At Yale, mixed feelings about Rodin's exit

Students, administrators are disappointed, but proud Yale University students and administrators expressed mixed emotions over the announcement yesterday that their provost, Judith Rodin, will likely become the University's next president. While news of the mid-afternoon announcement of her nomination came as a surprise to many in New Haven last night, most said they were disappointed to hear that Rodin would soon be leaving Yale. And many also said they were proud of Rodin, who would become the first full-time female president of an Ivy League school, and wished her luck at the University. "Good for her," Yale senior Latoya Jones said upon hearing of the appointment. "She seems to be an outstanding woman." Rodin became a psychology professor at Yale in 1972. She went on to become graduate director of that department. She was named dean of the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1989, and then in 1991 became the Ivy League's highest-ranking woman when then-Yale President Benno Schmidt appointed her Yale's provost. "There is no one better prepared to assume the leadership of a great university," Yale President Richard Levin said in a statement. Many of Rodin's other colleagues expressed similar sentiments. "I'm very sorry to see her leave and it's a loss for Yale, but a credit that Pennsylvania has recognized one of the nation's finest administrators," Deputy Provost Charles Long said. "She's so talented and with so much talent and ability it was inevitable that she would succumb to some [other university's offer] eventually." Long said Rodin's nomination "leaves a big hole" in Yale's administration, as the school continues to struggle with large deferred maintenance costs and recover from a series of budget deficits, department cuts and administrative resignations. Rodin had been a front-runner for Yale presidency and many students said yesterday they were surprised and disappointed when she was passed over for the job in favor of Levin. Long said he doesn't think Rodin's decision to leave Yale for the University is connected with her not being chosen as Yale's president. Most Yale undergraduates interviewed yesterday were enthusiastic about Rodin's appointment. "She's a very capable administrator," Yale College Council President Matthew Beredo said. "She'll be great at Penn." Jeremy Carl, president of the Yale Political Union, called Rodin "a figure of stability when a lot of things were in flux." "As the most visible woman in the administration, she was a mentor figure for some women on campus," the Yale senior said. "For all its liberalism, in many ways Yale is still a conservative white male bastion and for a woman to rise up through the ranks here, she has to be good." Some had a less favorable impression of Rodin, however. "As provost, she has become part of a new 'smiles and consensus' administration and she hasn't stepped out of line like her predecessor," said Yale Daily News columnist and senior David Klainbaum. "I hope for Penn's sake that it hasn't been an act." When Rodin was dean of Yale's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, she became embroiled in an ongoing political battle with graduate student-teachers. Eventually, the graduate students held a one day strike. Political Science graduate student Gordon Lafer, who was involved in the political fight during the 1991-92 academic year, said yesterday Rodin was unreceptive and failed to live up to her promises. "She dealt with the graduate student community in a high-handed manner," Lafer said. "She played one graduate student group off another and intervened in ways that weren't appropriate."