Ex-Minnesota State Chancellor Named to Lead Troubled USIU

Garry D. Hays, a former chancellor of the Minnesota State University system, was named president of United States International University on Monday.

Trustees of the beleaguered private university with headquarters in Scripps Ranch unanimously selected Hays, 56, who is now vice-chairman of HELP Management Corp of St. Paul. That corporation both acts as a lender of last resort to college students who have difficulty in obtaining loans from private agencies and buys student loans from commercial agencies as a way of encouraging more loans.

Hays will take over as USIU’s chief educational officer May 26, at a time when the university is operating under a federal court-approved reorganization plan resulting from a bankruptcy filing in December 1990.

The 38-year-old university is attempting to pay off a debt estimated by creditors to be as high as $30 million. The university has until July, 1994, to satisfy its estimated 3,000 creditors, and is moving ahead with plans to sell its prestigious London campus as well as 57 undeveloped acres in Scripps Ranch next to its main campus.

Since declaring bankruptcy, the university has operated in the black, slashing monthly expenses by $403,000 through suspension of its intercollegiate athletic program and several fine arts majors, as well as by laying off 64 employees. It now has 1,732 students in the Unites States at Scripps Ranch and several small academic centers. More than half are in graduate programs, and all but 400 are at the main San Diego campus. Worldwide at three overseas campuses--London, Nairobi and Mexico City--there are another 835 students.

USIU trustee Robert Armstrong, who chaired the search committee, said Monday, “Hays not only has the strong background as an educational leader and the skills to develop needed financial resources for the university, but is also a terrific person.”

Hays, who headed the Minnesota system from 1976 to 1982, said he has “been tremendously impressed with the enthusiasm of the USIU board, students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members with whom I met.”

Hays received a doctorate in history at the University of Kansas and was a professor and administrator at colleges in Kansas, Minnesota and Virginia before becoming vice chancellor for academic affairs for the Minnesota system in 1971.

He will follow retired U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McLennan, who has served as interim president since December 1989. McLennan plans to remain with USIU in a less demanding capacity.