Thomas PSU presidency finalist By MARC HARKNESS Collegian Staff Writer The Trustee Presidential Selection Committee announced yesterday that Joab L. Thomas, former president of the University of Alabama, is the finalist for the Penn State presidency. The University Board of Trustees will vote on Thomas' candidacy Monday, said J. Lloyd Huck, board president and chairman of the selection committee. If approved by the board, Thomas will replace University President Bryce Jor dan, who is scheduled to retire Aug. 31. "We believe that Dr. Thomas has the experience and the ability to build on the fine record President Jordan and his administrative team have compiled," Huck said at a news conference. Thomas was not present at the con ference, but said he would accept the position in a prepared statement. "I'm honored to have been recom mended by the Trustee Selection Com mittee," Thomas said. "Penn State is a great university and it would be a privilege to work with that institution." As president of Alabama from 1981- 1988, Thomas was successful at bringing about rapid, positive change, said Rob ert Barfield, dean of Alabama's College of Engineering. "Morale was at probably the lowest point in the history of the university," he said. "He came to the university and performed a miracle. He improved markedly not only the morale, but was able to persuade people from all walks Weather Hazy, hot and humid today, high 90. Warm and muggy tonight, low 66. Hot and humid again tomorrow with the chance of an afternoon thunderstorm, high 88. Thomas highly committed to minority By MARK E. JONES and STACY NIEDECKER Collegian Staff Writers Joab L. Thomas, the finalist for Penn State's presidency, was committed to the concerns of underrepresented groups while president at the University of Alabama, said J. Lloyd Huck, chair man of the Trustee Presidential Selec tion Committee. The selection committee reviewed Thomas' record on cultural diversity issues and received many strong rec ommendations, including one from Tus caloosa's National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Huck said. "I don't know whether or not Joab's resume shows this, but one of the rea sons I knew (him) in earlier days was his active role in dealing with the civil rights unrest throughout the South and the active role he took as dean of stu dents then," said Robert Barfield, dean of Alabama's College of Engineering. Thomas for accessibility to student body By MARK E. JONES and STACY NIEDECKER Collegian Staff Writers If Joab L. Thomas is named Penn State's president, his hands-on manage ment style might give students more access to Old Main. "He has been known to get his coffee in the student union building," said J.P. Muir, president of Penn State's Undergraduate Student Government. "He's been known to stop and talk to a student on the street and drop them a note two days later to say how nice it was to talk." Thomas, president of the University of Alabama from 1981 to 1988, has a rep utation for meeting openly with student groups there. "I can't say enough nice things about him as far as that goes, as far as dealing with students and appreciating stu dents," said John Coleman, president of Alabama's student government. "As university president he's there to deal for students and I don't think he ever lost sight of that. "When you see the university presi dent come in and tell you how much you, as a student, mean to the university . it really means a lot. And it makes you want to work harder and it makes you really appreciate what you're doing and appreciate your institution a lot more," he added. Joab L. Thomas of life to give the university a new level of support." Thomas, who would be the 15th pres ident of the University, would begin his tenure Sept. 1, Huck said. Jordan pre viously agreed to stay as president if a successor could not be found by that date. The committee selected Thomas from a pool of about 12 candidates sub mitted by the Presidential Search and Screen Committee, consisting of staff, faculty and students. The pool contained Mike Hopkins rAst: ° '' '' 'WEl P C 74 issues Thomas, president at Alabama from 1981 to 1988, was dean of student affairs there from 1969 to 1974. "More specifically, what Joab did as president here was make available a great deal of scholarship money and a lot of programs to support minority stu dents," Barfield said. "Joab should be able to help in that area because he has a lot of experience." Cordell Wynn, president of Stillman College and an Alabama trustee, told The Associated Press: "As a president of a historically black college and as an African American myself, I can say this man has no fears when it comes to deal ing across the board with all social, racial and economic groups. He was one who really worked well with diversity." But during Thomas' tenure, the per centage and number of black students who attended Thomas' Tuscaloosa cam pus fell, according to figures from the University of Alabama. Black students made up 10.1 percent Please see DIVERSITY, Page 5. known "He's been known to stop and