The following interview with Boston University President ad interim Aram Chobanian was conducted on Sunday, April 18 by Daily Free Press Associate News Editor Chris Gaylord and News Editor Patrick Gillooly.

DFP: First off, how do you think that you would define the role of the president of the university?

Chobanian: I think the president has to be the chief operating officer, which includes being the chief academic officer and also being the one who ultimately reports to the Board [of Trustees] on financial affairs as well. So, it’s really both aspects – business aspects as well as the academic aspects.

DFP: The new chairman of the Board of Trustees, Alan Leventhal, called [recent board changes] a “national model.” How do you think these changes are going to affect the university?

Chobanian: I think that it will have, really, a major effect on how the university board functions and the governance of the institution. It really is a milestone in the progression of this university and I think, probably, a landmark occasion, where we have restricted many aspects of the board and that includes the size and the turnover of the board, and the term limits that came up have to do with that. In addition, to make certain that there is a change in leadership of each of the committees and the board itself. So, not only are there term limits for the total length of time on the board, but a person can only serve six years maximum as a chair of a committee. Now none of this means that people would be kicked off. They can come back to be chairs of committees or come back or go on to be other chairs of other committees. In addition, they can come back on the board after a two-year hiatus. The whole aspect of the conflict-of-interest issues is really that conflict is not allowed under the new governance rules. And a conflict is defined by something that doesn’t have exceedingly unusual situations that directly benefit the university. And so I think it’s a model. It’s about as strict as one can get. It goes beyond what the [federal] Sarbanes-Oxley [Act of 2002] recommendations have been for corporate entities. But we are looking ahead to the future, where there will be more and more toughening up of conflict-of-interest rules. Current rules, which were only established less than two years ago, are very competitive with what’s out there. But we thought that we want to send a message to the community.

DFP: Just a follow up, I guess. With the new rules in place, do you think that there were practices done in the past? I mean, I was looking at some 990s, [non-profit tax filing forms], for 2001 now, and that said certain trustees got money for certain things. Do you think under these new rules those sort of things wouldn’t be allowed if they were done now?

Chobanian: I think each rule needs to be looked at individually. Most of the 990 numbers that you allude to were not for direct conflict. They relate to the issues, that if you really looked at them carefully they did not have much to do with anything in terms of the trustees. I mean, for example, Melvin Miller’s relationship with Boston Medical Center. I know that relationship very well. Mel is down for having a conflict of over $10 million where he is a trustee of both institutions. Well, we put that into the 990 because if you look at the 990s very strictly, you’re supposed to put that there, but most institutions would not include that. That same goes with the Barnes ‘ Noble relationship. Just because all of you buy books from the BU bookstore, and Barnes ‘ Noble happens to own that, doesn’t mean there is a conflict with our trustee who’s a vice president of Barnes ‘ Noble. Most of the situations in there are like that. The audit committee that will be there will be defining what the exceptional circumstance would be that would greatly benefit the university. And not individually benefit the person that seemingly would have been a conflict.

DFP: A number of deans have resigned and there has been a change of presidents from Silber as the chancellor over to you. What do you plan to do to reassure people considering BU, both professors and faculty, in light of a recent New York Times article and from other pieces that have criticized BU.

Chobanian: If you look at the deans’ resignations, most of them have been because of circumstances that have been present, whether or not there was a change in leadership. I can’t say that all of them have because I don’t know that. But I know in my case certainly that there was no question as to why it happened. [Sargent College of Health and Rehabilition Sciences Dean Alan] Jette had already expressed his desire to leave the job so that he could do research. He has been getting much, much more involved in the search committee. So there’s always a turn over at an institution, and a very good academic institution is going to be a place where other academic institutions are going to want to do some cherry plucking and come in a try to get our best people from here. And I think it’s healthy for every academic institution to have turnover. With the Board of Trustees you should have a turnover. I personally did not think the dean of the medical school should stay on much longer, and even though I did not plan to retire directly, I thought it was a good time for me to leave because it was time to bring in fresh blood to renew the campus.

DFP: Specifically regarding your term as president, the ad hoc Committee on Governance’s report said that the new presidential search timetable would be hatched out during your October meeting. Originally [Former Trustee Vice-Chair] Dexter Dodge said that it might be done over the summer, but everything has kind of been pushed back. How long do you think you are going to stay on as President ad interim? And I guess how long do you want to stay on?

