Vanderbilt reins in Chancellor

Parents Forum
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<p>Interesting reading, especially as you get ready to write the next tuition check. Forgive me if a thread has already been started on the subject.</p>

<p>WSJ 9/26/06, page 1
<a href="http://tinyurl.com/zskdw%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://tinyurl.com/zskdw&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- At Vanderbilt University, the board is trying to rein in star chancellor E. Gordon Gee, without running him off.</p>

<p>Since arriving here in 2000, the 62-year-old Mr. Gee has dramatically boosted the 133-year-old school's academic standing and overseen fund raising of more than $1 billion. Mr. Gee's $1.4 million annual compensation is among the highest for U.S. university leaders.</p>

<p>But supervision of Mr. Gee by the university's 44-member Board of Trust has "probably been a little loosey-goosey," says trustee Edward Malloy, a former president of the University of Notre Dame. Vanderbilt paid more than $6 million, never approved by the full board, to renovate and enlarge Braeburn, the Greek-revival university-owned mansion where Mr. Gee and his wife, Constance, live. The university pays for the Gees' frequent parties and personal chef there. The annual tab exceeds $700,000. Some trustees' concern was aroused when they learned that Mrs. Gee was using marijuana at the mansion. The chancellor told some trustees she was using it for an inner-ear ailment.
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The delicate dance by Vanderbilt trustees reflects a new era of campus governance and the changing role of college heads. Historically, these campus leaders earned modest salaries and enjoyed long tenures. Now, like Mr. Gee, they make more money and move more often. Their higher compensation invites scrutiny from trustees, faculty and students.</p>

<p>Vanderbilt's $2.2 billion annual budget is bigger than the revenues of all but the largest 800 U.S. public companies. But management oversight on campus often hasn't kept pace with changes in the business world. At Vanderbilt, the full Board of Trust didn't approve the university's annual budget, most big-ticket spending projects or debt financing between 2000 and 2005.</p>

<p>The scrutiny at Vanderbilt comes as the national outcry over executive pay has reached into academia. Recent disclosures about the pay and perquisites of campus leaders have led to resignations and an indictment.</p>

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<p>Vanderbilt University's Response:</p>

<p>An article in the Wall Street Journal on Sept. 26 analyzed the changing nature of corporate governance at colleges and universities and featured Vanderbilt University as a case study. The Journal's report on this important issue presented an incomplete portrait of Vanderbilt.</p>

<p>Vanderbilt University is one of the world's most successful higher education institutions by every measure -- its student quality, its research funding and results, its academic excellence, its financial performance, its endowment and its student diversity--racial, cultural and economic. This progress is the result of strategic management and the work of a team of administrators, faculty, staff and students that comprises several of this nation's higher education leaders. Our results are obvious and our methods sound.</p>

<p>This Web site responds to the issues and allegations raised in the Wall Street Journal's article. It includes information that was provided to the Journal as well as facts about Vanderbilt’s accomplishments in recent years – accomplishments that have placed the university among the world’s leading institutions of higher education.</p>

<p>-
The Vanderbilt Story:</p>

<p>Vanderbilt’s success over the past six years, since Gordon Gee became the university’s seventh Chancellor, is indisputable. Since 2000, Vanderbilt has:</p>

<p>…Completed a $1.25 billion capital campaign two years ahead of schedule and raised the goal to $1.75 billion – with an emphasis on endowed scholarships and faculty chairs.</p>

<p>…Grown the University’s endowment by almost 50 percent, to more than $3 billion, during some of the most tumultuous years for investments in the stock market¸ helping ensure a future that will allow for continued strong support of student, faculty, research, medical and other core mission needs.</p>

<p>…Led the country in the rate of growth for academic research, with external funding increasing from $232 million in 2000 to more than $450 million.</p>

<p>…Doubled the annual budget for financial aid from $30 million to $60 million, and reduced significantly the debt burden for graduating students.</p>

