Administration transformed through cuts

News Analysis

In the past year, the look of the Oberlin's senior staff has changed rapidly in the wake of resignations and restructuring.

As drastic as some of the changes have been, trustees and faculty members have dismissed them as administrative decisions. With massive budget restructuring, some of the administrative changes have also helped save the College money, although the high-level changes aren't only cost-saving measures.

Several top administrators resigned during this year, which was Nancy Dye's second year as College president. In her first year, Dye got to know Oberlin. This year, she left her mark on the way it runs through changes to the senior staff, a body that functions as the president's cabinet.

Three senior staff positions in the S. Frederick Starr administration have been eliminated, one has been added and one is no longer a senior staff position. No one who follows administrative politics believes that the many resignations have come without encouragement from Dye or other top administrators.

The vacancies left after the resignations of two top administrators - Treasurer Charles Tharp in August and Vice President of Admissions and Financial Aid Thomas Hayden in November - will not be refilled.

The responsibilities of those two jobs have been altered. The treasurer's job now falls under the realm of the newly-created vice president for finance position, which has also absorbed the budgetary responsibilities formerly held by the provost. Andrew Evans is the vice president of finance.

The director of human resources now reports to the vice president for finance; in the past, the person in that position had reported to the vice president of operations. The new human resource director, Ruth Spencer, unlike her predecessor Angelo-Gene Monaco who resiged last year, is not a member of the senior staff.

The provost's oversight of libraries and computing has been moved to the deans of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Conservatory of Music. Thus, the two academic deans have more work than they used to.

Mary Ella Feinleib, who began as dean of the college in July, stepped down in early March (see story, page 10).

Another new dean, Charlene Cole-Newkirk, has been extremely visible in her new job in the Office of Student Life and Services. Cole-Newkirk has restructured her department during the year (see story, page 14), adding to the reworking of the administration.

Among the changes in Cole-Newkirk's department have been the resignations of Director of Security Richard McDaniel, Interim Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs Dwight Hollins and Student Union director Nate Ross.

The public side of the rapid changes has been one of calm resignations, but as with most of staff changes, other, less calm versions of the stories have circulated.

Hayden's resignation was one of the most abrupt. When the Review learned of his resignation in mid-November neither Dye nor Hayden would comment about the resignation, though they also did not deny it.

It wasn't until late December that the administration disclosed any details of the change. Hayden's job has been divided among the two directors of admissions and the director of financial aid. Hayden's job is one that many people said the College didn't need and, though the timing of the resignation surprised some, the resignation wasn't unexpected. Hayden's position will not be filled.

At the end of the current year, only a handful of senior staffers predate Dye's presidency. Those administrators are Director of Operations Donna Raynsford, Secretary Robert Haslun, Director of Communications Alan Moran, Vice President of Development and Alumni Affairs Young Dawkins, and Dean of the Conservatry Karen Wolff.

In the last years of Starr's administration distrust between faculty and the administration grew and the faculty kept closer tabs on the goings-on inside Cox Administration Building. While the faculty isn't necessarily complacent now, it is more trusting of Dye.

"I don't know if it's appropriate that the faculty be kept informed. I don't necessarily expect to be kept abreast of every change in the administration," Professor of Sociology Bill Norris said last fall. "And I don't expect to keep the administration abreast of all the changes in my classes."