Saturday Column: KU might tap unrestricted funds to save top faculty

It’s normal for a good university to lose faculty members — some good and some not so good — on an annual basis. This certainly is the case at Kansas University. This being the situation, how much effort is KU making to hold on to the good ones?

In some cases, departures serve a good purpose by providing an opportunity to fill a vacancy with a better qualified individual. In these situations, senior administrators or deans do not make much of an effort to discourage the individual from leaving Mount Oread to accept an offer from another school.

On the other hand, there are cases where losing a talented, internationally known teacher or researcher is a serious blow to the university, as well as to the state. In such cases, university officials say all the right things in trying to dissuade the person from leaving but, in hindsight, have these efforts been as intense and effective as possible?

These special researchers and teachers have helped develop and expand the excellence of their respective fields of study. They have attracted millions of dollars in grants and, if they should leave, they will be taking a number of post-doc researchers with them to their new universities. Such cases are a major loss for KU. Also, there’s the cost of replacing the lost all-star.

Among those who will be leaving Mount Oread at the end of this semester or this school year is Jeff Aube, a distinguished professor in medicinal chemistry. He is a giant in his field, recognized by the most prestigious national and international academies. He came to KU in 1986.

Over the years, Aube has received offers from many of the nation’s most outstanding research universities, but he rejected these attractive offers to remain at KU. He has been part of a highly skilled and brilliant team of researchers and has had excellent equipment to further his research efforts. He also has a deep sense of loyalty to the university.

However, highly attractive recruiting efforts have continued. Last year, University of Minnesota officials made a run, a very hard run, at Aube, but in the end, he decided to remain at KU.

At that time, KU officials made keeping Aube a high priority and enlisted the aid of many individuals to find added fiscal support for Aube as well as assure him that KU was committed to sustaining the increased funding he thought was essential to elevate his efforts.

He knew of these efforts and, even though the additional funding did not materialize, he elected to remain here in Lawrence.

Now, a year later, Aube has decided to say “yes” to a highly attractive offer from the University of North Carolina. Again, KU could not come up with additional funding for Aube and his research efforts.

It is a huge loss for the university in many, many ways. It cannot be overstated.

What’s hard to understand is a news story earlier this week reporting that KU Endowment Association officials are focusing their attention and efforts on how to attract top students and faculty now that the original capital campaign goal of $1.2 billion has been reached. The fiscal campaign will continue and these additional funds, or a good share of those funds, will be earmarked for student scholarships and faculty fellowships.

What about funds to keep KU’s most talented faculty members?

When officials were saying it was critical to find the relatively small amount of money needed to keep Aube at KU, why couldn’t KU Endowment come up with the money?

Granted, a high percentage of contributions made to KUEA in a capital campaign are designated for specific purposes. However, there are a sizable number of dollars in an unrestricted category that can be spent at the chancellor’s discretion.

Did those seeking money for Aube ask KUEA officials for help? Did they ask the chancellor’s office? They asked the governor, and they supposedly made their case to the Kansas Board of Regents, legislators and some private donors when trying to keep Aube from moving to Minneapolis. Why not tap the association’s unrestricted fund?

If the need was so serious relative to Aube’s possible move to UNC — and it was — there should have been some way to keep Aube in his KU research facilities. Obviously, KUEA officials don’t want to be tapped for extra money every time there is some “emergency,” but, at the same time, there should be some way to address situations like the Aube matter.

The KU Endowment Association, an entirely separate, independent organization, enjoys a magnificent record of supporting and enhancing the university through the generosity of alumni and friends.

It is unfortunate a very small fraction of the millions, now billions, of dollars raised in the current capital campaign could not have been allocated to keep a superior faculty member on Mount Oread.