talk to a student . . . and drop them a note two days Penn State Undergraduate Student Government president During the last few years, Penn State President Bryce Jordan has had little such contact with students and has been drawn more to Harrisburg to secure state appropriations. But a new presi dent must go out and meet people, Muir said. Jordan rarely walked around campus to speak with students, Graduate Stu dent Association President Ken Martin said. "Jordan, he's pretty much hard to talk to," said Nicole Batts, president of Black Caucus. "Maybe it's his style not to be real visible." For instance, when black students held a sit-in in the Telecommunications Building in 1988, Jordan sent adminis trators to negotiate. "But the students wanted to talk to Jordan, - she said. one woman and no minorities, Huck said. The selection committee requested a second list of candidates in June when leading candidates on the first list were unable to commit to the University. Huck said one or two of the candidates on the first list were still considered. Thomas' candidacy was announced to the full board last Friday during a closed-door session of the Penn State Board of Trustees meeting, Huck said. As president of Alabama, Thomas led the daily Soviets, Hungarians to establish NATO ties - J.P. Muir By SALLY JACOBSEN Associated Press Writer BRUSSELS, Belgium In a sharp break with the past, the Soviet Union and Hungary have accepted NATO's offer to establish diplomatic ties with the Western military alliance, officials said yesterday. The decisions the first by Warsaw Pact nations came less than two weeks after President Bush and other NATO leaders extended "the hand of friendship" to their former adversaries in Eastern Europe. Hungarian Prime Minister Jozsef Antall announced his government's plans after paying a visit to the head quarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the first by a leader of a Warsaw Pact nation. "With this, the official resumption of contacts has taken place," he told reporters. Bryce Jordan Collegian Love at first sight Pepe nibbles on her owner Robert Sahakian of State College at Plants by Suzanne, 105 E.Beaver Ave. Sahakian bought Pepe, who can whistle "Happy Birthday' and say a few words, in Florida and taught her all she knows. Sahakian and Pepe enojoyed the outdoors yesterday. Later, NATO Secretary-General Manfred Woerner, just back from a trip to Moscow, said the Soviet Union also intended to set up diplomatic exchanges. "The Soviet Union and Hungary are the first two countries with which we are establishing a form of dip lomatic contact," said NATO spokesman Robin Staff ord. the university's first major fund raising campaign similar to the recently completed Campaign for Penn State ini tiated by Jordan. Jordan said he and Thomas share other similar goals for the future of Penn State and higher education in gen eral. "I've known Dr. Thomas for a long time, and I'm delighted to see him receive this appointment," Jordan said. "I believe that if we could measure our philosophies of where Penn State ought to go, they would line up about the same.- In a move resembling Jordan's five year strategic planning process, Thom as guided Alabama according to a five year master plan compiled by commit tee. Thomas' philosophy made a differ ence at Alabama, Barfield said. "Any data you want to look at I'm serious, any data whether we're talk ing about number of scholarly papers published by faculty or number of stu dents, or number of students receiving honors, or number of national merit stu dents or research dollars or anything else of that sort, the upturn began coin cidentally with his first year as presi dent," he said. The candidate, a native of Russelville, Ala., received bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees from Harvard Uni versity. Thomas started at Alabama as an assistant professor of biology in 1961. In 1964 he became assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and in 1969 '"At MEE NATO had not yet created a system for accrediting diplomats to the alliance, he said. No nations outside the 16 members have official status. Antall, who met for nearly an hour with Woerner, said he had asked that Hungary's ambassador to Bel gium also be accredited in the future to NATO. "We agreed that if the Soviet Union and Hungary wish to make any contact . . . this is the way to do it through the ambassador who is accredited to Bel gium at the moment," Stafford said. Earlier this month, Bush and the other NATO lead ers wound up a critical summit in London by pledging to reduce their conventional and nuclear.defenses in Europe and reassuring the East of their peaceful intentions. They also invited Soviet President Mikhail S. Gor bachev to address a NATO meeting and suggested Moscow and other governments in Eastern Europe establish "regular diplomatic liaison with NATO." "This will make it possible for us to share with them our thinking and deliberations in this historic period of change," the leaders said in their final statement. Woerner, who talked to Gorbachev on