Chobanian: Well, the reason I took this job was to see that the university stabilized itself and that I provided leadership until the time that it was appropriate of the university and the Trustees to search for another person. That hasn’t changed at all. The title of ad interim was really one of my choice of the beginning of all this. I don’t think it matters in terms of the title of all. I had been given full reign in running the university. I don’t feel a deficit in that regard. As to the time frame, I can tell you that at present it will be more, probably more than what was originally intended. And I think the whole reason for that is to see that all the governance changes had been put in place – that we had done the things that would be necessary to get us to the next stage of the university’s search.

DFP: One thing which you said in an earlier interview with us is that you plan to get students more involved in the university. What steps have to taken to ensure students are more involved, and have they worked?

Chobanian: A few steps that are obvious, I think, are that we have established some committees that involve students to deal with student problems. The cable issue is one. Our dean of students, Ken Elmore, has really reached out to the students in a way that was not present before. I have been supporting that with him. I feel that it is very important for us to do that. I have started interacting with students in as many ways as I can. If I’m invited to a student event, unless I have a problem with it in my schedule with a pre-existing commitment, I try very hard to attend. I have had, as you know, some student breakfasts and will continue to do that. I think, more and more, I want to see the students as a part our active constituency here because, as a university, we are built on the shoulders of the faculty and the students, not on the buildings themselves. But those are the two primary constituencies that we have here.

DFP: One thing we discussed when we spent that day together was that during the Faculty Assembly meeting they brought up benefits for faculty same-sex partners. With gay marriage being legalized on May 17, do you feel like the university is going to take any steps toward giving benefits to same-sex partners.

Chobanian: Certainly if the law changes then it won’t be an issue in terms of giving benefits there. We are, though, looking at this. The process has been put into play. So I think it will take a little time to work our way through this. But we are looking at this very seriously.

DFP: Another thing you had said in an earlier interview was that from time to time you may ask for [President emeritus John] Silber’s advice on issues. Have you done this? And what has he said?

Chobanian: I ask for his advice frequently. We have meetings together. He is an unusual resource of information. He’s not only brilliant, but he has had the history of this institution that I have not had. I have a history of the medical campus, but here I took on the job with less information then I might have liked. So Dr. Silber has been a very important advisor to me.

DFP: I’m sure you saw The Boston Globe Magazine about a week or so ago about “Why can’t BU be better?” But the endowment has always been a question at the university. For our size, a lot of people say it is too small. What have you been doing, or what has the university been doing in general, to make the endowment grow?

Chobanian: Well, growing the endowment is a long-term proposition. When Dr. Silber took over the university, the endowment was less than $20 million. And now it is over $700 million. That’s not bad for growth. We started off with very little. As you look at the course of the endowment growth over the course of that 33-year or so period, there’s been very good growth. Now during the bubble period with the stock market, in 2002 particularly, there was a decrease in the endowment. But it has come back halfway and we are over $700 million. The way to build an endowment is with gifts. There’s no real secret with it. So you go out there and you do the best you can to obtain more gifts. Some of the gifts come from trustees, so you want to make sure there are enough trustees on the board who have both connections and financial commitments of their own. Some come from corporations, foundations, alumni and even some faculty. I think the endowment growth will come. There is now a strong development office here under Vice President [for Development and Alumni Relations] Christopher Reaske’s leadership and I think we are well poised to get to the next phase, which will be to start a $1 billion campaign.

DFP: Do you think that, specifically regarding fundraising this year, that things are going better than in past years and do you think we are going to break the mark set last year of $100 million?

Chobanian: It’s not clear, as yet. The mark last year of $100 million took into consideration a large gift from Procter ‘ Gamble for transfer of patents. It was a gift in kind, you see. If you eliminate that single gift, which is somewhere between $15 and $20 million evaluation, we will be ahead of that.

DFP: Ahead of what?

Chobanian: Well we, we may break $100 million. It is not clear. There are some major gifts out there that we are working on. At this stage, it is very difficult to be sure. It’s only when you close out your books, and we still have a little over two-and-a-half months left to go. I think we are doing well. The actual cash gifts are up from last year – cash gifts from individuals and…

DFP: Do you have any reason why that might be so – that the cash gifts are up. Do people pretty much feel a great connection to the university and alumni are, well, alumni used to leave and say. “Oh, I hated that place, I don’t want to giving money to it.” And now small gifts are up, so, do you feel that…

Chobanian: I hope that more alumni are interested in contributing, but I think primarily the hard work that the developing office is doing. Getting gifts is not a one-shot kind of proposition. You have to work with potential donors – if they are large gifts in particular, you have to work for a long time for those. So I think it certainly reflects their work. On the other hand, it indicates that despite the unfavorable publicity that we had over the past year, that somehow, people are not paying too much attention to that.

DFP: When you moved over from being provost of the medical campus and dean of the medical school to president of the university, what do you think was the biggest shock from moving from one post to another.

