It has been 41/2 years since George Emert became president of Utah State University, time enough for the controversies that bubbled and swirled around him early in his term to subside somewhat.
Some faculty members still smart over those conflicts, but they say time heals all wounds. While many professors maintain Emert could use a session or two of sensitivity training, as an administrator even they have to admit he knows his stuff."In fairness to him, he really is an extremely capable guy," said philosophy professor Kent Robson, one of Emert's chief antagonists early on. "He works well with the outside interests of the university, he works well with the (USU) Board of Trustees and the (state) Board of Regents. If he has a deficiency, it's working well with faculty and students."
"First, I must learn a lot about USU before taking any direction toward change." - Emert, May 5, 1992.
Almost immediately after becoming president on July 1, 1992, Emert stirred up a hornet's nest with a proposal to switch USU from quarters to semesters. Despite a faculty referendum in December of that year in which teachers voted 60 percent to 40 percent against the change, Emert, with the support of the state Board of Regents, continued to press for it.
With opposition at USU solidifying and hysterics mounting, in April 1993 Robson, then faculty senate president, threatened to call for a no-confidence vote against Emert.
"In many ways the quarter/semester issue is not the primary issue," Robson said at the time. "It's an issue of the role of the president and how decisions are made."
After more than a year of enduring the slings and arrows of outraged faculty members, Emert finally dropped the issue.
"My energy was great, my enthusiasm was great, and I recognized right off the bat that there were any number of things we could do that would be positive," Emert now says. "(But) it was not a good debate. It got away from the real issue. It was not what an academician would like to see."
The whole thing turned out to be moot anyway. Last year the Board of Regents mandated a switch from quarters to semesters at all state colleges and universities.
Emert's early days were further marred by a community uproar over a decision by the USU Board of Trustees to build an official residence for him on Old Main Hill, a beloved part of the campus containing old-growth trees and a decades-old amphitheater. While Emert was technically not part of the decision, many in the community viewed his expressed approval of the site as insensitive.
"I had nothing to do with it, but I got the blame for it," he said.
After the controversy had dragged on for months, Emert finally did take action, directing that other sites be explored. None of them ultimately panned out, and he wound up buying his own home. In compliance with established policy to provide an official residence, the regents later bought Emert's home for $319,000.
It is hardly surprising that, in hindsight, Emert says he would have approached things differently his first year. The rest of his tenure has been relatively peaceful, and the university has done well, but the legacy of that first year carries on.
"It takes a while for reputation to catch up with reality," he said.
"Maybe the tower will fall in on King George." - a faculty member commenting on the instability of USU's Old Main building.
Talk to two different people and you get two wildly divergent views of George Emert's management style. A member of the U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) during the Vietnam War, Emert has a militaristic management style, many university employees say. He knows what he wants and simply takes over when challenged. Thus, the royal sobriquet.
Nevertheless, his combative image is not universally accepted. Emert has many staunch supporters - legislators, regents, trustees and even many faculty members - who say he's an amiable, charming, accommodating man. In direct contrast to the views of some colleagues, College of Family Life Dean Bonita Wyse describes Emert as "sensitive."
"He's competitive, (but) I find him a fun person to be with," she said.
"I'm straightforward, (which could be) translated as confrontational," Emert said. "I think the relationships I have with the faculty and staff are marvelous. . . . No crosses have been burned on my lawn lately."
The new USU provost has helped Emert's image even among his critics. Jay Gogue is universally praised as a capable, diplomatic person, not afraid to stand up to his boss when needed, and a master at managing internal campus affairs. He has smoothed many ruffled feathers within the USU community since his arrival in 1995 after a controversial two-year search.
"(Gogue) has had a good influence," said continuing education Associate Dean David Medlyn, a former supporter of Emert who's now one of his most vociferous critics. "(Emert) is actually doing a better job now because of him."
"I would like to see us compete, and compete very well." - Emert, Sept. 3, 1992.
Coming from football power Auburn in Alabama, Emert, right from the start, made no secret of the fact that he was going to work hands-on to make USU's athletic program, particularly the football team, a first-class operation. It would serve as a rallying point for USU and the surrounding community, a rising tide that would lift all boats including the ships of favorable publicity, institutional pride, alumni support and admission applications.
Shortly after Emert's arrival, he replaced athletic director Rod Tueller. Then it was basketball coach Kohn Smith's turn. Both are Logan natives and Smith, especially, was a local favorite, and his dismissal earned Emert some flak. But when Larry Eustachy was hired and started winning, all was forgiven.
Smith now coaches basketball at Logan High School.
At a cost of $300,000 in private donations, Emert directed the installation of lights in outdoor Romney Stadium to enable night games and attract more fans. He also proposed a 10,000-seat expansion in the 30,000-seat stadium. (The proposal is in the master plan but has not yet been done).
The president endured some ridicule for the modifications. Night games in frigid Cache Valley? Expansion of a stadium that has sold out only a few times? True to form, Emert pushed the proposals through anyway and continues to maintain their desirability.
One minor proposal didn't last long. In September 1993, officials briefly banned fans from bringing food to the football stadium in order to raise concession sales. Widespread derision was the result, as exemplified by Deseret News sports writer Doug Robinson: "Up against the wall, fella. Ah-hah, Milk Duds! And what's this? Goobers, too."
Emert and athletic director Chuck Bell were anxious to get out of the Big West and join the more prestigious Western Athletic Conference. Among other things, USU rented a hospitality suite for the WAC's Salt Lake basketball tournament in 1993 to woo WAC representatives, who responded by schmoozing and eating free food and snubbing USU in the WAC's expansion the following year.
"He's doing things that a lot of business people like. The university is a major business in our community and it has to be run like a business." - former Logan Mayor Russell Fjeldsted.
In spite of having a doctorate in biochemistry, Emert is viewed by many as more of a businessman than an academic. Certainly, the 58-year-old Tennessee native's background differs from that of Stanford Cazier, his predecessor, who toiled his way up the academic ladder in the usual way.
Emert worked in private industry and public health and earned tenure at the University of Arkansas in an abbreviated process before becoming Auburn Univer-si-ty's executive vice president in 1984.
While rejecting the businessman label, Emert says he can understand it. "There have been a great many changes from an efficiency standpoint since I came here," he said.
Indeed, USU has prospered since Emert came on board. Total gifts to the university have doubled, from $5.3 million in fiscal year 1992 to $10.7 million in 1996. The endowment has gone from $21 million to $33 million, a 57 percent increase. Enrollment, degrees awarded and research grants have all continued to rise. A moribund alumni program has blossomed into 27 organized alumni chapters, including one in both Thailand and Bolivia. An unprofitable "plateau tuition" scheme has been adjusted.
Emert himself admits he can't take credit for all the improvements. Nevertheless, it would be hard to dispute that the best indicator of a president's performance is the performance of his university.
"Sometimes we try to look at presidents as personalities without looking at the health of their institutions," he said.
"I hope I'm beyond those rocky times." - Emert.
Whatever George Emert is, he's not a quitter. Various members of the university community say they haven't seen the kind of controversy generated during Emert's first year for decades, and given that kind of welcome, many give him credit simply for hanging in there.
Emert maintains that he plans to end his career in Logan.
"Don't forget to say that I really love being in Utah and being at Utah State," he said.