Saturday in Moscow, said Gorbachev did not give a date for his was appointed dean for student devel opment. He left Alabama in 1976 to serve as chancellor of North Carolina State Uni versity, a position he held until he was named president of Alabama in 1981. He stepped down from the Alabama presidency in 1988 to teach biology after a controversy over his appointment of Bill Curry as head football coach. Thomas said at the time his resignation was not related to the criticism he received. want to see if I still have the intel lectual horsepower to teach, - he told the The Atlanta Constitution after he announced his resignation. A dispute with Chancellor Thomas Bartlett over how Alabama's Tuscaloo sa campus should be run was the final straw for Thomas, Harry Knopke, Thomas' former assistant, told The Associated Press. Bartlett saw the Tus caloosa campus as part of a trinity in the Alabama system, along with cam puses at Birmingham and Huntsville. Thomas saw Tuscaloosa as the primary institution, with the other campuses as branches. Jordan said Thomas will have to gain an understanding of Penn State's Com monwealth campuses to be an effective president. Thomas will spend the remainder of July and August becoming acquainted with Penn State's campus, administra tion and with the state legislature, Huck said. One month should be sufficient time for transition, he said. "He will be traveling back and forth within the next 30 days," Jordan said. When Jordan was named in 1982, he spent nine months traveling between State College and Austin, where he was executive vice chancellor for academic affairs for the University of Texas sys tem. Thomas will have to carry on his transition at a greater intensity, Jordan said. Thomas toured the University Park campus two weeks ago, before he was designated the leading candidate, Huck said. Other candidates have done the same to get a feeling for the campus before deciding whether to commit to Penn State. During that visit Thomas met with some faculty members, but no student groups. After the board votes Monday, he will meet members of the search committee, Huck said. Thomas has met only with Thomas Merritt, the commit tee's chairman. Beginning next week, Thomas will meet with Jordan to begin the transition process. Huck said he has also made an appointment for Thomas to meet with Gov. Robert P. Casey next week after the board's vote. Jordan said he anticipates Thomas will make some adjustments to the Uni versity's administrative structure to suit his management style. When Jor dan took office in 1983, he implemented an executive vice president position which he combined with the office of the provost the University's chief aca demic officer. Thursday, July 19, 1990 Vol. 91, No. 25 12 pages University Park, Pa. 16801 Published independently by students at Penn State kc , 1990 Collegian Inc. Thomas not concerned with victory Former president stresses academics Thomas hired Curry, who only won 31 of 78 games while head coach of Georgia Tech but had built a program on a reputation of integrity.. This irritated many Tide fans. By TOM ESTERLY Collegian Sports Writer As president of the University of Ala bama, Joab L. Thomas hired Bill Cur ry, a football coach with a losing record but an emphasis on academics. Thomas' committment to academics may have made him unpopular with Alabama fans. But his academic integ rity is one of the reasons he is the finalist for Penn State's presidency, said J. Lloyd Huck, president of the Univer sity's Board of Trustees. Thomas' criteria for a football coach to replace Ray Perkins in 1986 did not emphasize winning, according to The Atlanta Constitution. He said he was looking for "first a person whose integrity is above ques tion, second someone who will be sin cerely interested in helping improve the academic performance of our student athletes, and third someone who can win." Thomas hired Curry, who only won 31 of 78 games while head coach of Georgia Tech but had built a program on a reputation of integrity. This irri tated many Tide fans used to the lead- Please see ATHLETICS, Page 5. visit but "he clearly accepted the invitation." It was the first time in the 41-year history of the Western alliance that its top official had traveled to the Soviet Union. "I think we opened the doors for a new era of coop eration," Woerner said. "I explained to the Soviet leadership we wanted to have a sincere partnership in the future . . . not only with them but with all countries of Central and East ern Europe." he said. Antall's visit symbolized the new turn in relations, he said. The Hungarian leader said he supported the "Atlan tic idea," a reference to the political links drawing together the United States and Canada with nations in Europe. "Two world wars and a cold war have proved that Europe and North America are inseparable," Antall said in brief remarks in the main lobby of the alliance headquarters. He said NATO should form "a basis for European security and this is not directed against the Soviet Union."
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