Chobanian: I don’t think I could say there was one big shock. It was one large shock [laughter] of going from a job that I knew very well and had been doing for a long time to one that I understood very little and had been doing for no time [laughter] and only had two days preparation. In addition, over a short period of time, we also had issues of moving. And my wife, who is usually very flexible person, decided along with me that it would be best to move right away. So, in the middle of my first two weeks, we decided to move as well and try to figure out how we would be able to find anything that we had moved to this home at Sloane House rather than what we had in Natick, and have not left our house in Natick completely, certainly. We’ll be keeping that for the future.

DFP: What kind of person or personality trait or experience do you think the next president of Boston University should have?

Chobanian: I think that’s something that the search committee, as they develop their plans, will have to line up. So it would be presumptuous to define the qualities of that person at this time.

DFP: Do you have any advice you would like to give the next president of the university?

Chobanian: If I am asked for advice, I will give it.

DFP: What is the greatest challenge you have faced as president?

Chobanian: Well, I think there have been several challenges. In running a large university like this that has a limited endowment, one of the major challenges will have to be financial, and how do we balance the budget without putting too much burden on the backs of the students and tuition? Truly, that is the most important challenge, and it is not unique to this institution. The other challenge is – there are many certainly – to quiet things down so people have more confidence in the university. Get it off the front pages, although we have not totally been able to do that. To make the faculty feel like the place is running well, to make the students similarly feel that this is a good place for them and to continue the momentum that we have developed. The last thing I would have wanted to do, taking this job, is to sit back and wait until someone else came into it. That is not part of my style or personality. I took it with all intent of taking it and moving it forward. There are many challenges. Now, the whole business of governance with the trustees, I think it was a challenge for them, but since I am a member of the Board of Trustees, I felt it was also a challenge for myself in helping in that process.

DFP: I know that in the past, you have said about cable and the Guest Policy that you will just make the final decision on recommendations that are left to you. More along the cable line, are there any real physical or philosophical impediments to really stop cable from coming to campus in the fall?

Chobanian: Philosophically, I don’t have a problem in terms of having cable in the dormitories. I personally don’t think it’s a great idea to have everyone pay and have cable in their rooms. I think in many cases, first of all, it’s a waste of their money and probably a waste of their time watching it. However, that can be a personal decision in the end. I think, however, that it would be important for individuals if they want to view cable in common rooms and areas like that to be able to do so. There are some physical issues involved in terms of getting cable into the dormitories and how long that would take. Not all the dormitories, as you know, have cable access as yet, and I don’t know yet what the problems are for each of those. I know in some cases that it would not be a difficult task, and in other cases it might be. That’s why we’re looking at this carefully and looking at the costs of doing it – particularly the costs to students, because I am very sensitive of that.

DFP: What do you plan to do to attract top talent, both on the faculty and student level?

Chobanian: I think pretty much what we are doing currently. Go after the best people and you try to compete aggressively for them. With faculty, we are still recruiting very top-notch individuals to head departments. And I see those that come through – I don’t see every faculty member that comes through, but I look at all the ones that are being appointed as new faculty members. And I must say, I don’t see any decrease in the quality at all. With respect to students, the current freshman class is an unusually good group. Even in the adverse environment, with negative publicity, it seems as if we are doing very well. We’ll continue that process, and our admissions office is doing a great job in that regard. And particularly, we are doing a good job when our students come here to give them an idea that this is a great place to be. This weekend, I was around a couple of the places where accepted students were looking over the institution as a possible place to be, and I must say I was pleased by the how the student guides were working with the students. The student reactions to student applicants are very important to the institution and that’s another reason why the administration has to work closely with the students. We can’t have two different silos there.

DFP: Something that’s definitely going to be attracting new students is the new [John Hancock Student] Village, which will be completed next year. You are a pretty big sports fan, and obviously we are excited, but how are you feeling about the [Agganis] Arena opening?

Chobanian: Oh, I think it’s great. It will be wonderful for everyone on campus – not just students, but faculty and administration. I think it sets a tone for the activities on campus. It’s a beautiful facility, both internally and externally. It opens its arms almost to people who want to go there and to do different things, whether it’s intramural or out there for a while shooting a few baskets or playing a little squash or whatever. It is going to be a major addition to the campus.

DFP: What do you plan to do after being president?

Chobanian: Well, I plan to do what I was planning on doing before, which was to go back to some teaching, some research, some mentoring of faculty and researchers particularly. Perhaps look at some opportunities in music for myself … I’m interested in learning more about theory and composition and piddling around with that.

DFP: I think that’s about it for us.

Chobanian: Well, that was easy.