Hackney said to be on the way out

President Sheldon Hackney will soon be appointed chairperson of the National Endowment of the Humanities, Washington insiders said this week. National Humanities Alliance Chairperson John Hammer said yesterday that he has been told Hackney will be named to the government post before the end of the week. "The impression here is that when they make the announcement, Hackney is the one they will be announcing for the NEH," he said. The National Humanities Alliance is an umbrella organization of humanities groups that lobbies Congress on behalf of its members. White House and NEH staff members -- closemouthed as their jobs require -- said this week they do not know when the announcement will be made or who the appointee will be. Some said, though, that they have heard the same rumors as everyone else. And although Hackney and people close to him continue to dismiss speculation of his appointment as mere rumor, articles in newspapers across the country for the past few weeks have cited Hackney as President Clinton's probable appointee. Lucy Hackney, Hackney's wife, said last night that "this is all complete gossip at this point." She said she received a faxed copy of a brief in yesterday's Washington Post which claims Hackney is Clinton's first choice to head the NEH. Hackney echoed his wife's claim that he has heard nothing more than the Beltway rumors, and said he "really can't comment" on the validity of the speculation. Lucy Hackney said her husband would consider taking the Washington job if offered the chance, but added that he has not been contacted by the White House regarding the possible appointment. "This is a job he certainly has some interest in," she said. The Clinton administration did request Hackney's resume "several weeks ago," the University's First Lady said. According to an article in The Philadelphia Inquirer last week, Hackney submitted his own name to the White House when he found out about the search. If Hackney takes the job, he will be the fourth top administrator to leave the University since September. He would follow Provost Michael Aiken, who will become the chancellor of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in July, Senior Vice President for Development Rick Nahm, who will become president of Knox College this summer and former Executive Vice President Marna Whittington who took a job in a private investment management firm last fall. Hackney has been at the University for 12 years and is the second-longest sitting Ivy League president, behind Cornell University President Frank Rhodes. Lucy Hackney said she and her husband think leaving Philadelphia would be very difficult. "I'd love to go to Washington, but I have a lot going on in Philadelphia," she said. "[It would be] very hard to leave. We are both struggling with the issue." The University's president said he is not ready to worry about picking up and moving south just yet. "I've sworn not to think about it until there's a reason to," Hackney said. Hackney's wife said that even if the president is offered the NEH position, he would probably not leave for eight or nine months. She said there is a long time between a presidential appointment and a Congressional confirmation. "We're not talking about walking out very quickly," she said. The president said that, as far as he knows, he will not be taking any trips to Washington in the near future. He said he has a full schedule at the University.

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