<p>…Launched the $100 million Academic Venture Capital Fund to seed new research centers in life sciences, social sciences, humanities, culture which have led to important discoveries and insights and new educational opportunities for undergraduates.</p>

<p>…Seen a more than 50 percent increase in applications for admission, from 8,000 in 2000 to almost 13,000 in 2006.</p>

<p>… Become one of the most selective institutions in the country. The increased number and high caliber of students seeking admission have enabled us to fill each class from a smaller percentage of the application pool. In higher education, the lower the rate of admission, the more selective the school. We now admit one-third of applicants versus more than twice that percentage just seven years ago.</p>

<p>… Become the destination school for these top students. The number of students accepting the University’s offer of admission (“yield”) has increased from 26 percent to over 40 percent in the past seven years.</p>

<p>…Renewed its commitment to being one of a small number of private universities that admit applicants regardless of their ability to pay and that meet the full demonstrated financial need of all students so that a Vanderbilt education is affordable to all.
…Seen a significant increase in student quality, with average SAT scores rising almost 100 points, and more than 90 percent of incoming students coming from the top 10 percent of their high school classes.</p>

<p>…Led one of the most rapid changes in diversity, with a 50 percent increase in minority students.</p>

<p>…Recruited faculty from the top universities in the country, and around the world, in such fields as literature, history, Jewish studies, biomedical imaging, law and education, among many others.</p>

<p>…Ensured that faculty salaries are among the highest in the country, ranking in the top three for private research universities when adjusted for cost of living.</p>

<p>…Selected as one of the 25 “Hot Colleges” for 2007 by the Kaplan-Newsweek College Guide.</p>

<p>… Risen from 22 to number 18 in the latest US News and World Report rankings, with graduate schools of law, divinity, medicine, business and education all ranked among the best in the world.</p>

<p>…Completed or began construction of more than $700 million new facilities for medical research, student services, studio arts, engineering, law, children’s health, diabetes care, performing arts, interdisciplinary work in arts and sciences, tennis, baseball, Jewish life and African-American culture, with many more new buildings underway.</p>

<p>…Become the most-preferred provider of health care services in Middle Tennessee, with the opening of the most advanced children’s hospital in the country and new clinical services in a number of areas.</p>

<p>…Begun construction of The Commons, a $150 million investment in the undergraduate experience that will transform student life by creating a “campus within a campus” for first year students .</p>

<p><a href="http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news/wsj%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news/wsj&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>STUDENT REACTION: </p>

<p>“To anyone, $6 million seems like a lot, but in light of what he has done for the university, I think he is fairly compensated. If he were to leave because of the outcry, it would cost he university much more than $6 million. It’s not like he stole money from the university. I think he was justified in his spending.”</p>

<p>—sophomore Luke Bidikov</p>

<p>“I was unaware of the allegations leveled toward Constance Gee, but that is a personal matter for the Gees to resolve. There wasn’t anything else that I would say surprised me to a considerable degree. I think the article actually shows that Vanderbilt has a place among the most elite universities. We’re going to be subjected to scrutiny more than we expect, and I think the university will be able to respond to it.”</p>

<p>—senior Kyle Southern </p>

<p>“The allegations regarding Constance Gee were pretty unrelated to the topic of spending at the university. I see it as a personal matter and think that the students will understand that. I find that the Board of Trust’s measures to increase transparency by monitoring Chancellor Gee’s spending is evidence of good business practices, not an admission of guilt.”</p>

<p>—senior Devin Donovan, Interhall president </p>

<p>“The marijuana issue was kind of surprising. I actually had more problems with that than what was said about Chancellor Gee. It’s just very unbecoming because she is such a strong representative of the university.”</p>

<p>—sophomore Maggie Morrow</p>

<p>UNIVERSITY REACTION:</p>

<p>“There has always been a pretty thorough process for review of expenditures and other financial matters. What we are doing now is making it more rigorous and more in-depth.”
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—Michael Schoenfeld, Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs</p>

