Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect new and current information.
The third presidential candidate forum revealed David Brennen as the third of four finalist candidates.
Brennen is a current professor of law at the University of Kentucky and the president of the Southeast Association of Law Schools, and he has worked in higher education for over 25 years. He has a bachelor’s degree in finance from Florida Atlantic University and a law degree and Masters in Law in tax law from the University of Florida College of Law.
Brennen joined the faculty of UK J. David Rosenberg School of Law in 2006 as a professor and served as the first Black dean of the School of Law from 2009-2020.
Brennen said he is a first generation college student in his family and went to public school all his life, so he knows first-hand how important the college experience is.
“College really matters. It was and it is transformative,” Brennen said.
Brennen said he sees plenty of opportunities for him as president at OCU.
“I realized I was very interested in becoming president at the right place. OCU offers that right environment with its liberal arts routes and its accommodation of both undergraduate and professional programs,” Brennen said.
Brennen said he would define a successful presidency by being able to tackle two large issues he sees OCU facing in the future, one of which being future student enrollment.
“Starting back in 2008 during the financial crisis, people didn’t have babies,” Brennen said. “You can measure exactly 18 years later in 2025, there’s going to be a drop in college aged students coming into colleges like OCU.
The “enrollment cliff” of college-aged students around that time will increase the diversity among students, Brennen said.
“When you couple that with the nature of that smaller group of students, that smaller group of students is going to be more diverse, more Hispanic and consisting more of two-race, or multirace individuals,” Brennen said. “So, it’s going to be a much ‘browner’ group of students that are applying to college, and many more, then, will be first generation. So I think a successful presidency is one that recognizes that at the forefront and prepares for that eventuality.”
The other issue Brennen said he sees OCU facing financial issues that he believes most small private universities will face in the coming years.
“I know some work has been done on that. The president has done some work on refinancing some of the debt and reissuing some of the bonds and I think that is a great start. We have a new CFO, which I’m very encouraged by. So, I think we are starting to get the pieces in place to be able to do that, but the next two, three, four, five years is going to be critical,” Brennen said.
When asked about student outreach and transparency, Brennen said he believes the administration and the university should be transparent, authentic and accountable.
“One of the things I think is important is that we have a method of getting word out very quickly, especially to the people who were affected by whatever the issue might be,” Brennen said. “There should be some regular engagement on an ongoing basis between the administration and the students, ideally by the way of student leadership.”
Brennen also said he was surprised that there was no student representation on the presidential search committee.
“In my initial interviews, there were no students on the search committee, and I raised that with the search committee. I actually thought I would be here today because I raised that to the search committee,” Brennen said. “One of my principles as an academic leader–and I do this at the college of law–is to make sure student leadership is involved in committees of that sort.”
A couple attendants at the general session asked Brennen about OCU sports and uplifting the athletic programs at OCU. Brennen said he was not aware that OCU’s athletics aren’t uplifted by the university, but he wants to help grow the sports program because of the values sports instills in students.
“I do think athletics are very important because it teaches you aspects of discipline and group comradery and those other intangibles that are so important to be successful as a leader and as a professional,” Brennen said.
Another attendant asked Brennen about how he would propel education moving forward from the COVID-19 pandemic. Brennen said the pandemic convinced a lot of people of online education’s usefulness in higher education.
“I think one of the things that we can’t deny that we’ve learned through this pandemic in higher ed is that online education can work,” Brennen said. “I have always been open to the idea in part because my role in accreditation allows me to work with schools, with law schools in particular, who have applied for specific permission to deliver some online education mechanisms.”
Multiple attendants asked Brennen if he would commit to creating an office of sustainability to transition OCU to renewable energy. Brennen said he couldn’t commit to renewable energy, but he does have some experience with sustainable energy on a previous campus he worked at.
“I will tell you, I have some experience with observing how that works. At St. Olaf, they were very keen on sustainability. In fact, when you visit their campus, they actually have a big windmill on campus, along with an area of their campus that’s devoted to sustainability guarding and planting and things of that nature,” Brennen said.
When asked about raising the cost of living for staff and faculty, Brennen said one of his accomplishments during his time as dean at UK was raising the faculty pay in the UK School of Law. Brennen said he raised the faculty pay from the lowest in Kentucky to one of the highest.
“I was in an environment at University of Kentucky where I think we only had a couple of years where there was no pay raise. So having a situation here where there have been no pay raise for several years, it is something I’m not used to and something I will look at very seriously,” Brennen said. “One of the most valuable assets we have is our faculty, and if we don’t pay them well, we don’t retain them, and then the students will suffer.”
When asked about a time he defended academic freedom, Brennen said he defended his professors at the UK School of Law for voicing their opinion about Supreme Court nominations.
“There were some folks in the community that were not happy about their voicing their opinions. I had to speak out and speak up for the faculty,” Brennen said. “These are the people you want to voice your opinions on something like that because these are the people who trained folks who gone on to be lawyers and ultimately Supreme Court justices.”
One of the attendants at the general session asked Brennen about how OCU can work toward equity and inclusion. Brennen said OCU can achieve these goals by fully committing to working on it.
“Having a vice president for diversity and equity is a great start. I think we need to further define the roles for that person in terms of we they do,” Brennen said.
Nick Sayegh, accounting and finance freshman, said he thought Brennen was grounded, mature and drew a lot of his talking points from his personal and professional experience.
“I really enjoyed this candidate. I felt his background really aligned with mine as a first-generation African American college student,” Sayegh said. “I think diversity is a very forefront issue OCU faces, and I’m glad he addressed that.”
OCU President Martha Burger declined to comment on the presidential search since it is a Board of Trustees matter, but she sent Student Publications a statement about the process.
“I care very deeply about ensuring the next president of our University represents and supports our full student body. However, it’s important for me to allow the search committee to independently complete its work. I have absolute faith the search committee and our Board of Trustees will choose a leader who respects our students and our mission, and who is committed to honoring diverse opinions and uplifting our community,” Burger wrote.
The last finalist candidate to host a forum with the campus community was on March 11. The Presidential Search Committee have not stated a date for when the new president will be chosen.
To see information about the first presidential candidate, visit this link.
To see information about the second presidential candidate, visit this link.
To see information about the fourth presidential candidate, visit this link.
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