Excerpts of Margaret Spellings’ remarks

On running the U.S. Department of Education, responding to Hurricane Katrina, the Virginia Tech shooting and the 2008 financial crisis:

“These experiences have taught me to tackle big, consequential challenges in straightforward, commonsense ways. These experiences have taught me to stay focused, to use information and data to drive improvement and chart progress, to anticipate issues and to be prepared for unexpected challenges. These experiences have prepared me for the role I am about to take.”

On students in North Carolina:

“As we move forward, let us always remain grateful to this state and its taxpayers for establishing a proud and distinguished history of generously providing the resources required for excellence in higher education. Our promise to them is the opportunity, through hard work and rigorous study, to earn a college degree that is both affordable and meaningful, one that enhances their prospects and gives them real opportunity, and a fulfilling and successful life. That’s our shared promise to our students.”

On reform in higher education:

“Higher education is changing and we have to change with it. The faculty know that, we all know that. Our publics are demanding that. They want a good value proposition and they want it affordably.”

On whether she can win faculty over:

“I have skills that are different from theirs. I’m not an academic and I’m not a teacher. I’m not a researcher. I’m somebody who understands public policy making, I understand advocacy, I understand how to bring people together around a shared mission and I have a track record of doing that in my career. So I think there’s plenty of work for everybody and I look forward to working with faculty in this state to advance our shared cause. I would ask them to give me a chance.” As I said, I’m thrilled to be working with them. We have a lot in common – much more in common than what separates us.

On criticism of her stance in a 2005 controversy in which she wrote a stern letter to PBS, warning about an episode of the animated children’s show, “Postcards from Buster,” that showed gay characters:

“I have no comment about those lifestyles,” she said in response to a reporter’s question. “That was a matter of how we use taxpayer dollars, not any particular view that I have on particular groups of people or individuals.”

On her 2012-13 service on the board of Apollo Group, the parent company of the University of Phoenix, the for-profit university under federal investigation and highly criticized for its practices:

“I think there is plenty of room and plenty of opportunity for every single higher education provider, whether it’s the for-profit sector, whether it’s the nonprofit sector, the private sector. You name it, we need it because we have lots of work to do to reach the kind of attainment that we need to. So I don’t think we should be threatened by that. That industry invented higher education in a way that was more convenient for working adults, and many in traditional higher education have responded....The reason I did it was because I learned a lot about how we can serve our students and think of them as customers in providing a product in convenient ways for them.”

On the relationship with the UNC Board of Governors:

“My expectation is that I will work with the Board of Governors to bring them together around our shared goals, to be about results over process. We want to get folks organized around a few, very powerful, very strategic goals.”

On the achievement gap:

“Our record today in this country of having completion rates that are good enough for Hispanic and African American students, in particular, falls woefully short. If we know that most of the jobs require post-secondary education and not enough of our people have those levels of skills and attainment, they will not have access to the American dream....We have to turn our attention more vigorously to opportunity for all. I really, really believe that.”

On former President George W. Bush:

“I’ve worked for him for a long time. I tell young people, ‘when you find a good boss, stick with them’ and I certainly have done that. He’s given me incredible opportunities. You know, he’s sad to see me go...but he’s a great friend and he was extremely supportive of this incredible opportunity for me.”

This story was originally published October 23, 2015 at 9:13 PM with the headline "Excerpts of Margaret Spellings’ remarks."