Presidential Panel

Photo by David J. Turner

A chemist, an economist, a Dickens scholar, and a bioethicist gathered on the Mairs Concert Hall stage at Reunion 2024. As part of the college’s sesquicentennial celebration, Presidents Emeriti  Robert M. Gavin Jr., Michael S. McPherson, and Brian C. Rosenberg joined President Suzanne M. Rivera to discuss their tenures at Macalester, guided by moderator and Trustee Emeritus Jeff Larson ’79. Here, we share edited excerpts of their wide-ranging conversation about some of the joys and challenges of leading a liberal arts college.

Robert M. Gavin
President: 1984-1996

On experiences with students: Before we came here, my wife, Charlotte, and I had relatively little international experience. We talked about how nice it would be for us to visit the country of every student who was here. And in the twelve years we were here, there were 124 different countries. We made it to sixty of the countries. The most exciting part of it was not only to go to the country and see the alumni, but to go to the country and meet the parents of current students. The World Press Institute was here for a number of years, and so every country we went to had a journalist who was very well-connected with the country and would get us into all kinds of places. The combination of WPI, our international alumni, and the current students really enriched our twelve years. We failed miserably by getting to only about half of the countries, but we went to a lot of places that we never would’ve gotten to if it hadn’t been for Macalester.

Michael S. McPherson
President: 1996-2003

On student-led protests: I’ve come to think that the reason students press us is because we are their friends. It’s much more comfortable to explore that space of assertion and hopefully not violence, but of strong disagreement with people whom you know respect you and care about you. And even, to some degree, understand that you do have to test these boundaries. If you come to a place thinking you’re going to change it, thinking you’re going to change the world, you have to see where there are limits, and what limits make sense. We had an institutional tradition that was reasonably tolerant of protest, but not of lawlessness. Laurie Hamre, who was a brilliant dean, helped me very much in finding our way through these things. She always said, “Let’s turn this into a teachable moment,” and I think sometimes we were able to do that.

Brian C. Rosenberg
President: 2003-2020

On campus building and improvement projects: David Wheaton (former vice president of Administration and Finance) and I had the great privilege of being able to replace all of the campus boilers and chillers. And together, those things cost as much as a supersonic jet. I lobbied to have them name the boilers after me, unsuccessfully.

I love the Janet Wallace renovation. It took a long time. We had to do three buildings. I had two great provosts during that time who oversaw the process. And I had David during all of that time who kept it all running. Every single one of those buildings came in under budget. And they’re beautiful and functional. I love coming into this space every time I walk in here.

Suzanne M. Rivera
President: 2020-present

On the next 150 years for higher education: I could hold forth for a long time on how bullish I feel about Macalester’s future. There are a lot of headwinds facing the higher education sector right now. Specifically, small, private, liberal arts colleges are under a lot of pressure to justify their existence and demonstrate what the value proposition is for the kind of education we provide. And, for students who are fortunate enough to get accepted into Macalester from whatever walk of life or whatever country they’re coming, they’re going to get a toolkit to set them up for success, not in the one job they get right after graduation, but in a whole career’s worth of changes. Because we’re giving them skills and tools that are transferable, that allow them to be flexible and nimble and adjust to new technologies.

The challenge for us, acknowledging that that cost is prohibitive for many, is to continue prioritizing the importance of expanding access to a Macalester education so that every talented student who wants what we provide can find their way here and have this extraordinary experience that we all are so devoted to giving our students. So, while I accept the responsibility to explain why what we do is so great—and to make sure the experience we’re providing is an excellent one—none of that happens without the support of our tremendous alumni community and other friends and donors who make it possible for us to meet the full demonstrated need of every student who’s admitted and give them a world-class education.