Isn't it interesting that President Richard Brodhead's first major decision after the release of the Campus Culture Initiative report was. not recommended by the CCI at all?
In fact, Brodhead's move-which will create a new high-level administrator, to be called the dean for undergraduate education-effectively demotes both the CCI's chair and vice chair, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Bob Thompson and Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta.
If I were Thompson, I'd be quite worried that my title was nearly identical to my superior's.
L-Mo, by contrast, must be positively apoplectic that his administrative fiefdom (which up until now reported directly to Brodhead) will soon be brought under the direction of-gasp!-an appointed faculty member.
But this is about more than sidelining two powerful, senior administrators. The appointment of this new dean-whose nebulous job description includes responsibilities like combating "compartmentalization in administrative structures" and emphasizing the "continuity" of academic and social experiences-is only the latest in a series of high-level departures that signal a massive consolidation of power underway in the Brodhead Administration.
Just look at the the astonishing rate of turnover in our graduate and professional schools. Duke's Graduate School got a new dean, Jo Rae Wright, effective July 1, 2006, and Blair Sheppard will begin work as dean of the Fuqua School of Business on July 1 of this year. Similarly, the School of Medicine, the School of Law and the Nicholas School of the Environment are all currently searching for new leaders, which leaves only the Pratt School of Engineering with a dean who predates Brodhead's tenure. And that dean-Kristina Johnson-is under contract for just two more years.
Turning our focus back to the Allen Building, Brodhead's relatively recent decision to take responsibility for athletics from Executive Vice President Tallman Trask (formerly a huge part of his job), along with the demotion of Moneta and Thompson, leaves only the provost's office without a Brodhead appointee in power. That's why it may be important to note that Provost Peter Lange is already the second-longest serving provost in Duke's history.
We should also note that this administrative shake-up has extended all the way to the Duke Management Company (the $7-billion corporation wholly owned by Duke to manage its endowment), where Neal Triplett took over as director effective Jan. 1. The actuarial tables can't look good for Athletics Director Joe Alleva either; his department has been racked by scandal after scandal in recent years, from his decision to back steroid-tainted baseball coach Bill Hillier to his perceived abandonment of lacrosse players and their families to his serious injuries following a drinking-while-power boating accident last summer. His behavior has been so extreme that he drew an April 10 Chronicle editorial titled "Fire Joe Alleva" that ended with the line, "Five-plus strikes, Mr. Athletic Director. You're out of here."
But perhaps the most significant power grab may happen at the Board of Trustees. Four members of the powerful 10-member Executive Council-which exercises the full power of the board between trustees' regularly scheduled meetings each year-will be forced to retire this June due to term and age limits. As a self-perpetuating board, the organization's remaining members will choose the outgoing trustees' replacements.
For those of us who have wondered aloud why Chairman Bob Steel-whose high-profile job in the Treasury Department prevents him from fulfilling his ex-officio role on the board of the Duke Management Company-has stubbornly refused to resign his chairmanship, we may now have our answer. Steel, who headed the committee that hired President Brodhead and who has been Brodhead's most vocal supporter over these past 12 months, will soon be poised to stack with enough pro-Brodhead members to consolidate the president's power base for good.
If I thought President Brodhead was as talented an administrator as he is a power broker, then this would be cause for celebration. But for those of us who remain deeply concerned with the administration's disappointing showing these past 12 months, along with the amount of faculty infighting, student and alumni dissatisfaction and national criticism that we have recently endured, this turn of events may come as a bitter disappointment indeed.
Kristin Butler is a Trinity junior. Her column runs every Tuesday.
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