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The former presidents' club (continued)
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| Former Montana State University president Bill Tietz. Photo coutresy of MSU News Service. |
"Thirty, 40 years ago, I never dreamt that it would be a problem," McIntosh said. "I thought it would have been over in the days of eye patches and wooden legs."
From there, the discussion careened to MSU collaborations, fuel made from algae and fungus, carbon sequestration, foreign language requirements when the men were graduate students and mandatory chapel attendance when McIntosh was an undergraduate at a strict Baptist college. McIntosh said the school wouldn't allow dances to be advertised in the school newspaper, so when bandleader Tommy Dorsey came to town, it simply announced that his orchestra would give a concert.
The conversation progressed.
Tietz said he was impressed with MSU's commitment to reducing carbon emissions across the West, then brought up an e-mail he received that complained about what the writer felt was the superficial reasoning behind global warming.
McIntosh responded by exploring how "we use high-level abstractions instead of the obvious." He talked about the wording in an obituary, a news story about euthanized animals and finally about federal bailouts. Regarding the bailouts, he wanted to know why the country dumps truckloads of money into troubled industries instead of fixing them.
"Let's think about getting rid of high-level abstractions and solve the problem," McIntosh said.
"I object to the level of greed," Tietz added. "People don't want to admit they screwed up."
As the hour wound down, McIntosh pulled out drawings of insects he made as a teenager. The date on one said 1929.
"You had real talent," Tietz said.
The discussion eventually led to challenges the two had faced as presidents of MSU, their contrasting management styles and how they might handle MSU if they were in charge today.
"I have no idea how I would operate now," Tietz said.
"It was a different time," McIntosh agreed.
MSU historians who wrote In the People's Interest: A Centennial History of Montana State University said both presidents served in turbulent times, but they had widely different approaches to problems.
"Carl has always been a gentle and gentlemanly person," Tietz summarized. "I'm not."
And yet, the two--12 years apart in age and coming to MSU at different stages in their careers-became friends through similar experiences, mutual respect and love of a good conversation.
"A great fondness (has) developed, at least from my point of view," Tietz said.
Almost time to part, McIntosh suggested they prepare for their next discussion by reading more about pirates.
"That's a good one," Tietz said. He added that he'd like to see a map of pirate attacks, figure out how international law applies and learn the potential role of submarines.
The two agreed that they would get together after the confusion of Christmas.
"That's a good time for piracy," McIntosh said of their upcoming meeting. "I'll be in touch."
> Spring 2009 Contents
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