The closing moments of the State of the University Address came to a screeching halt when Senior Vice President for Administration and Finance Larry Mucciolo responded to a question posed by Student Government Association Senator Andres Vargas.

Vargas asked Mucciolo to explain why tuition was raised last year, if the university, in fact, experienced a $21 million surplus at the end of the fiscal year.

The Sr. VP was the point person for this particular instance, and has been the point person since Nov. 1997, when he began his stint at NU. Mucciolo handles matters concerning the budget and university spending.

Mucciolo rose from his seat, stepped up to the podium and said the university began the year with a surplus of $21 million and ended with a loss of $6 million.

“And that’s simply the end of it.”

And then he sat down.

Is this what President Freeland envisioned as a “student centered education?”

Hardly.

Mucciolo brushed Vargas off in front of administrators, faculty and some of the most outspoken students on campus. The audience was obviously dismayed when Mucciolo responded, some even gasped and one student said, “you call that leadership?”

What a way to start the academic year.

To say that Mucciolo let his emotions get the best of him is an understatement, and he saw the error of his ways shortly after his memorable quote for he immediately e-mailed Vargas to apologize and further explain the situation. Mucciolo also contacted Ed Klotzbier, then wearing the hat of director of university communications (otherwise known as damage control) to fix the mix-up and explain that Mucciolo didn’t really mean what he said.

So let’s give Mucciolo the benefit of the doubt. He was caught up in the heat of the moment, and misspoke, and after all, he did make the attempt to contact Vargas and the press to explain what he really meant to say.

Point taken.

But is this the kind of leadership that will take the university into the top 100? Is this what student centeredness looks like? And what about the other people in attendence? Do they not deserve an explination and or an apology as well?

The university should be embarrassed, as should Mucciolo. That one statement did more harm than good. Although the comment was brief, its effects may prove to be long-lasting among the administration, faculty, but most importantly — the students.

When matters of millions of dollars are question, administrators owe the students at least some sort of explanation, rather than a matter of fact statement. If the administration expects to be taken seriously by the student body, then the administrators must first take students and their concerns seriously.