Andy Thibault

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Cool Justice
Look: It's A Man In That Suit
By ANDY THIBAULT, Columnist
Law Tribune Newspapers
January 2, 2006

Never trust a guy in shiny shoes, one of my mentors advised me. As he advanced up the corporate ladder, he lost some of the edge and shrugged off the advice. It was a great loss to newsrooms, but we all have to eat and care for our loved ones.

I remain wary of those who have mastered bureaucracies. Often they get ahead by stepping on people, compromising principles and sucking up in all the right places. Competence is not always a strong suit for these suits. Some, though, break the mold in masterful ways, remain human and actually serve the people they are charged with serving. Bill Cibes is one such man.

Dr. William J. Cibes Jr., Chancellor of the Connecticut State University System, retires Jan. 31 after 12 years at the helm.

"This is sad news," said Franz Douskey, a poet and author who has worked with Cibes on projects for young writers. "Bill Cibes is one of those great, rare humans. He has a sensitivity, and a soul that has not been lost. They might as well rewrite the job description because the University System will not find anyone like Bill."

Enrollment is at an all time high for Connecticut's largest public university system, with more than 35,000 students on campuses in Danbury, New Haven, New Britain and Willimantic. A total of 166 academic programs are offered throughout the system, and more than 5,000 degrees are awarded annually. It's still a deal, even though tuition has risen significantly: For an in-state undergraduate student, total tuition and required fees for 2005-06 averages $5,936.

For many years, Cibes has driven curriculum to keep pace with the knowledge economy that bumped U.S. Steel, General Motors and other industrial giants off the top of the heap. He pushed to get the system wired totally for broadband and online classes as part of an $850 million upgrade of the four campuses over the past 10 years.

Significantly, as a politician, Cibes was a trusted person even to those who strongly opposed his views. When Lowell Weicker was saying that establishing a state income tax would be like pouring gas on a roaring fire, Cibes put forward a detailed plan to establish such a tax. Cibes saw it as a necessity and was open and honest about it. Thus, after 10 years as a state representative from New London, he gained support of the conservative Bill O'Neill wing of the Democratic party - which virulently opposed the tax -- to replace O'Neill as governor. Cibes lost a primary to the progressive Bruce Morrison, but emerged as a person of unquestioned integrity. Weicker, who won over Morrison and Republican John Rowland in 1990, appointed Cibes as his budget director.

Over the years, Cibes has supported little people, people without power or political juice, in quiet ways. I'm not saying he's an easy mark, because he is not. But, I have personally seen him dip into his own pocket - not the university system's - to help people and outside programs in need. He also promoted and supported the iconoclast poet Leo Connellan, who was resented and opposed by many so-called traditional academics as Poet in Residence for the Connecticut State University System.

The system will survive because of the good people in it and because Cibes is being succeeded by the dynamic president of Eastern Connecticut State University, David Carter. But, Douskey the poet is right: They will never find anyone quite like Bill Cibes.

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