Interim team watches as plans reworked

When Judith Rodin was named University president last December, Interim President Claire Fagin said she was "no lame duck." With an air of assurance, she promised continued work, action and decision making until her interim presidency was to end in July. But now, as Rodin and Provost Stanley Chodorow begin to make decisions at the University, it appears more and more likely that some of Fagin's work may end up for naught. During the last months of her presidency, Fagin and Interim Provost Marvin Lazerson worked on issues including the Revlon Center, the Student Judicial Charter and the Commission on Strengthening the Community's final report. "I wanted to have things completed so that there would not be another revisiting to the issues I dealt with," Fagin said last night. These sentiments may not be shared by Rodin, though, who said yesterday that the interim administration was never expected to make many major decisions. "They were not going to make a broad and sweeping set of decisions that would have a sweeping impact on the University in the years to come because they were temporary," she said. Rodin and Chodorow have said they plan to re-evaluate and review many of the issues that were not fully brought to closure before they came into office. Both new administrators say they have to study previously formed plans, proposals and projects in order to make informed decisions. "I think it's absolutely natural for a new administration, especially one coming from the outside, to say, 'How do we look at the whole University?' " Chodorow said. "We are considering every project and what would happen to the campus as a whole." Faculty Senate Chairperson Barbara Lowry, a Nursing professor, said what the new administration is doing should be anticipated, adding that "we have to expect some issues to resurface." But Fagin said changes have taken place on issues she thought were completed. "I felt certain things were complete and now they might not be as complete as I thought," she said, citing the Commission's recommendation on the postponement of fraternity rush as an example. Last year, the Commission originally recommended postponing Greek rush to the first semester of sophomore year. After objections were raised, the body recommended moving rush to the spring semester of freshman year. Last month, the new administration allowed fraternity rush to remain in the first semester after it was shortened from five weeks to three weeks. Fagin said she considers this a change on an issue she had considered resolved. Some say the transition between an interim administration and a permanent one can be difficult because a permanent administration may go in a different direction from that planned by the interim officials. "During any institutional transition, some good things don't move forward in the same path they were going in before," said acting Vice Provost for University Life Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum. "You do your darndest to get as much done as possible because you know you only have one term...but it doesn't always work." And Fagin said the permanent administration "has a right to review and to revise" anything that "wasn't set in stone." Last year, Lazerson spoke at a spring University Council meeting in favor of a $40 million plan to build the Revlon Center. He said at the time that he planned to take the issue to the University's Board of Trustees in June. But that did not happen and McCoullum said "that's when the real transition occurred." Chodorow announced at last week's University Council meeting that he will completely review and re-evaluate plans for a student center, and has said that if and when the Revlon Center is built, it may not be located in the originally planned space at Walnut and 36th Streets. He and Rodin have expressed support for the general need for student space and student facilities. "We obviously hesitated in regard to the Revlon Center itself," he said. "We didn't pick it up and run with it." McCoullum said she "liked the program we had developed," and that Fagin and Lazerson made a "hell of a good effort." She added that she thinks the new administration might be able to raise enough money to expand the Revlon Center plans. Originally, the center was slated to cost $60 million, but Fagin and Lazerson thought the project too costly. "The possibilities for the financial support of student programming are 1,000 percent better than a year ago," McCoullum said. "The new president and new provost can do more?that's the essential difference between interim and permanent." And Rodin agreed, saying that she was "committed to and enthusiastic about a University center -- one that may be larger than the final resolution of the Revlon Center last spring." Besides Revlon, proposals made by the Student Judicial Committee and the Commission are now being restudied and re-reviewed. Last year, the Student Judicial Committee put together plans for a Student Judicial Charter and a Code for Academic Integrity. Both are now undergoing review. And last year, the Commission on Strengthening the Community released its final report. But many of the Commission's recommendations have not been approved, and are not being acted upon immediately. Despite these issues, both Rodin and Chodorow have said they appreciate Fagin and Lazerson's work. "A significant number of things were accomplished last year," Rodin said. "They gave us the opportunity to build on much of the work they did." Lazerson could not be reached for comment.