COLUMN: The greatest star of all

From Mike Nadel's, "Give 'em Hell," Fall '96 From Mike Nadel's, "Give 'em Hell," Fall '96Judith Rodin's act is wearing thin. Waves andFrom Mike Nadel's, "Give 'em Hell," Fall '96Judith Rodin's act is wearing thin. Waves andsmiles alone won't do it after a year on the job. From Mike Nadel's, "Give 'em Hell," Fall '96Judith Rodin's act is wearing thin. Waves andsmiles alone won't do it after a year on the job.With one look, I can break your heart. With one look, I play every part? -- Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard.From Mike Nadel's, "Give 'em Hell," Fall '96Judith Rodin's act is wearing thin. Waves andsmiles alone won't do it after a year on the job.With one look, I can break your heart. With one look, I play every part? -- Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard.Judith Rodin is a fan of Broadway musicals, but she hasn't yet seen Andrew Lloyd Webber's new smash hit,From Mike Nadel's, "Give 'em Hell," Fall '96Judith Rodin's act is wearing thin. Waves andsmiles alone won't do it after a year on the job.With one look, I can break your heart. With one look, I play every part? -- Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard.Judith Rodin is a fan of Broadway musicals, but she hasn't yet seen Andrew Lloyd Webber's new smash hit,Sunset Boulevard. Sunset Boulevard is the story of Norma Desmond, a great star of the silent screen. She hasn't had to deal with dialogue because she has always been able to say anything she wants with her eyes. All it takes for her is a smile or a wave. With the advent of "talking pictures," everything is suddenly different. Waves and smiles don't cut it anymore. Audiences need more, and Norma Desmond cannot deliver. Failing to adjust to the changing world around her, she sinks into obscurity and, ultimately, dementia. Rodin should take note: There is a lesson here. For the first year and a half of her presidency, Rodin was able to maintain tremendous popularity at the University while keeping her distance from students and faculty. Mayor Ed Rendell and Congressman Chakah Fattah had more contact with students than did the president. Back in the old days, before the administration banned alcohol on the Palladium's outdoor patio, former University President Sheldon Hackney could often be found having a beer with undergraduates. Rodin avoided socializing with students. During her year as Interim President, Claire Fagin had weekly luncheons with student leaders and held televised town meetings. If students sent Fagin e-mail, they got nearly immediate responses, written by Fagin herself. Rodin adopted none of these practices. Instead, she appeared on the field at football games. She smiled and waved, always to a standing ovation. She walked her dog on Locust Walk and nodded hello to passers-by. She dispatched the provost to speak to students. She hired someone to handle undergraduates for her. Through it all, she stayed silent on issues of substance, except for an occasional written statement. The strategy worked wonderfully. She became a silent star. Maybe the greatest star of all? But all stars run the risk of fading. Silence isn't good enough. Waves and smiles just don't cut it anymore. Rodin didn't get where she is by accident. She is a smart woman and a shrewd politician. To some extent, she is recognizing that, although she is a talented actress, her act is wearing thin. So now, to her credit, she is attempting to become more visible. That's why she came to Chats last Monday night. Her appearance at the Chats forum was commendable. No doubt there are some university presidents who never bother to take questions from students. Yet her performance demonstrated that she still doesn't quite get it. There were few rave reviews. She didn't bring down the house. Instead, her audience was left unsatisfied, because on question after question, Rodin dodged. With one look you'll know all you need to know. When I speak it's with my soul. I can play any role? Safety and security seemed to be the primary concerns of students who came to hear the president speak. But astonishingly, Rodin had no answers for them. It's all up to Public Safety Managing Director Tom Seamon, she said. At some ill-defined point in the future, Seamon would provide all the answers. More police? Seamon. Security kiosks? Seamon. Community relations? Seamon. Rodin was unwilling even to commit to greater funding for Penn Watch. To do so, she said, would be to meddle with Seamon's messianic master plan. With the alarming increase in campus crime over recent months, Rodin should have been prepared to give solid answers. She wasn't. Instead, in a bizarre twist, she praised the Undergraduate Assembly for buying bicycles for the University Police department last year. Apparently she does not see how badly the UA's action reflects on her administration. The UA bought those bikes for the police with money that is supposed to pay for student activities. UA funds were required because the police said they needed the bikes to keep students safe, but the administration refused to cough up the cash. Rodin also dodged on the future of fraternities and sororities at Penn. When asked about recent comments by Provost Stanley Chodorow indicating that the Greek system does not fit into the administration's vision of the future, she said the provost must have been "misquoted or misunderstood," a defense of Chodorow which is invoked with remarkable frequency. She didn't explain, however, what her policy is or what Chodorow really meant. Perhaps what she needs to do is open auditions to replace her supporting actor. Asked about recycling, she dodged. Asked about the Perelman Quad, she dodged -- twice. Asked about ROTC's status on campus, she deferred to the provost. Asked about affirmative action and minority permanence, she deferred, oddly enough, to the two-year-old report of the Commission on Strengthening the Community. She suggested that students read the report on line. Doing so would not provide a good answer to the question that Rodin was asked. It would, however, reveal that many of the Commission's recommendations, including its call for randomized freshman housing, have been ignored by the Rodin administration. No words can tell the stories my eyes tell. Watch me when I frown; you can't write that down? Obviously Rodin cannot be expected to know the answer to every question. When she does not know the answer, though, she should simply say so, and then make the effort to learn. But Monday night, Rodin failed to admit her lack of knowledge on anything; instead, she improvised. Asked for her opinion about proposed reform of the Student Activities Council, something with which Rodin has little reason to be familiar, she announced with a grin that "[UA Chairman] Lance [Rogers] is trying to reinvent the UA." First, this is simply not the case. Second, it has nothing to do with the question, a fact well-known to the questioner and most of the audience. Thus, while she could have appeared to be above the intricacies of student government, she made an unnecessary mistake and came across as phony. Rodin's meeting at Chats was a good first step. She's going to teach next semester, and that's one step further. Her script and her staging, however, need work before she returns to the spotlight. If, as promised, she holds another forum five weeks from now, she should have real answers and provide straight talk. If she needs Tom Seamon or Stanley Chodorow there with her, she should bring them. Increased visibility won't get Rodin very far if she doesn't change her show to meet the demands of her undergraduate audience. Vague platitudes aren't good enough to satisfy Ivy Leaguers for very long. In Sunset Boulevard the environment changed, and Norma Desmond could not make the transition. She thought she could act the same way she had always acted and meet with the same success. She was sadly mistaken. As a result, she lost her job, her fame, her power, her credibility -- and her sanity. Judith Rodin can avoid the fate of Norma Desmond by changing with the times. Now the times call for honesty and candor. She must deliver, and soon. Silent music stars to play?