Challenges in the Future

The challenges are faculty. I think. This is a people-power industry, it's a brain power industry so you got to find it, and nurture it, and do smart things to make that develop and happen. I think SMU should grow in the masters programmes. What happens in the doctoral programmes I made some suggestions about what I think are some, I regard as creative alternatives but there's going to be more on the graduate level, that's going to go on. What I hope is that, I hope that the Government will continue to be supportive of SMU, and I also hope that charitable support of universities  their dual roles of generating and disseminating knowledge will gain support, financial support. Relative to the US, non-religious philanthropy is quite underdeveloped in Asia. And so, I was fortunate. If I'd had to come here and raise money, what do I know? I'm from California.

You know, I got to tell you about a quick story about the guy who was the provost at Stanford when I was promoted. I used to tease him that that was his one blemish on his record, but (laughter) but I had him out here to talk, and he later was just recently here. But this was back in '03. So I had Bill Miller [William F. Miller] out. I made him the first lecturer of some kind. And he was talking about entrepreneurship. We had him along with a panel, and I sort of moderated the discussion with a couple, three executives. And one of the guys in the audience said, Well, it's great you talk about Silicon Valley and all this stuff, but you know, but we're poor little Singapore. We've got a small island, and there's almost four million people, and what are we supposed to do? And I still remember what Bill Miller said. He said, Tsk, you know, Silicon Valley has the same area as Singapore. It also has the same population as Singapore. And it also exports eighty percent of what it makes. What's your problem? Do it. You know, my classmate was Philip Knight, the guy who started Nike. Just do it. Okay? And so, don't cry, go do it. Don't tell me what you can't do, do it. And I think that you got to have the same attitude. And it's important that SMU supports innovative thinking and doesn't get bogged down in bean counting of a sort that will stifle creativity. If you do that, then it's not going to then its futures is going to be ordinary. It will be a good undergraduate programme somewhere. And I'd, and I probably won't be around, but I'd be crying if I were. Because I really want to see . I think this place has such an opportunity and it just would be tragic to miss it.