. the announcement was made in march. you will not assume the position until next summer. has your thinking clarified at all? >> not really, but that is a fair question. i'm carefully enthusiastic and excited about being able to work at the intersection of culture and science. i spent my life in science and medicine but i think the humanistic disciplines art and culture are unbelievably important and we are living in a stem oriented age. so it is a fabulous opportunity to work at this institution. that is a way of sidestepping your question. i really do not have specific ideas of what we will happen yet. >> one of the things you did say. i think your as though one of my colleagues about

admission fees. you said something i will read. i am not aware of any aspect of the for-profit world that does not have to take another look at the business models. that sounds like a dog be open. is it? >> not as far as i'm concerned, but let me say that again and try to be more clear. everybody can get in there and these days you don't even have to come to washington to do it thanks to the work on digitizing private collections which is a fabulous idea to make it more accessible. in washington you can come in. what i did say two different thoughts got fired business models of everything that depends on government funding will have to be more and more creative

private public partnerships are springing up everywhere because of the reality of revenue with no intention of making those institutions less successful. >> it may be more difficult. i think there was a piece saying at cornell was number six when it comes to the number of alumni that are billionaires. under the tenure there was a lot of debate about where the line should be john when it comes to entering into private relationships on the smithsonian side. a lot of people complained about that. any sense from your work in the university for something

like the smithsonian when it comes to those sort of things in the future. >> a great question. everyone i have ever worked at come a pyramidal structure were many people give amounts their comfortable with and fewer give more and fewer give more. you are able to give enormous breathtaking gifts. and that kind of pyramid is true for every nonprofit that raises money and i am hugely impressed the smithsonian has raised billions of dollars toward the campaign an organization that does not have alumni but the brand of the smithsonian, if i can use that word, is fabulous. i i have been trained turn

that baby off. i think that the fundraising will be different but it will be doable and a lot of people are supportive of it. but despite the fundraising and despite the very generous money that comes from the us government they will be a push to find other, what i we will call enterprise tie funding and every nonprofit thinks about this broad range of revenue streams. but i we will say that defining where the line is the indefinitely and in terms of what fits the ethos of the institution's unbelievably important. i we will try to be open about it and hope that people will comment on way they think that line should be drawn. i cannot say much about the showtime.

it is important to think about enterprise functions functions, but it must be done in a way where everyone feels good. >> the other controversy seems to be cultural issues the current secretary gotten to a good deal of hot water an exhibition game one item was deemed offensive. the secretary decided to pull it. and and they do not want to second-guess your predecessor but coming out of the university context you have been quite strong about stressing the free speech aspect over the stability question. is is that -- do those issues -- will a transfer? can you run the smithsonian

with the same emphasis? >> well, yes. i think it is important to do so and in general the smithsonian does that. as you suggested, i am suggested, i am not going to second-guess what i am sure was a hard decision. i we will say that as we talked about a few minutes ago my creative activity tends to foster controversy. recently the smithsonian came out with a bold statement on climate change saying that based on data it looks as if the warming going on that you cannot argue about is doing great part to human activity command it was not too long ago that a a statement like that would have been widely controversial. so whether it is science and certainly arts and in my.of view the humanities very quickly fosters controversy.

we we need to be able to embrace the controversy and be part of the culture world and the science world in a way that makes sense carefully and thoughtfully but not necessarily back away. honestly i can't come to have comment. >> you have been willing to attract controversy with your positions on immigration reform and other issues like that. we need robust funding. can you be a public public advocate for the humanities in essence? >> i have been pushing hard for neh funding for years and years.

it will be less important than calling attention to the fact that the humanities and the arts as well are very important. in a stem oriented age we all know that the economy has not totally bounced back it is important that we do not lose track of these disciplines. i think it is important and i hope that we can work with and learn from the other leaders of the institution who know many times more than i do. the bully pulpit platform should be used.

whatever public positions i have taken have been linked to higher education, something that i had some familiarity with you on hear me talking about things in washington i am not directly involved in. arguing that the country should not turn his back is important. i am proud to have been one of the authors of the report released a couple of years ago arguing that the broad range of disciplines need to be pursued the matter what we're talking about whether it's economic competitiveness placement for students we have to think broadly. >> in several interviews you have said the cost and

affordability of tuition. you have also been a remarkable fundraiser. $732 million of which only 30 million has been earmarked specifically for things like student made. is that the right balance? >> this is a terrific question. you already asked some bad ones. [laughter] in any case my will tell you that the broad, broad all the problems.

