Inaugural remarks of Scott S. Cowen, 14th president of Tulane University
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It also requires us to change the public image of Tulane. I want people to perceive Tulane as an extremely high quality academic institution that continually aspires to deliver a demanding and rigorous learning experience in a vibrant and exciting intellectual environment. One that cares deeply for its students and brings to bear all of its resources to make the Tulane experience one of the most distinctive and distinguished anywhere. I don't even mind if the image also includes the fact that you can also have a good time here; I just don't want that to be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Tulane.

It also requires us to find creative and effective ways to use technology in the learning process without depersonalizing the collegiate experience and replacing personal human interaction as a means to facilitate learning and individual intellectual growth.

Is this a realistic expectation for us to accomplish by 2010? I think we can and, besides, an inauguration allows leeway for dreaming. As that great entrepreneur Walt Disney said, "It's kind of fun to do the impossible."

The second thing I would like people to say about Tulane in the year 2010 is that it is a university in the truest meaning of the word. A university that dares to dream and has the courage and will to make these dreams a reality.

About 40 years ago, Clark Kerr, then president of the University of California, defined the modern research university as a "multiversity." "The 'multiversity,' " he said, "is an inconsistent institution. It is not one community, but several...Its edges are fuzzy...It serves society almost slavishly--a society it also criticizes, sometimes unmercifully...A community, like the medieval communities of masters and students, should have common interests; in the 'multiversity,' they are quite varied, even conflicting. A community should have a soul, a single animating principle; the 'multiversity' has several--some of them quite good, although there is much debate on which souls really deserve salvation."

Kerr's observations about research universities are probably as accurate today as they were 40 years ago, yet I do not want them to hold true for Tulane. I want us to have a soul and a single animating principle. If we can do this, we will continually realize our dreams.

At last year's convocation, when I stated that I wanted Tulane to be a university acting as a community with shared aspirations, values and goals, my message was a simple one. Let's be one of the few research universities anywhere that is truly a university and not a "multiversity"; an institution where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, moving in unison to achieve its destiny.

This is not an easy challenge, for it first requires us as an institution to dream. Then we must have the discipline to transform these dreams into reality.

The former CEO of Time Warner Inc., Steve Ross, got a wonderful piece of advice from his dying father. He told him: "There are those who work all day, those who dream all day, and those who spend an hour dreaming before setting out to work to fulfill those dreams. Go into the third category because there's virtually no competition."

My friends, we must learn to dream together to shape the future of this wonderful institution. This is a daunting task under the best of circumstances. It is a particularly difficult challenge at Tulane because of our having to continually cope with financial issues and having do more with less at a time when we have increasing expectations put on us by ourselves and others. Yet, we must occasionally dream together if we are ever to realize a future we cannot envision today.

As I read about our history and people like Paul Tulane, Josephine Louise Newcomb, William Preston Johnston, Brandt Dixon, and scores of distinguished faculty, loyal staff and alumni, I realize we would not be here today if it were not for these dreamers. They might not have used this term to describe what they did and accomplished but, nonetheless, they had the foresight, will and discipline to take this place to heights they could not envision at the time.

We must renew this spirit and soar again to the heights we cannot see. What an exciting time to have this rebirth, as we are about to enter a new millennium where the advancement of human knowledge is even more important than ever as the key to prosperity and equality in the next century.

This summer, during a few relaxing moments, I did get the opportunity to listen to beautiful music, close my eyes and dream about Tulane's future. The exercise always brought a smile to my face and a feeling of hope and contentment. My only regret during these moments was that I was dreaming alone and yearning for the time and space to do it with so many of my colleagues here.

Let's make a commitment from here forward to be a university in the best meaning of the word, one that dares to dream while others only work. A university that is a renaissance of thought and action in spirit and deed, and does not use this phrase merely as a marketing slogan. To accomplish this, we must develop a level of trust, goodwill and cooperation among us unprecedented at this university and at many others. As faculty, we are often bred to be cynical and skeptical, especially when it comes to the motives and actions of administration. If these feelings exist here, let's put them aside and move forward together to realize our future. I will approach my leadership challenge in this manner and I hope you will as well.

But let's not forget that dreams need to be transformed into reality.

Shortly before I became president of Tulane University, many of my presidential colleagues across the country gave me this sage advice: Don't try to develop a unified, specific plan for the institution. Their experiences indicated this was a futile task bound for failure. As they correctly observed, very few universities--especially complex research universities--are ever successful in developing a substantive plan. As one particularly wise president said to me, "Scott, do not try to get people at a university on the same page, it is an impossible task". The advice of these presidents was to forget trying to develop a university out of a "multiversity." To try otherwise, they said, would doom me to permanent membership in Don Quixote's therapy group.

Despite this advice, since assuming this presidency I have continued to press forward for us to develop a clear statement of our future. There have been some bumps in the road along the way, but I am pleased with our progress over the last year and believe we will be able to successfully complete the process during this academic year. If we can, we will have achieved something very few universities have done, and we will be the better for it.

I cannot overemphasize how important this process is to helping us determine the future direction and destination for Tulane. The late Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once boarded a train but then couldn't locate his ticket. The conductor recognized the justice and reassured him. "Don't worry about your ticket, Mr. Holmes--you can send us the ticket after you reach your destination."

"My dear man," Holmes replied. "The problem is not 'where is my ticket?' The problem is 'where am I going?'

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