The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Lahey to step away from QU after decades of growth
HAMDEN — John Lahey, the Bronx, N.Y.-raised son of a bricklayer and a teacher, learned at a young age he was not destined to follow in his father’s footsteps.
Brought to a construction site one day, he proved hopeless enough that he was ushered to the side, where he could do less damage.
“I went with him to watch him do jobs on the weekends, laying brick and whatever, and I knocked his level into the cement, knocked his trowel in there, and he finally said, ‘Sit on the curb over there, don’t move,’ ” said Lahey. “I probably sat there for eight hours, and, on the way home, he put his arm around me. He said ‘Look, you’re doing well in school so far ... stick to that.’ ”
But even though he was not destined to work in the
trades, Lahey undoubtedly built something during his career. As he steps away after more than three decades as the president of Quinnipiac University, he leaves behind a dramatically changed institution.
Under his leadership, the school has grown in every respect — enrollment, size, financial resources — and far outstripped its provincial New England roots, impacting generations of students, the communities of Hamden and North Haven, and, ultimately, both the region and our world.
Lahey said this week he did not plan this path.
Born of modest means in a blue-collar Irish area, he fell in love with philosophy while attending the University of Dayton, thrilling to the discussions of the social issues of the day in his classes, and decided to become a teacher.
After earning a master’s degree and his doctorate, he found himself teaching in Alabama. It was a bit foreign for a native New Yorker, but serendipity struck. He was given the opportunity to teach inmates about capital punishment, racism, privacy and abortion — issues that went beyond the theoretical into the everyday.
And when he later applied to become an administrator at Marist College, he found the position was responsible for overseeing a program in a maximumsecurity prison. He checked that box, and it turned out he had some talents as an administrator.
“I believe and I know that I wouldn’t have gotten that administrative job had I not had that little bit of experience,” said Lahey. “You look back on life — you can do all the best planning and all the best hard work and so on, but sometimes it’s just being in the right place and the right time and being a little bit lucky.”
From Marist, Lahey went on to Quinnipiac University and became the president of the institution in March 1987.
At the time, he said enrollment had recently declined, dropping to 1,902 — 80 percent of which were Connecticut residents. The university had an endowment of $3 million.
But he had a vision for the school.
It was uniquely situated halfway between Boston and New York City in a “beautiful suburban setting.” The nearby presence of Yale University brought cultural opportunities, corporate interest, and the chance to network in an intellectual atmosphere.
He felt he could bring a strategic plan to the table, help expand its reach into the tri-state area, and his philosophical background gave him the tools to bring together a conception of the university’s future and share it with the world.
“I knew we had the potential to grow,” said Lahey. “I felt that the things that we needed I could add, and I could add relatively quickly.”
When he began his tenure, Lahey said Quinnipiac had three schools of learning — health sciences, liberal arts, and business. Through a mix of providence and planning, it now has nine.
Quinnipiac has followed “the third way,” he said. Lahey said it is not a research-oriented institution, like Yale, or a small liberalarts school like Wesleyan, but has charted its own path and transformed into a major university.
Lahey said the school now offers Division I athletics; enrollment has risen to approximately 10,200 and the endowment stands at $530 million.
That growth has changed the relationship between Quinnipiac and Hamden, and helped foster tension in the community in the past. Students and residents have come into conflict over noise and parties; the town resisted the university’s plans to grow.
Issues continue to exist with students renting rooms in privately owned homes, he said, in residential areas where they should not live.
But, at this time, Lahey said relations between the town and the university are at a high point and will improve further going forward.
The university has reached the size it wishes to be, Lahey said — the balance between expanding offerings and maintaining stability has been nicely reached — and a new residence hall to house 240 seniors has been approved.
“I wish it would have been smoother along the way, but I’m very happy with where we are today — that Quinnipiac doesn’t need to grow anymore, that we have a plan that makes a lot of sense (with) the overwhelming majority of students living on campus,” said Lahey. “Even the ones that are living off-campus, the overwhelming majority of them are not an issue, and the town and the university are working cooperatively together. So I only see things getting better in years to come.”
With where the university is today, Lahey said he’s comfortable stepping away from the institution — the school’s on offer have been stabilized, the residence hall has been approved, the athletic fields and the christening of the now-People’s United Center has been completed.
The next stage is to continue to grow the endowment, which will allow it to attract a high-quality, diverse student body and top-notch faculty. He said the university is aiming to hit the $1 billion mark by 2029.
Over the years, Lahey said he never considered leaving higher education because there is joy in the work.
As a university president, he had the chance to interact with bright faculty members putting forward interesting ideas, with young people who “exude the excitement, enthusiasm, and idealism of youth,” attend a Yale-Quinnipiac hockey game, work on a beautiful campus.
“Why would you leave this for anything else?” Lahey said. “I can honestly say nothing ever tempted me to leave university work — teaching, administration — during my entire career.”
But there is virtue to walking away at the top of his game, he said — to leave without absorbing the blows that his athletic idols Muhammed Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson did or hanging on like Willie Mays. He is 71 and would have been ushered into mandatory retirement in a year regardless.
When he signed his last contract in 2013, he decided to retire at this point. Now, as the time arrives — his last day is June 30 — he is content.
“I couldn’t be happier. As I described, I’ve completed all the things that I needed to complete. I think Quinnipiac’s in a very strong position and I have great confidence that the university will continue to excel,” said Lahey.
In the future, he will continue to serve on boards and plans to teach philosophy at Quinnipiac in the fall of 2019. His wife is pleased as he steps away, allowing them to live in the warmer climate of Florida.
He thanked his colleagues, the friends he and his wife have made, the contributors to the university over the years. His time there has been a pleasure, he said.
“(In) my 31 years at Quinnipiac, I don’t have a single complaint or regret. The university has done well. I personally have enjoyed what I’ve done,” said Lahey. “It’s been very much a team effort. I really feel very good about the senior management, faculty relations, students, the alumni, our board of trustees. It’s really been a wonderful team effort.”
Lahey said he was given a rare chance at Quinnipiac. A poor kid from The Bronx, he had the chance to leave a fundamental imprint on the university, along with a team of people — to transform an institution and what it offers to the world.
“Those opportunities don’t come along very often in higher education, so I feel very fortunate,” said Lahey. “I think it’s what’s made these last 31 years and three months so enjoyable and professionally rewarding for me.”