President Sheldon Hackney may leave the University to begin his chairpersonship at the National Endowment for the Humanities as early as mid-summer, assuming his Senate confirmation is successful, Hackney said last night. He said the progression of his nomination is now in the hands of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Senate's Labor and Human Resources Committee. "I think I will be here through June 30, and then it's not quite clear," said Hackney, a 12-year University veteran and the second-longest sitting Ivy League president. Hackney said he was not surprised at yesterday's White House announcement regarding his NEH nomination. He said he and his wife, Lucy, were at a development dinner in New York last night and found out about the nomination when they returned to Philadelphia at midnight yesterday. "I got my e-mail messages [and] there was a message from [Secretary] Barbara Stevens," he said. "I was pretty sure that it was going to be announced last Friday." Sandy Crary, a Labor and Human Resources Committee staffer, said that Hackney's official confirmation process cannot begin until the Senate reconvenes Monday, following its spring recess. "We have to get formal paperwork from the White House and that hasn't happened," Crary said early yesterday afternoon. "Maybe we'll get the paperwork today." Before the Senate confirmation hearings, the FBI must conduct a background check on Hackney which could take 45 days. Hackney said he expects the hearings to be conducted in "mid-summer." "I will probably be ready [to leave] by then," he said. The president said he and the University Trustees have been talking about his possible departure since January. "I've been thinking about the transistion for a number of months," Hackney said. "I'm fairly sure we'll be able to do it quite well." The Trustees "have been wonderful," he said. Hackney said he is not expecting a difficult confirmation process and said he does not think a 1989 flap over his support of a controversial exhibit of Robert Mapplethorpe photographs will be an issue during the hearings. "I've had a very nice response for the humanities community in general," Hackney said. "I think my nomination is seen in a positive light." He also said he has gotten a good reaction from politicians on Capitol Hill. Hackney said, however, that he "can't be presumptuous" about the confirmation. "We will not make any permanent plans for Washington until the Senate hearings," he said. Both Republicans and Democrats on the Senate confirmation committee have expressed support for Hackney's nomination. "Sheldon Hackney is a distinguished educator," Sen. Claiborne Pell (D-RI), chairperson of the Arts, Education and Humanities Subcommittee, said in a statement yesterday. "The Clinton administration has made an excellent decision in choosing Dr. Hackney."
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