<p>“I think the article is terrible journalism. The article engages in guilt by association by detailing all of these other instances of academic scandal. We don’t have any instances of academic scandal here. Second, there is a lot of use of unattributed sources. That is always problematic in journalism. Last, it is very gossipy. So from the standpoint of good journalism, I would say some people would question the ethics of it.”</p>

<p>—Paul Dokecki, Human and Organizational Development professor</p>

<p>“Vanderbilt has certainly taken a hard hit, but one must realize this is any issue that faces universities across the country. We are not the only ones under scrutiny. As one can read from the article, the Board of Trust has and is making changes as we speak to bring some clarity to the issue.”</p>

<p>—Alice Ji, Young Alumni Trustee </p>

<p>MEDIA REACTION:</p>

<p>“If you don’t know already, I attended Vanderbilt (graduated in 2004) and have nothing but praise for the way Chancellor Gee runs the school. We are on a first-name basis and have exchanged emails over the years, so I do not have the appropriate level of distance necessary to give an unbiased opinion. I will say, however, that $1.4 million is outrageously high. Gee’s annual compensation is ‘among the highest for U.S. university leaders’ which, while absurd, is indicative of a national trend towards big paychecks in academia.”</p>

<p>—Claire Suddath, in a post on Nashville Scene’s “Pith in the Wind” blog entitled “Keep Your Eye on the Bow Tie: Vanderbilt Chancellor in WSJ”</p>

<p>“A former president of Brown University is making headlines for his alleged spending spree as chancellor of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. E. Gordon Gee, who raised eyebrows after leaving Brown so soon after he got there, is the subject of a Wall Street Journal report outlining the $6 million renovation of his campus mansion, $700,000 in annual entertaining and other expenses, and a newly formed committee to watch over his expenditures.”</p>

<p>—”WSJ: Vanderbilt Clamps Down On Former Brown President,” Turnto10.com, Providence, R.I.</p>

<p>“A story in today’s Wall Street Journal contained a look at oversight by Vanderbilt University trustees over Chancellor Gordon Gee. Included in the story was the fact that the chancellor’s wife, Constance Gee, has smoked marijuana in the university-owned mansion. Michael J. Schoenfeld, vice chancellor for public affairs at Vanderbilt, said today that Constance Gee is on faculty at the university, and that he cannot comment on whether or not she was reprimanded for using marijuana in the mansion.”</p>

<p>—Ralph Loos in The Tennessean article, “WSJ article says Constance Gee smoked marijuana in Vandy mansion, citing medical reasons”</p>

<p>ALUMNI REACTION:</p>

<p>“I have been at Vandy, working in alumni relations, for 23 years, and I have to say that the alumni at Vanderbilt feel as positive about where Vanderbilt is going right now as I have seen in my 23 years here, and they credit a lot of that to not only Gordon but to the leadership team he has put in place here.”</p>

<p>—Robert Early, Executive Associate Vice Chancellor for Development and Alumni Relations</p>

<p>“There are a lot of stakeholders at Vanderbilt, both students and faculty. It’s prudent for the school to look at how money is spent. There should be multiple checks and balances about how money is spent.”</p>

<p>—Neil Vigdor, member of Metro New York Vanderbilt Alumni Chapter</p>

<p>“It’s bizarre, especially about his wife and the marijuana, so I’m sure the media will have a field day with that. It probably will not effect my giving to the university, but I will follow the story with interest and see where it goes.”</p>

<p>—Kurt Schmalz, from Los Angeles, Cali.</p>

<p>“I’m wondering why the trustees’ supervision of the chancellor was so 'loosey-goosey' that all of these expenditures were allowed to happen. It’s part of his job to entertain so some of it I can understand. I don’t know how he’s generally viewed, but it does seem to be an exorbitant package he earns. Overall, has he been good for Vanderbilt? Yeah, probably.”</p>

<p>—Mattie Darby, from Baltimore, Md.</p>

<p>PARENT REACTIONS:</p>

<p>“We have had a little bit of response from parents, and I have been pleasantly surprised that the response that we have gotten has been more positive than negative. We have gotten three positive responses, and one negative one.”</p>

