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Tuesday, October 11, 2005
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Oh brave new world That has such University presidents In it Thoughtful opinion piece in the Baltimore Sun about Ladner and his precursors, including one who managed to slip past UD’s radar. He’s another local -- the short-lived president of Maryland's Towson University: Towson University President Mark Perkins was forced to resign in 2002 after less than a year on the job amid disclosures that he had overseen more than $1 million in college-paid upgrades for his university-owned residence , expenses that included a $25,000 plasma-screen television and an $80,000 elevator. Perkins also commissioned a $25,000 gold medallion to wear at his inauguration.  Perkins sounds uncannily like Carmen Ghia (he's on the far right, with the gold chain).The Sun writer claims that most of the naughty president stories come from “upwardly mobile universit[ies]…at decidedly un-elite institutions,” at “workmanlike institutions striving to raise their reputation.” The trustees were partly to blame for their fiascos because they “encouraged [these presidents] to lead a life of luxury, in hopes that this would help project a positive image for the institution.” Act rich, get rich kind of thing. But don’t forget that no less an institution than Stanford about a decade ago featured an absolutely by-the-books lavish president scandal, as the Chronicle of Higher Ed recounted at the time: [M]uch of the uproar has focused on extravagances for the university-owned president's home, the Lou Henry Hoover House … Mr. Kennedy has been ensnared in the controversy from its outset. Stanford had charged the government for part of the cost of such items as flowers and antique furniture at the house, as well as for depreciation on a university-owned yacht, the Victoria. Kennedy’s expenses, according to another Chronicle article, also included “flowers, antiques, and $7,000 bed sheets.” But it’s all for a good cause: Sheldon Steinbach, general counsel for the American Council on Education, says there is something to Ladner's defense. College presidents today are expected to spend so much of their time fundraising that universities are justified in picking up many of their expenses, and in paying for the kind of luxury that will impress a potential donor. This is especially true in Washington, he said, where the bar for entertaining is very high. Ooh la la, oui, that is so. The bar is so high here in fact that unless you live in a super mansion whose unrestricted view of the Potomac River you got by illegally cutting down all the trees that blocked it, you don’t entertain at all. I didn’t want to tell you about this, because I feared you would feel envious of our lifestyle here in Washington and turn against me. |