The Good 5 Cent Cigar

Issue date: 4/28/09 Section: Special Features

04/28/09 - Like many great thinkers before him, University of Rhode Island President Robert L. Carothers had a dream.

But unlike dreams of peace and more money for the university, Carothers woke up with a very different idea.

Standing in his office yesterday morning, chuckling, he said, "I had this dream that I was dead. My oldest son and daughter had debated about what to do with all these plaques." Continuing, he gestured to the various knick-knacks decorating his office: mementos from years past, images of Rhody the Ram and numerous awards. "Who would want this stuff?"

Strolling around his workplace, he pointed out a four-foot tall painted, balding figure holding a stack of books. Standing next to Carothers's side shelves, the figure stares at a wall adorned with a borrowed Picasso painting from a former URI president's office.

Laughing, he said, "People are a little bit spooked by it."

A golden-framed painting hung on a wall adjacent to his desk, cluttered with notes, binders and directories of university staff. Carothers ambled over to the picture of a rock beside an overgrown pond, with shades of blue, green, brown and gray. Next to the painting, a leafy plant lies in front of an office window.

Carothers called the painting "a peaceful scene."

Pausing for a moment in front of the art, Carothers stopped. "I'm looking at this, and it's kind of calming," he said.

The painting is not the only thing in Carothers' office that calms him after stressful meetings with Rhode Island's top officials, heads of university colleges or student group leaders. Sprinkled throughout his "second home" are reminders of his actual home in Saunderstown, R.I., with his wife, Dean of University College Jayne Richmond, and children.

Continued...

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