felt there was a consensus in which to move forward.

Smolla also fielded questions about tuition rates, saying "It's improbable to me that American universities can continue to hike tuitions at the rate of two percent plus the cost of living indefinitely. I think the country's maxed out."

In confronting questions of Furman's religious heritage and the moral atmosphere of the campus, Smolla said that he was "on the side of pluralism, but not on the side of sterile secularism."

"It is part of Furman's mission to nourish the spirit, but not to be spiritual," he said. "Institutionally, we can have moral values that aren't connected with any religious tradition," including sustainability.

As for Furman's alcohol policy, Smolla said in a follow-up interview that he did not want to influence the current debate.

"Whatever comes of the discussions this spring, I have no doubt that this will not be the end of them," he said. "It would be disrespectful to the process to weigh in on them."

Smolla will be coming to Furman every few weeks until he moves permanently in June in order to familiarize himself with the administration and issues facing Furman.