Fear a foe in covid fight, says UA’s interim chief
FAYETTEVILLE — The pandemic’s challenges include managing fears caused by the virus, said Charles Robinson, set to become on Monday the interim chancellor for the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
“Covid may be here forever. The issue is, we have to learn how to navigate this,” said Robinson.
The university will “do all the things that are smart” to reduce risks, Robinson said, “but I also think there is a mitigation of the fear that we have to continue to work on.”
Robinson on Tuesday said he was waiting to hear from UA System leaders on the issue of face coverings. A Pulaski County Circuit Court judge last Friday temporarily blocked a state anti-masking law pending the outcome of a court challenge.
“I believe that the [trustees] board and the president will be offering us guidance on this. It’s my hope that we will have a better sense of what we can and cannot do. We want to be respectful of the state law, but at the same time we are concerned about our campus community,” Robinson said, adding that he hopes to hear back “this week.”
The law, Act 1002, prohibits state-supported universities, public schools, state agencies — as well as any state or local official — from requiring face coverings. A different state law, Act 977, prohibits state agencies or entities from requiring covid-19 vaccination.
Hospitalizations from covid-19 this week reached record levels in Arkansas, according to the state data.
“We’ve had mask mandates in our buildings,” Robinson said, referring to a campus mask mandate in place during the previous academic year. “We have encouraged people
to get tested and we also are encouraging vaccination.”
For the upcoming semester, “we have to stay focused and committed to protecting the health of our campus community, but also doing what is best to support our teaching and learning mission,” Robinson said.
Robinson, UA’s provost and executive vice chancellor for academic and student affairs, was announced on Monday as the pick to lead the campus at least through the fall semester.
His appointment will not keep him from being considered during a national search to find UA’s next top campus administrator to replace Joe Steinmetz, according to UA System President Donald Bobbitt. Steinmetz resigned in June.
Robinson, 55, will become the first Black chancellor ever at UA, after last year becoming the university’s first Black provost, or top academic officer.
In a phone interview Tuesday, Robinson described his approach to leadership and expectations for the fall.
Students move into residence halls this week and classes begin Aug. 23. UA continues to plan for a full return to in-person classes.
Robinson said that while the university can provide online education that works, face-to-face classes “are really what we do best” and where students “seem to do better.”
“We want to give those students an opportunity to engage in the type of learning environment and also the type of social environment that is best suited for their learning, development and mental health,” Robinson said.
Robinson, a historian, has taught in the classroom during the pandemic.
“I don’t want faculty to feel like I’m just giving them marching orders,” Robinson said. “I’m trying to practice what I preach.”
Robinson joined UA’s faculty in 1999. He’s previously led UA’s African & African American Studies Program. In 2009, Robinson became UA’s top diversity officer, staying in that role until a 2016 appointment to become vice chancellor for student affairs.
“It’s really not about you as an administrator,” Robinson said. “It’s about students, faculty and staff, and, ‘How can you support them?’ I’ve learned that humility is helpful. If you make a mistake, which you inevitably will, it’s OK, as long as you learn from it,” Robinson said.
Robinson said his appointment as a Black man to the chancellor’s post “says something about the university, that this is a place where that is possible.”
While he’s “very proud of being an African American,” Robinson added: “I don’t think of myself as being a Black administrator, I think of myself as being an administrator who happens to be Black.”
After the death last May of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a police officer while handcuffed and lying face down on a Minneapolis street, widespread street demonstrations took place against racism and police brutality. Black students at UA and other colleges took to social media to describe instances of campus racism and inequity.
Robinson said he thinks the university over the past year or so “has improved its ability to listen to our students and hear their concerns.”
He said that “this fall I intend to really engage the campus community” and speak directly to student groups “not because there’s a crisis,” but because students need to hear “how important they are to the university.”
“We will continue to look for ways to help students feel a greater sense of belonging, not only to this campus, but also to this state,” Robinson said.
Steinmetz, in his resignation message, referred to the “many challenges” of “trying to manage a university in today’s polarized society.”
Robinson said there may be areas of division, “but I don’t focus on that.”
“I focus on our commonality, our sense of community, our sense that we can help each and every one of us feel better about being connected to the University of Arkansas and the good that comes out of this state, the people of this state who care about one another,” Robinson said. “The way I see it, I have to see it that way.”
Robinson is a Houston native and a father to four, including two children from previous relationships. He’s married to Reynelda Augustine-Robinson, who has a child from a previous relationship, and the couple have had one child together.
Reynelda Augustine-Robinson works for UA’s Honors College with its development team.
The university on Tuesday announced Robinson’s picks for interim provost and interim vice chancellor for student affairs.
Terry Martin, senior vice provost for academic affairs, will become interim provost effective Monday. Martin, a UA engineering faculty member for more than 20 years, will earn $300,000 annual salary rate in the role, up from his current annual pay of $263,008, UA spokesman John Thomas said.
Melissa Harwood-Rom, dean of students, will become interim vice chancellor for student affairs, also effective Monday. Harwood-Rom, a UA dean since 2013, will earn a $200,000 annual salary rate, up from her current pay of $160,723, Thomas said.