Campus buzzes with Clinton-Hackney link

Will Sheldon Hackney leave the University for a post in the Clinton administration? Or will Lucy, the University president's wife, be offered a position? A week after the election, the University's rumor mill is grinding full force. It's no secret that the Hackneys and Clintons know each other through Hillary Clinton's and Lucy Hackney's involvement with the Children's Defense Fund. It's also no secret that the Hackneys and Clintons went on several Children's Defense Fund retreats in Chappaquiddick together. And University professors said this week that they have heard rumors about a place for Hackney on Capitol Hill, even if they do not know where the rumors are coming from. "I heard rumors, but I have absolutely no means of either confirming or denying them," Emeritus Finance Professor Morris Mendelson said. "I suspect [the rumors started] because [Hackney] signed that document, that ad endorsing Clinton with other college presidents." Mendelson said he thinks that guessing is premature, and that he doubts Clinton, whose campaign focused on the economy, has thought much about who will be appointed to non-economy-related posts. "My own offhand guess is that any such speculation is premature," Mendelson said, adding that he thinks Clinton probably "hasn't yet given any thought to Hackney or to any job Hackney could fill." Emeritus Molecular Biology Professor Robert Davies said he has also heard rumors. "I've heard rumors but I've heard nothing hard at all," Davies said, although he said he thought President Hackney is "a very likely person that the Clinton group would be interested in." "I think it would be an honor for the University," he said. "I also think it would be sad for the University." Davies said he thought the rumors were coming from "people looking at crystal balls," and said there were similar rumors when former University President Martin Meyerson retired. "Any president who's served as long as [Hackney] has is likely to be thinking about his long-term future," he added. "But an invitation like this would have to come from Washington." He added that Hackney's long tenure at the University and his signing of a document endorsing Clinton might indicate to the president-elect's transition team that Hackney is available. Faculty Senate Chairperson David Hildebrand, however, admitted that he had an idea about where some of the rumors might be coming from. "Oh, I've started a few," Hildebrand confessed. "What fun is there if you can't gossip about things like that?" "In a sort of vague way it's been going on forever," he said, referring to the hobby of guessing when a University president will pack it in. This he said, was a "standard game," despite the "tradition in the Ivy League that presidents stay on for approximately half the age of a glacier." Hildebrand said that if Hackney was to leave the University, it would still come as a surprise. "A president won't, and shouldn't, admit far in advance when he's going to call it quits," he said. "[But] it's still fun to start rumors," he added, laughing. Another source of the rumors is Andrew Levy, news editor at The Michigan Daily, the student newspaper at the University of Michigan. In this week's Chronicle of Higher Education, Levy lists Hackney -- along with New Jersey Governor Jim Florio and former Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas -- as one person Clinton may tap to be Secretary of Education. Levy admitted last night that he had no inside information, saying that Hackney's name "just came to mind." But he added that he heard Hackney mentioned for the post during a Clinton rally in North Carolina. Hackney himself said this week that he is not actively seeking a job with the Clinton administration. "I have a job," he pointed out. "I think the country would be well served if the Clintons got Lucy to Washington." And he said he has not yet received an offer from Clinton's team. "It's been almost a week since the election and they haven't called yet," he said. "I think this country is in pretty good hands -- even without me." But Hackney, when asked if that means he would not be interested in a job with the administration if offered, promptly answered, "I didn't say that."