Dr. Matthew Goldstein began his address at the Garden City Chamber of Commerce's fall kickoff luncheon at the Garden City Hotel by joking, "I'm not just another academic who has written books and articles; I was once a small businessman, who realized I should do something else." After the laughter from the assemblage of merchants and business people quieted, Goldstein explained that when he was a boy growing up in Manhattan, he had planned and saved to open a shoeshine stand in Union Square Park. He laughed and said, "My calculations were right on the mark," but unfortunately he "didn't do a customer survey" to determine if the public would respond well to the new liquid shoe polish he intended to use. After his first customer kicked his little stand up into the air after seeing the liquid shoe polish, instead of the traditional polish he expected to get, Goldstein says he decided to go into education.

While he had been "intrigued with the possibility of making money" as he planned his shoeshine stand, but was dissapointed with all of the elements of being a small business owner, he says he finds that being at the helm of a university requires "a tremendous amount of business acumen" and savvy. His job at the University is to not only restore the University's reputation after the damage the Diamandopolous scandal days had done, but to restore the institution's financial well-being. The union between his boyhood interest in business and his vision for charting the University's success in the competitive higher education market is already producing an atmosphere of hope for the future of the school among the faculty and the students, made evident by the increase in enrollment this year. An 81 percent increase stands as tangible proof that people believe in Goldstein, a mathematician and statistician and former president of Baruch College at the City University of New York.

Part of his vision for the University, he told the Chamber members, is to develop a partnership between the school and the community, particularly the Village in which it is located, Garden City. He says that he and his staff will be working at "breaking the boundaries that keep the University from the community in which it is located. We want to be your good neighbor." He informed the Chamber that he and Mayor Frank Tauches and Village Administrator Bob Schoelle have met and discussed how to create "the environment for that partnership. We want to be your partner in the truest sense of the word." He also gave credit to Adelphi Vice-President for External Affairs and Community Relation Carl Rheins, who Goldstein called the "driving force" behind this effort.

Goldstein commented that Adelphi has "to think much more entreprenurially. We ought to be competing with business." He noted that as an institution of higher learning it is their role to develop new knowledge and to attract and develop "the best thinking." He says he feels that the school needs to be "working with mission agencies on contracts" as they "have the talent and the resources to do it." He says that their resources could be a tremendous asset to the businesses of Garden City and their students and professors should be "working with you."

Goldstein also addressed the issue of standards and tuition. Many univsersities in America have been criticized in the last few years for valuing tuition dollars above the standards of education and reputation of the school. SAT score requirements and grade point average minimums at many major universities have been lowered. Students who would normally be placed on academic probation or dismissed from the university are kept. Schools on Long Island are not free of the choice between maintaining strict academic standards and lowering the bar to admit more students and thus gain more in tuition dollars. Barons has reported a decrease in the ranking of universities such as Hofstra University, which had held a high ranking nationally, but now has lost its standing, making it more difficult for graduates in job markets off Long Island.

Goldstein vows that he will "raise the bar" at Adelphi and challenges the policy of competing schools to put the focus on tuition rather than the quality of the school. He wants to restore the image of Adelphi both on Long Island and nationally to make a diploma from Adelphi a valuable asset for their alumni. He says, "We will provide an academic program that is rigorous" and will develop a program that will "meet market demand." He added, "It's about standards. I've talked to employers and heard the lamentations from them that students are just not up to the challenges of today."

While he wants to create a program that provides the essential skills for today's job market, he explains, "I'm not just talking about skills -- I'm talking about very real abilities -- to read and understand, to get up in front of an audience and explain complicated phenomenon, to make one's ideas clear -- too often we hear of graduates entering the marketplace with poor writing skills, students dependent on technology to solve problems, not understanding the solutions. We must raise the bar. Every time you lower the level of the river, there is less need for students to learn to swim." He says he wants to "reverse the trend."

He acknolwledges that this is "a risky strategy." One of the problems of the Diamandopolous days was the former president's vision to make Adelphi a little Ivy League school on Long Island. While the school is dependent on tuition, and unless students are enrolled, the school loses money, he says he wants to "maintain the value." He explained, "I believe that for Adelphi, this is the right thing. There will be truthfulness and accountability. The students we produce will be highly valued."

Interdisciplinary studies is also a major goal of Goldstein's. He says he sees the business world as tremendously reliant on a wide variety of disciplines today, and wants to produce students who can meet those challenges. Adelphi has made significant changes to their College of Arts and Sciences. Goldstein explained, "instead of 22 different departments, they've been collapsed into five divisions, each has thematics, bringing together subjects in interrelatedness. We're connecting foreign languages and politics; in international business it helps to know the holidays, the sociology, etc. of the culture where one is attempting to do business."

They've also developed a tenure purchase initiative to help them reshape their faculty by 20 percent. Goldstein says that "by changing the mix of the faculty, we change the platform and will benefit from having instructors trained to work in various programs. We're going to be a leader in not only this region, but in the nation in emerging education."

In addition to Goldstein's presentation at the luncheon, an announcement was made that the former A&S building is currently undergoing work to renovate the structure, which will soon become the home to four new shops (leases pending) and office space. Excitement was expressed about the opening of Waterzooi restaurant and thanks were made to the Albanese family for their efforts in bringing in new business to the Village.

It was announced that Garden City resident and New York State Senator Kemp Hannon has secured a $10,000 grant for the Chamber's website, which will list timetables for the RR and rideshare information, and provide links to the Village's organizations and groups. This is a multimillion dollar experiment. Garden City will serve as the test site for the nation. Mayor Tauches opened his remarks at the luncheon by adding, "Anytime national attention will be focused on the Village I'm happy."

The mayor also reported that the Village is in the due diligence process with CareMatrix for St. Paul's, which is progressing. As a result of the last Board of Trustees meeting, the Village's Recreation Department is now looking into the future uses of the St. Paul's fields. Mayor Tauches reports that he "asked Bruce Torino [trustee and liaision to the Recreation Department] to look into the most effective utilization of the fields." They will be using the Rothschild Report as "the starting point."

The Franklin Avenue plans are moving forward, but the mayor says he was, "very disappointed in the number of bids and certainly disappointed in the prices." He says the prices stated were, "higher than expected and budgeted for." Now the Village is working to determine their course of action. Tauches added, "I have no higher priority as mayor than to put Franklin Avenue on track to be all it can be -- not what it was -- but all it can be for the 21st century."

Over the winter, the staff at Village Hall will be calling the St. Paul's cottages home, while the additions to the Stewart Avenue side of the Hall are made. The building will be brought closer to the street and will help eleminate the cramped conditions, particularly for the Garden City Police Department. He also thanked the Chamber for the Wonderful Wednesdays concert series and said he's very excited about the growing relationship between Adelphi and Garden City.

Jerry Unger and Mark Barbatsuly were awarded Certificates of Appreciation for their efforts with the concert series. Unger noted that Project Garden City is already working on plans for next summer. Unger was also congratulated for winning the 60-second commercial and also for becoming the Chamber's latest Small Businessperson of the Year.

The luncheon ended with high hopes for the future of the Village and its downtown area as plans for Franklin Avenue continues.