Minority assumes office

Bobby Fong has come a long way from teaching himself English from comic books and math from baseball cards.\nFor Butler University, the 2001-02 academic year ushers in a new era. Fong will be replacing interim president Gwen A. Fountain in June. Geoffrey Banister, who served as president for 10 years, ended his term a year ago.\nThe son of Cantonese immigrants, Fong was born in California and lived there until he was 14. His father first came to the United States because he and his wife felt they didn't have a future in Hong Kong. Fong's mother was unable to join her husband until 1949, 10 years after he arrived. \nThen, two years after Fong was born in the United States, his father died. Fong said the family -- including his two sisters -- was never physically together. Fong's father worked as a butcher before his death, while his mother stitched in a garment shop.\n In high school, Fong developed a love of literature and did well enough to attend Harvard. Initially, he was a pre-med major, until a friend advised him to do something for its own sake. Fong went to UCLA and earned his doctorate in English.\n"Education's been my avenue to a better life," Fong said.\nFong began his career as a professor at small Berea College in Kentucky. He then discovered he had a knack for administration and became the dean of arts and humanities at Hope College in Michigan. For the past six years, Fong served as the dean of the faculty at Hamilton College in New York.\nHis wife, Suzanne, is a lawyer. The couple has two sons, Jonathan, 16, and Colin, 11. Jonathan takes after his parents while Colin is an athlete and musician, Fong said. \nFong was drawn to Butler mainly because of the school's core requirements. All students have the same foundation in liberal arts, a base Fong feels is important to all liberally minded people. He said the incorporation of professional studies and the use of Indianapolis's resources is also important. \nOne of 20 Asian-American university presidents, Fong said he hopes he can be a role model for students. \n"You can come out of a working class background and you can be a person of color," Fong said. \nFong said he knows that it is unusual for an Asian American to be the president of a private university. Traditionally, he said, Asians come from cultures of cooperative work and humility. Therefore, they are not considered "aggressive enough" to obtain high-ranking positions, a perception Fong said is false.\nDirector of multicultural affairs at Butler Valerie Davidson said the Indianapolis university has become increasingly diverse in the past 20 years, and that it is an continuous process. She feels having Fong as president speaks for the the university's efforts in increasing diversity.\nTrustees Chairman Stephen Briganti said Fong's ethnicity was not important in his hiring. \n"We felt that he made the best analysis... of Butler and its needs for the future," Briganti said.\nBriganti also cites Fong's education, experience and serious nature in regard to the importance of higher education as factors in his selection. Fong was chosen from a group of 100 applicants by a search committee that included faculty members and the student body president. \n"I see him in a way as... the American Dream," Briganti said.