Administrators are bracing for an anticipated Wall Street Journal article that is likely to examine how Vanderbilt is governed, including Chancellor Gordon Gee’s salary and spending habits.
A university official said Wall Street Journal reporter Joann Lublin has been working on an article about the “changing nature of corporate governance at nonprofit organizations and colleges.” Lublin refused to comment on the content or publication date of her article.
When asked about the upcoming article during the Fall Faculty Assembly on Aug. 24 , Gee said he was aware of the article and its emphasis on Vanderbilt.
Gee told faculty members the reporter focuses on the university for three reasons: Vanderbilt is one of the nation’s great institutions, Gee is the first university president to leave an Ivy League institution for another school, and he is the longest sitting and highest paid president of a major university.
“The point is this: We have become an institution that has become highly recognized for its innovation, for its creativity and for its aggressiveness, and we’re going to be the poster child on this,” Gee said.
“Do I think it will say some good things about us' Yes. Do I think it will say some particularly irritating things for me' Absolutely. It will say that 'they bought him to come from Brown, they renovated his house, they paid him a lot of money. That was the reason that he came.'”
Gee reassured the faculty that Vanderbilt is a leading university, regardless of what the article contains.
“I want everyone here to know, whatever you read in that story, I don’t know what it’s going to say, but I want you to know, as I said on the day that I came here, I’m coming from an institution that’s not nearly as good as it thinks it is to a university that is much better than it knows it is, and I want you to know that today we are a hell of a lot better than the institutions that I’ve served elsewhere and I’m proud of what we’re doing,” he said.
Larry Brinton of Nashville's Channel 4 News mentioned the upcoming Wall Street Journal article in his Aug. 2 “Word on the Street” column on the news channel's Web site.
"Vanderbilt raises millions and millions of dollars every year," Brinton said. "It is the spending that raised the interest of the Journal."
Brinton reported that Vanderbilt Board Chairman Martha Ingram sent a letter to 58 members and emeritus members of the Board of Trust in late July warning them about the impending story. Keel Hunt, Ingram’s press contact, said Ingram was out of town and unable to comment on the article at this time.
To listen to Gee's remarks at the Fall Faculty Assembly, click here.
Anne Malinee contributed to this report.