<p>—Sheryl Rogers, executive director of Alumni Relations</p>

<p>“As a parent of a current student, someone married to an alum, an alum and president of the Alumni Association, my thoughts are that the university is adequately handling the situation. In my dealings with the chancellor, I can’t imagine he would do anything intentionally or unintentionally to jeopardize the university. We trust the Board of Trust to handle this and make the changes that they have seemingly already started to put in place.”</p>

<p>—Karen Fesmire, parent and president of the Alumni Association </p>

<p><a href="http://www.insidevandy.com/drupal/node/909%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.insidevandy.com/drupal/node/909&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Gee has done a wonderful job and deserves all the kudos he gets.</p>

<p>The hit piece is hardly that. In fact, it almost makes Gee lovably eccentric and his wife semi kooky.</p>

<p>In a drive to take Vandy higher and higher, my only concern is that the faculty that is "nationally recognized" is lovably far left wing with no apparent lovably far right wing to provide counter balance.</p>

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<p>I teach at a small institution where our president has virtually no contact with students other than to pose for pictures which will appear in our annual viewbook. Chancellor Gee, on the other hand, seems to be visible and fully involved with students for a chief academic officer. He is not only visible on move in day, parents weekend, and at other college events, but he is known for popping in on fraternity parties and such. He attended a graduation party that our family was invited to at the home of med school faculty whose son is one of my son's best friends. I'm only sorry I had already left and couldn't express to him that, while not perfect, the Vanderbilt education my son received was beyond what I could have wished for him. I believe Chancellor Gee definitely adds value to the university as he performs his duties to the fullest. A corporate CEO with his performance record would be compensated at more than twice what he receives.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
"An article in the Wall Street Journal on Sept. 26 analyzed the changing nature of corporate governance at colleges and universities and featured Vanderbilt University as a case study. The Journal's report on this important issue presented an incomplete portrait of Vanderbilt."

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Actually, I thought the Journal article made most of the points in the Vanderbilt press release, issued in response to the article, about the positive things Mr. Gee has done for Vanderbilt. The article also said that Vanderbilt still wanted to retain Mr. Gee. The point of the article was that these institutions are significant financial enterprises that, in many cases, have been operating without the oversight that is expected of institutions their size.</p>

<p>The reason his wife's marijuana use is mentioned is because that seems to be the event that woke up the Board to the need for it to do the job it is supposed to do, oversight. University employee's discovered she kept and used marijuana at the mansion.</p>

<p>It may be true that his entertaining at the mansion brought in a lot of money but $6 million for renovations/additions and annual expenses of $700,000 are eye opening.</p>

<p>As likeable and effective as he is portrayed to be, he seems capable of some misjudgements. Vanderbilt has asked him to cut back the number of corporate boards he sits on, from 5 to 3. </p>

<p>"When he travels to these meetings, he says he also conducts Vanderbilt business, such as conferring with alumni, parents, prospective students and faculty. "Sitting on a corporate board is a hobby for me," he remarks, pointing out that he doesn't smoke, drink or play golf. Mr. Gee made nearly $400,000 in cash and stock awards from his directorships last year."</p>

<p>I'm going to have to get me a hobby like that.</p>

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<p>So she uses pot for medical reasons, big deal</p>

<p>Who cares</p>

<p>To make a big deal out of that is absurd and for any student to get all uppity, please, sorry, but grow up</p>

<p>As a person with two relatives who use pot for pain and another to help her with her cancer symptoms, the stigma around its use is just silly and makes me angry</p>

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<p>Link to full article (via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette):</p>

<p><a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06269/725169-298.stm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06269/725169-298.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>It doesn't really matter what other things Gee has done (and I understand he has accomplished much). Vandy needs to address the issue: did he spend that money on renovation and was that approved by and acceptable to the school? Is his wife using marijuana in the residence and is that approved by and acceptable to the school? You can't defend someone's actions by saying, well, in other ways he is quite effective.</p>