Steve Brauntuch: Presidential choice does not fit mold

When the Penn presidential search committee was formed in September, committee members created a set of priorities and characteristics that they sought in a new president. They also came up with a short list of challenges that the new president would face, ostensibly so they could pick someone who they felt could address these challenges.

Managing a large, decentralized organization, overseeing the health system and expanding fundraising efforts were among the challenges listed by the committee. The committee wrote that they sought a candidate with strong management and financial oversight skills as well as an established fundraiser. And they specifically noted the importance of experience in an urban setting, given Penn's position in every aspect of Philadelphia governance.

On top of that, when Judith Rodin was asked about the qualities she thought her successor should have, she specifically mentioned that, ideally, the next president would be someone familiar both with this particular university and with urban universities in general.

With those criteria in mind, how did Amy Gutmann, someone who doesn't fit any of those descriptions on paper, end up as Penn's next president? Perhaps more importantly -- because it's not Gutmann's fault that she doesn't fit the description -- how did the search committee settle on Gutmann as the right choice?

It should be noted that games aren't played on paper (as a wise man once said, they're played inside TV sets) and that Gutmann could very well make a fine president. She clearly has the academic background to command the respect of the faculty, and she has placed her preliminary emphasis in the right places.

But it's hard to ignore the qualities that Gutmann is lacking -- specifically, those that the search committee claimed would best fit this university.

Business experience? Zero. Experience in dealing with a health system? Zero. Fundraising and financial oversight experience? Minimal, acquired in two years as provost of Princeton (which is a whole separate but valid issue, by the way).

And perhaps most importantly: Penn experience? Aside from four years on the Penn National Commission, an organization that discussed national problems in political and social discourse, Gutmann doesn't have any experience with this school. She's already said that it's going to take her at least a year to get fully acclimated, and she won't be setting any priorities for herself until at least next January. Not a great way to start things off.

Under most circumstances, there would be a strong support team ready to assist the new president as she makes the transition from the open fields of New Jersey to the heart of Philadelphia. Except currently, there's no executive vice president running the business side of the school, and there's no head of fundraising to share the burden. Rodin can teach her how to play the game, but she can't score for her. By all accounts, it's going to be a rough transition period, and forward progress might as well be thrown out the window.

So what did the search committee say when asked about Gutmann's qualifications? With regard to her lack of urban experience, Chairman James Riepe noted that she had written about cities in some of her political science books, that she was born in New York and that her husband works at Columbia.

That's it? That's the best you got?

Amy Gutmann is a fine academic, and she has a tremendous body of accolades to show for her work. The fact that she isn't the right fit for the Penn presidency should not be a reflection on her at all. In fact, only two years ago, she said she wasn't interested in becoming a university president.

The questions in this case clearly lie with the University Board of Trustees and the search committee. Why? They were the ones who set out the criteria for the new president. Nobody forced them to list business, urban and health system experience as prerequisites. They did it on their own. And then they picked someone who doesn't have any of that experience.

People have mentioned that when she was tapped for the presidency, Rodin was a relative unknown as well. But in 22 years at Yale, including three as provost, Rodin worked at a school in an urban setting with similar environmental concerns. Yale also has a health system in which Rodin worked as a professor of psychology, psychiatry and medicine. And Rodin was certainly familiar with the Penn campus, having done her undergraduate work here.

The last time this university picked a no-name candidate for a top administrative position was the fall of 2002, when Cliff Stanley was hired as executive vice president despite his lack of business background. That experiment ended in failure last October. Like Stanley, Amy Gutmann seems to be an intelligent leader with the willingness to learn on the job and overcome her lack of experience. For the sake of this university, let's hope this hire ends up better than the last one did.

Steve Brauntuch is a senior communications major from Tenafly, N.J., and former editorial page editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. Statler and Waldorf appears on Wednesdays..

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