University Business - June 2007 - (Page 57)

FA C I L I T I E S FOCUS The President’s Residence T’S A PERK THAT TENDS TO BE MORE DREADED THAN WEL comed by institutional leaders. The official president’s house could be the grandest property on campus, but actually residing there requires a balancing act between public and private lives that many presidential families would rather not perform. Do nearly all institutions of higher ed have an official president’s home? Not exactly, American Council on Education data shows. According to “The American College President: 2007 Edition,” a report based on a 2006 study of 2,148 presidents, just 27.9 percent of all employment agreements include a presidential house (in two categories, doctorate- and baccalaureate-granting institutions, more than half of agreements do). Regional differences tend to exist in these homes, says Claire Van Ummersen, vice president of the ACE Center for Effective Leadership and a two-time former president. Those in the South are more likely to have large public spaces and high ceilings, while homes in New England tend to be more modest and most suitable for small-group entertaining. The size of private living quarters varies along with house size and layout, but separate entrances and other hard boundaries between public and private are rare. Today’s on-campus presidential homes “are not as important as they were over the last 50 years,” asserts James L. Fisher, a consultant who has written several books on the college presidency. But that’s due more to the outlook of presidents, not boards. Boards tend to maintain tradition and assume an official home makes the president more accessible. While the number of functions hosted by presidents has increased in recent years, other on- and off-campus location options are now being used, so functions aren’t necessarily taking place at a presidential home, Fisher says. Despite long-held tradition at some institutions, the official presidential home is not considered the one-building-fits-all facility that it used to be. By Melissa Ezarik I WHY PRESIDENTS PREFER THEIR OWN HOMES CHILDREN: Presidents with kids “don’t want to be embarrassed by typical family problems,” says John Kuhnle, managing director of search firm Korn/Ferry International’s Global Education Practice. He knows of one president with “teenagers blasting stereos out the window” who was asked to move. Chuck Bunting, managing director of the education practice at Edward W Kelley & Partners, adds that official residences tend to “convey an institutional rather than a family identity.” That makes sense to Sister Andrea Lee of The College of St. Catherine (Minn.), who adopted a Haitian child in 1996 and chose to live in a private residence when she became president in 1998. The home “helps me balance between the important work of fulfilling the mission of St. Kate’s and the precious time I knew I would have with my son,” she says. SPOUSE’S CAREER: In two-career families, Kuhnle has found, “campus housing can pose problems.” The spouse may not want to be expected to host campus events at home, for instance. HOME EQUITY: Presidents who own their own homes near campus—whether those homes are purchased with a housing allowance or on their own—like the idea of building equity for when it’s time to move on. This has especially been the case in the strong housing market of the past decade, notes Claire Van Ummersen, a vice president at ACE. According to ACE research, about one in five presidents in 2006 reported a housing allowance as a condition of employment. NEW LIFE FOR OLD HOMES OME FORMER PRESIDENTIAL HOMES CONTINUE TO BE USED mainly for president-hosted public functions. The fate of other former homes: • When James L. Fisher, former president of Towson University (Md.), requested an off-campus home so that, he says, “my kids could be treated as normal kids,” the official presidential home, Glen Esk, was turned into a counseling center. • When The College of St. Catherine (Minn.) stopped using Derham Hall as the official president’s residence in 1964, it was converted into an administration building, with parlors used for meetings and small receptions. • When officials at the University of Wisconsin-Madison determined it would be too costly to upgrade the aging chancellor’s house last summer, the home, which overlooks Lake Michigan, Derham Hall, The College of St. Catherine was put on the market. universitybusiness.com S June 2007 | 57 http://universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - June 2007

Contents
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Editor's Note
Virginia Tech Coverage
Sense of Place
Viewpoint
Admissions
On The Hill
Future Shock
Independent Outlook
Internet Technology
I Wanna Be Rich
Smart and Sustainable
Walking the Talk
Steering Toward Sustainability
An Organizing Principle for Colleges and Universities
News Shorts
News Shorts
It’s Not Easy Eating Green
Facilities Focus
The New Face of ERP
Document Management Across Campus
What's New
Direct Connect
Calendar of Events
End Note
Annual Directory of Higher Education Consultants

University Business - June 2007