2008 Woodie Awards
Video related to this article is available below.Issue date: 12/11/07 Section: News
Stetson Departure | Pressure on Gutmann absent after resignation
Anthony Campisi
While there is no such statutory obligation for trustees of nonprofit organizations like Penn, the way in which university presidents should be held accountable for their actions is a debated issue.
Though advocates for nonprofit reform said personnel issues are usually handled by a college president without input from the board, they did say transparency is an important part of accountability and keeping trustees informed about sensitive issues is vital.
"When the situation turns into an intrigue like this … it would make sense if the president of the university would chat with the board and give some explanation of what happened," said Outi Flynn of BoardSource, a consulting firm for nonprofits. "In principle, the board is the independent body for the organization."
But there can be dangers in affording a college president too much power.
"When a board perceives a president as an indispensable heroic leader, then trustees disengage from governance or accord the CEO undue deference," wrote Richard Chait, a professor at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, in The Chronicle of Higher Education in February 2006.
"The board [then] becomes less a source of leadership and intellectual capital and more a source of technical assistance and financial support," he wrote.
Staff writer Albert Sun contributed reporting for this article.
Though advocates for nonprofit reform said personnel issues are usually handled by a college president without input from the board, they did say transparency is an important part of accountability and keeping trustees informed about sensitive issues is vital.
"When the situation turns into an intrigue like this … it would make sense if the president of the university would chat with the board and give some explanation of what happened," said Outi Flynn of BoardSource, a consulting firm for nonprofits. "In principle, the board is the independent body for the organization."
But there can be dangers in affording a college president too much power.
"When a board perceives a president as an indispensable heroic leader, then trustees disengage from governance or accord the CEO undue deference," wrote Richard Chait, a professor at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, in The Chronicle of Higher Education in February 2006.
"The board [then] becomes less a source of leadership and intellectual capital and more a source of technical assistance and financial support," he wrote.
Staff writer Albert Sun contributed reporting for this article.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 18
Alumnus
posted 12/11/07 @ 7:32 AM EST
We need a Sarbanes-Oxley act for non-profits, to make sure that non-profit boards are doing their job properly by holding management accountable for their decisions, judgment, and actions. (Continued…)
Jack
posted 12/11/07 @ 3:08 PM EST
Franklin said "two may keep a secret, if one of them be dead."
Gutmann made the decision to keep the reason for Stetson's departure confidential and much to her credit (and the DP's frustration) she has been successful at that so far. (Continued…)
alumnus 2001
posted 12/11/07 @ 7:15 PM EST
Penn's trustees have long been little more than a source of financial assistance, at least since I started attending the meetings in the late '90s. You don't get on the Board of Trustees without donating a lot of money to the school, and even then it's more of an honorific and a nice title that keeps wealthy white donors engaged, even if they are treated like bumbling old men. (Continued…)
Patty Martin
posted 12/12/07 @ 11:50 AM EST
A DP reporter should wait outside the presidential mansion every morning and ask her to stop being such a hater of the truth. Also, you should steal the tactics of the 911 conspiracy theorists: use bullhorns and huge neon-rainbow placcards outside her house, and burn Stersons if effigy. (Continued…)
I remember the Old Penn.
posted 12/12/07 @ 1:20 PM EST
Penn in the 70's and 80's certainly was'nt the slick glossy machine it is now. I miss it though. Now, they keep secrets better than the CIA. God knows how many staff/department heads have been paid off to keep quiet in the last few years. (Continued…)
Reader
posted 12/13/07 @ 1:30 PM EST
This is not a news article. This is an editorial.
Wallace
posted 12/14/07 @ 12:00 AM EST
Why can't the DP do its own investigative journalism?
Contact all of the admissions staff that worked with the former Dean over the past 10 years. Ask them if they have any comment. (Continued…)
alum
posted 12/14/07 @ 8:41 PM EST
Keeping secrets is a sure way to erode the support of the alumni(at least the sober ones.) Hey, is that why the booze flows like a river at every alumni function I've attended? Just come clean. (Continued…)
Hey Bill
posted 12/15/07 @ 3:22 PM EST
I see you are a real suck up, and quite sexually confused. What is in your closet?
2010
posted 12/17/07 @ 2:13 PM EST
Why is the DP so desperate to MAKE this into a news story? It reported on a mysterious, then reported on the lack of information about it, then reported about the lack of interest due to the lack of information due to the mysterious departure. (Continued…)
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