the biggest three i regret the university of iowa i was unable to change the balance more effectively between access and affordability. in the usual place. a big endowment. about 100 of the 4000 colleges in the us have substantial endowments so a little an important piece. we are able to for half of the families in america can go to cornell and have no parental contribution and not borrow any money for student loan and that the other end of the spectrum are people whose assets permit them to pay cash even

for a very expensive education, but between those aspects of the socioeconomic spectrum people who make too much i didn't do a good enough job of organizing that command it takes two parts to organize some serious change in the cost matrix of the university so that it costs less to run. i eliminated to vice presidencies can't take my salary down and did other things to reduce cost but that was not enough. the other end was sick increase revenue. now let's talk about the other half of what your asking. if it costs roughly 50,000 in tuition and fees, it is a little bit more than that let's call it 50 the person who wants to donate a

scholarship, and endowment that would last forever it is a $1 million contribution that we will yield nominal earnings at about 50000 a year a huge amount of money if another contributor wishes to contribute to a capitol construction project and is fortunate enough to get a 50 or hundred million or $200 million gift, that greatly outweighs the balance. the bottom line is i am guilty as charged. we we should have found a better way and still need to to balance shrinking the cost matrix and somehow bringing more revenue in and not basing that revenue increased so heavily on tuition which has been the most obvious lover to pull. we need to keep pushing. i have run into people who want to contribute to my talk priority student aid

but i did not do enough. >> before we leave this is a man who also plays the flute. they both apparently have lost my cell phone number. and when i saw him recently i said you don't call you don't write, i never here from you. i was going to be a studio musician. it turned out that everyone in la was a better musician i taught but i do it as navigation. and taking a video course for very instructive and

playing a little tiny bit. and i we will make it hard. >> it is on youtube. [applause]

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♪ ♪ [applause] >> hello, everybody. well, happy easter. we are so blessed to have this beautiful day and have so many friends in our backyard. melia and sasha had school

stuff going on today but wanted to spend their last year along with the easter bunny. this is always one of our favorite events. we hope you are having fun. this is a particularly special easter egg roll because we have actually got a birthday to celebrate. it is the 5th anniversary of the 1st ladies let's move edition. [applause] and to help us celebrate we have got the outstanding young voice hip harmony here to help us sing happy birthday. is everyone ready? all right. >> hello. hi.

>> high. thank you so much to the president and first lady for having us. it is such an honor and so incredibly cool to be seeing at the white house. so honored to be here to help saying ms. obama's initiative, happy birthday. cool that she helps people all of the nation want to be active and healthy. we wanted to present you guys a birthday cake. [applause] >> happy birthday, happy easter. >> all right. are we ready to sing? let's do this. are you going to sing with us? ♪ happy birthday to you. ♪

happy birthday to you. ♪♪ happy birthday. ♪♪♪ happy birthday to you. ♪ >> thank you. >> thank you so much. >> happy easter. >> happy easter. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. >> appreciated. good job. [inaudible conversations] >> all right. all right. >> that was so good. let's give them a round of

applause. [applause] you guys, welcome to the easter egg roll. this is the 5th anniversary of let's move and we are celebrating my taking over the straight role with #give me five. the fun and exciting way we are trying to get the whole country to celebrate the 5th birthday of let's move and are asking americans of all ages to give me five ways they are leading a healthier life five jumping jacks, eating five in vegetables, maybe doing a give me five dance. you name it. go on and insta graham it #give me five, and then challenge someone else. we we have had so much fun doing this challenge. beyoncé michael strahan

everyone is joining. ryan seacrest. be a part of the movement. i want to thank you for coming. coming. i want to thank the staff and volunteers. give it up for our volunteers who worked so hard to put this together. [applause] and i want you to enjoy this day, take advantage of the great activities the cooking stage we have over they're. i we will be at the main stage in a few minutes, and we will be doing the give me five dance with the so you think you can dance all-stars and mentors must be about learning the steps because we will do it in just a few minutes. [applause] with that we will get down there and do some easter egg rolling. thank you. have a great time. time. happy easter. love you. [applause]

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>> we are polling them on as fast as we can.