Wolff resigns from Con post

Resignation leads to increased tension between College, Con

Dean of the Conservatory Karen Wolff resigned effective Feb. 1, leaving a stream of unanswered questions in her wake. News of the resignation first surfaced in mid-December.

David Boe, professor of organ and former dean of the Conservatory for 15 years, will act as interim dean while the College conducts a national search for the position. The search committee will be made up of Conservatory faculty members elected by their peers.

While official documents call Wolff's departure a resignation, Wolff calls it a retirement.

"I just had decided that the time was right for me to go on to some other things," Wolff said. Wolff did not attribute her departure to any conflict with her staff or College President Nancy Dye. "As a faculty we coalesced toward making this school the best place for music education in the country," she said.

Wolff joined the Oberlin administration in August of 1991, after a two year search to replace Boe. Wolff was the first woman dean of the Conservatory. During her tenure, the faculty and student body grew, and Wolff succeeded in increasing fundraising for the Conservatory. She also concentrated her efforts on bringing big name instructors to the faculty, like Professors of Violin Almita and Roland Vamos. Boe said, "It's always disappointing to see a successful dean leave."

One way Wolff made Oberlin one of the top ranked music institutions in the country was an increase in merit-based aid to attract top-rated musicians to Oberlin. According to multiple sources, the amount of spending on Conservatory merit-based aid grew faster than Dye could support. This dispute allegedly contributed to Wolff's departure.

Boe explained that the Conservatory has increased spending on financial aid in the past few years. "There has been a significant growth in scholarship expenditure, and sources were concerned that if that growth continued, it could not be sustained," said Boe.

Wolff takes an alternate view: "Every music dean in the country is eager to have scholarship money to recruit as many students as possible. There's never enough," she said.

"The Conservatory does use merit-based aid in a greater way than the college does," Vice President of Finance Andy Evans said. He remarked that this is similar to most conservatories.

"The philosophy that the Conservatory has embraced is the same as every other conservatory in the country. It's a completely different way of attracting students," Evans said.

Conservatory sophomore Adam Friedberg defended the imbalance of merit-based aid. "I think that it is a reality that the Con is a more thriving institution than the College. The Conservatory is ranked fourth in the country, while the College continues to slip."

Wolff's departure also leaves a void in viola instruction since Professor of Viola Jeffrey Irvine will resign at the end of the semester, partly in response to Wolff's departure.

According to his students, Irvine will leave his position at Oberlin at the end of the spring semester for a job at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Irvine was unavailable for comment, but his students explained that he left partly due to Wolff's resignation, but also because of the timely job offer he received from CMI.

"He is just a fantastic teacher. He has done a lot for me as a musician and as a player," said Conservatory sophomore and Irvine student Wendy Richman. Richman will in all likelihood transfer to CMI in order to continue her studies with Irvine. Richman also noted that five to eight of her fellow viola students plan on following Irvine to CMI.

Richman said, "I love this place so much, and I really don't want to leave, but I have to consider my career."

Many Conservatory students demonstrated no knowledge of Wolff's resignation. "I think a lot of people don't know and don't care. Ninety-nine percent of all Con students are too wrapped up in their own little world to care about this," said Conservatory junior Kate Peterson.

Despite the apathetic reaction by some students, others have expressed some serious discontent with Dye's role in Wolff's resignation.

Friedberg said, "The Con owes a tremendous amount to Wolff. She's built this department."

Rumors of a tense relationship between Dye and Wolff have fueled controversy in the Conservatory. "I don't think anyone really understands the whole story," said Professor of Music Theory Paul Mast. It is hard to decipher what is fact and what is fiction in the flurry of rumors and speculation around the Conservatory

Deans old and new: Karen Wolff, left, resigned from the conservatory effective Feb. 1. David Boe, professor of organ, will serve as acting dean while the college runs a national search for her replacement. The resignation led to increased tension between the Conservatory and the College. (left photo courtesy College Relations, right photo courtesy John Seyfried)