In the wake of the University's announcement last week that it would not renew current Primate Center director Kenneth Glander's contract, the center's staff has voiced concern that they have been left out of important discussions. But senior-level administrators say they value the employees' input and have not made any long-term decisions about the center's fate.
"The director was summarily dismissed with no notice," said staff specialist Dorothy Clark. "And if you think they could do it at the top, what do you think they would do to the bottom?"
In a memorandum last Wednesday, Provost Peter Lange informed Clark and other staff members about the Glander decision, citing the results of two recent reviews of the center.
William Chafe, dean of the faculty of arts and sciences, cautioned against unnecessary panic.
He said he and Lange plan to meet with the employees to discuss the matter. "We're not going to be making definite decisions about the center for at least another year or two," he said. "It would be absurd to say they are not informed of the full discussion."
But employees say that they
Clark said the first time she knew differently was when she read an article published in The Chronicle last October, describing discussions about disinvestment at a meeting of the Arts and Sciences Council.
"With so little information from the administration, we fear the worst," said Melissa Dean, a staff assistant at the Primate Center. "We all believe that the review is a good thing. The fact that they have kept it so secretive and we still don't know anything--we are going, OOh my God, they are going to close us.'"
Lange said the reviews demonstrated that the Primate Center is not living up to its research and teaching potential. As a result, the University will extend resources to the center in the short term and direct it to focus on academic research until the administration comes to a longer-term solution.
Combined with Glander's dismissal and administrative silence about the reviews, the increased focus on research has caused employees to worry that the University's priorities may not reflect their own.
"We got the impression that they wanted to support research that made lots of money--not the kind of research that could save species of animals," said Rachel Harold, a junior who had a work-study job at the center this spring.
Senior technician Bill Hess said he worried about conservation efforts at the center. "We have always been research-oriented and we have been told to be more research-oriented and less conservation-oriented," he said.
"We want to know whether this will be the type of center we want to be involved in."
Chafe said he does see value in the conservationist programs, but wants to increase the center's attention to research. "I think our concern is that we have conservation imbalanced with research education," he said.
Clark says she still keeps faith that Duke will do what is best for the center.
"I hope they'll invest and commit the financial resources to make it the world-class facility that it is already known for," Clark emphasized.
"I want to expand the tour and education department that we have built on no money."
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