Two weeks ago, Gustavus announced that Jack Ohle will be the college’s next president. Just after the announcement, THE GUSTAVIAN WEEKLY spent an hour with the new president to ask him about his past experiences, his plans for Gustavus and what talents he will bring to the college. THE WEEKLY also got a chance to ask President Ohle about the school curriculum, problems with student drinking, Gustavus’ role as a Lutheran college and the movement to make Gustavus an RIC institution.

GUSTAVIAN WEEKLY: What do you feel is Gustavus’ biggest challenge for the students and the college as a whole?

President Jack Ohle: I have some ideas as to some of the issues I want to discuss with the faculty and the students, and the Board. It would be premature for me to list what I want to do until I get that feedback. Gustavus is positioned, as fine as any school I know, to really take the next step. Outstanding students, outstanding faculty. We will be working with the Board to look at how you can take Gustavus today and engage the alumni and the entire community in setting in place a plan for the future advancement of the college. I’ve done that for my entire professional career and it’s something I really enjoy doing.

Weekly: Can you elaborate on what you meant by “the next step”?

Ohle: Well, as you know, the Provost has been working on a Strategic Plan, and we will take that and use that as a foundation. So those strategic initiatives that we have identified will be at the heart of how we look with the Board at how to initiate those plans. It’s a very straightforward process. We need to build the endowment. It doesn’t grow overnight; it’s a long process. But that will be a major emphasis. Getting the alumni involved, back for reunions, homecoming activities—just giving them some opportunities to come back and remember their days as Gusties. These institutions survive on the support of the constituents we have. The tuition you pay is very high, but it doesn’t pay the full bill and you have to have resources to run an institution.

Weekly: How do you feel about the effort to make Gustavus an RIC institution?

Ohle: Our alliance group has become a recognized group at Wartburg and I would be supportive in working with the students to make sure that we provide opportunities for our students to express their faith and to express their interest in having that kind of an association.

Weekly: How do you think Gustavus Lutheran heritage or its Lutheran affiliation with the ELCA Church play into our current and future roles as a college?

Ohle: It’s critical. A college cannot be a church and a church cannot be a college. And what I mean by that is we have an obligation as a college to give students a chance to “go deep,” to ask the important questions, to examine and inquire as to how their education can help form their life. We need to be supportive of that as an institution, and to do that, it’s critical to know the foundation on which we were built. I talk about the college as a College of the Church. Then you start to look at interpreting that and how that comes to life in the lives of students and what we do on the campus. What I want to make sure is that we give students the opportunity to explore for their own self, their own faith—not prescribed faith, not prescribed teachings. But give them an opportunity to explore. Now, I come out of a Lutheran tradition, so I am not ashamed of that. I think that is extremely important to me as a person and [as] a person of faith. Kris and I have had the opportunity to do some wonderful things in our relationship with our faith. And that’s what I want students to have an opportunity to do too. So it’s not a prescribed way of thinking or believing; it’s an opportunity for students to really ask those important questions.

Weekly: What kind of role do you see yourself playing in influencing the curricula and faculty?

Ohle: Presidents don’t go there. The curriculum and the academic program is a [perogative] of the faculty. It is the responsibility for the president to provide the resources necessary for faculty, whether it’s teaching, research [or] studying abroad on a sabbatical: its very important to their discipline. Yes, there are things a president can do to support, but it’s a College of the Church; it’s not a prescription. There are students that believe from the end of the spectrum on [one] side to the end of the spectrum on [the other] side, and we have to embrace that as an educational institution. We are not a ‘Bible college’; we are not a ‘Christian college.’ Those terms are normally used with prescriptions. In other words, ‘You must believe this; you must sign an agreement to this to teach,’ or whatever it may be. That doesn’t give people an opportunity to explore and that’s what Gustavus is doing. I would not be being true to being an educator and a person of faith if I was a president who shut people out … I need to make sure that people have an opportunity to grow and we’ll do everything we can to make that happen.

Weekly: Another thing you touched on is the rising cost of tuition. Do you think that these high costs could endanger a private institution like Gustavus?

Ohle: As long as we provide sufficient financial aid, no. Now what’s the solution to financial aid? It’s really in the eye of the beholder. It’s in what you and your families discuss. Some students do it on their own by working and doing things for themselves to provide for their education. [What] I will pledge to [current students] and to students that come here is that we will continue to try to make the education at Gustavus as affordable to you as possible.

Weekly: How do you plan to tackle the alcohol problem on campus?

Ohle: When the phone rings at night, I don’t like it. Every president has a fear. There is nothing worse than having something happen [to students]. It could be a car accident or it could be something else. It would be very easy for me to say education [is the only solution], but I’m a realist and it takes more than that. It takes a community who really embraces alcohol education. It is a problem, clearly and simply and it takes responsibility. The one thing that [students today] are really doing much better than our children did when they were growing up is [that] you are starting to take responsibility for not driving [and] for having a driver available for those who do drink. If a student is having too much, we’ll help walk them out of the place. That can be … tough; students don’t want to try to tell someone else what they can or can’t do, but there is a line that you have to draw in responsibility to that person … when that person gets out of the mindset of being able to make decisions for himself or herself, students have to feel comfortable about taking responsibility for those who are in this community. So that is why I say education, but I say education with much more than that [in mind]. Binge drinking on a college campus is serious. I want to get into the situation of having a community that really cares about each other. I sense that about Gustavus … I know it about Wartburg; we are continually becoming a community and I think Gustavus cares deeply about [those in its community]. When you come to the college, you will carry the responsibility for the community. You’re going to have to do that in your job, in things that you will do with your families, with your relatives, and that is the kind of education I want to make sure we do. It’s tough to do. Some students will say “Hey, Mr. President, you don’t know what you are talking about.” I want to make sure that students have a chance to talk among their peers because they can’t talk to a person my age about it because I’m not going to come across the same way. If you believe it and you talk to them, it’s going to be different.