December 1, 2008

Conduct of President's Wife Is Reviewed by U. of Tennessee's Board

Leaders of the University of Tennessee are grappling with an unusually public spat involving a presidential spouse. Word of a reported argument between a donor and Carol Petersen, wife of the system’s president, has led the Board of Trustees to ask that the president, John D. Petersen, clarify her role, according to documents obtained by The Knoxville News-Sentinel.

Laura Morris, the donor, quit as chairwoman of the Alliance of Women Philanthropists after an October confrontation with Ms. Petersen, which was described by two fund-raising officials in one of the documents. The trustees and Mr. Petersen subsequently agreed that his wife would avoid contact with donors and university staff members.

But Ms. Petersen may again act freely after her husband sent a letter last week to the governing board’s chairman. The president said he and his wife had apologized for the incident. She would continue to participate in university activities as a volunteer, he wrote, adding that she would have no authority over staff members or volunteers on the campus.

The board is conducting a five-year review of the president’s performance and is considering the incident as part of the process. Mr. Petersen received a positive annual review this year and was praised for his communication skills and his efforts involving fund raising and alumni affairs, the newspaper reported. —Paul Fain

Comments

1. It is unfortunate that the spouse of such a public position is often placed in a position of doing exactly what everyone wants, especially if “everyone” controls the purse strings. It works like that in the military, also.
   The unpaid spouse is part of the package deal that smiles and sometimes barks, but has no right to bite. Back off fund-raiser. When you hire a president, you get a team.

   — crimprof    Dec 1, 03:43 PM    #

2. I was privileged to have a been a finalist in a presidential search last year. It was amazing to me just how much of an interview it was for my wife as well.
   Institutions want the whole package, the spouse can make or break the deal. Spouses walk a fine line of serving as an ambassador, but have no authority. Trustees and donors need to have a little grace; if this is Dr. Peterson’s only blemish, they are truly blessed.

   — Former Candidate    Dec 1, 03:51 PM    #

3. Let’s see Lamar Alexander was president and his wife refused to move to Knoxville for “personal reasons.” Wonder what those were?
   Then John Shumaker’s wife toured the state with him after being appointed but decided to not move from Louisville and later they divorced. That became an issue in Shumaker’s firing in 11 months.
   Gilley came from Marshall with a good plan but he was set up and there he went.
   Now they want Petersen out and so why not go after his wife.
   Something is wrong there. Terrible resistance to the 21st Century.

   — Doug1978    Dec 1, 03:53 PM    #

4. After meeting with the governing board of a state institution for a presidency some 24 years ago, I decided not to pursue the position, primarily because of what it would have done to my wife’s life. Perhaps things have changed now, but then, she would have had to give up far too much…freedom, privacy, and her own professional career. I do not regret my decision at all.

   — Carl    Dec 1, 04:16 PM    #

5. Maybe the President’s wife can become Secretary of State.

   — johntee    Dec 1, 04:31 PM    #

6. Being wife of the president is a difficult role, with responsibilities but no authority. On the other had, a wife who does not interpret her role correctly can be a pain in the neck and a liability to the president. I have seen it too many times. Once, back in the 1970s, we should have seen it coming when, in the final interview the successful candidate’s wife interrupted, corrected and answered questions for her husband. In another instance, the wife of the system chancellor believed she had line authority over the wives of the campus presidents, and this caused untold problems.

   — case hardened    Dec 1, 05:07 PM    #

7. The 800-pound gorilla in the room here is higher ed’s reticence to examine the behavior or motives of any female.

   That is, unless she’s conservative or part of the college’s “evil” administration.

   — Mark    Dec 1, 06:16 PM    #

8. As a faculty member in the UT System it is an embarrassment that our Board cannot seem to hire someone that can last for more than a few years. The system has had three presidents in the last decade. Before those three there were only three in the previous four decades.

   In response to Doug1978; Honey Alexander, Lamar’s wife wanted to live in Nashville, Gilley was known in West Virginia as a mistake when he was hired (he wasn’t set up at all; for example it is known that he spent the better part of the day at an off campus Board campus meeting e-mailing the subordinate that he was involved with instead of attending the meeting). Shumaker’s ill advised use of state funds and state property caused his downfall not his wife. True she decided she liked her life in Louisville and didn’t want to leave, but that was not considered in his dismissal. Peterson has done nothing for the system except to inflate the upper levels of system administration and this incident with his wife will probably lead to his downfall.

   — UTFacultyMember    Dec 1, 09:05 PM    #

9. The president’s wife was out of line. She had no right to criticize a volunteer and donor. She needs to apologize publicly. If not, the president should be shown the door.

   — Fundraiser    Dec 1, 11:03 PM    #

10. Anton Checkov was right. At the very least, we owe each other civility. Such uncivil words as those of the president’s wife demand an apology.

    — Georgia    Dec 2, 07:00 AM    #

11. Some of the posters above aptly describe the no-win situation in which presidential spouses find themselves. But everyone should go from the general to the specific, and read about the altercation between this spouse and this donor.

    Click on the word “described” in the article.

    Posters 9 and 10 are right. Ms. Peterson should apologize.

    — Dave    Dec 2, 08:42 AM    #

12. The truly smart and savvy university President requires the hiring of his wife into tenured position at the university, regardless of her incompetence, as part of his employment package.

    — Anonymous    Dec 2, 08:44 AM    #

13. All of the posts talk about presidents’ wives. I realize in this instance it is a wife… but where are the husbands of presidents? There is a double standard set for men and women in the spouse role.

    — ---    Dec 2, 08:56 AM    #

14. It extends to more than presidents, spouses of college deans are under the same scrutiny if not at the same high public level.
    Always making sure not to do anything, that might end up in the newspaper or gossip. Like never missing a Sunday at church, never cutting the grass when it is 100 degrees in temp and humidity without a shirt on, driving “sensible’ cars even though I earn a pretty penny on my own, and worst never over cooking at the grill, an unspeakable act!
    Bubba

    — Good ol' Bubba    Dec 2, 08:58 AM    #

15. It is true we had three presidents over about thirty years but who were they? They were products of the state’s regressive political system. A. Hold was head of the state school teachers union when he was hired by politicos. He was forced to bring Bolin with him and at the time Bolin became chief operating officer for an aging Holt he was state auditor. The Nashville politicos wanted control. Bolin, who did not have a doctorate until he became chief operating officer, brought his chief assistant at the auditors office with him one named Joe JOhnson. Johnson also had no higher ed experience and no doctorate until the got the edd while also serving as chief operating officer. (He was the man to got to in those days if you wanted something.) So those who lasted were insiders with the Nashville politicos.
    The last outsider before Petersen was Crabtree, Chancellor of UTK, and the board forced Petersen to oust Crabtree and all his vice chancellors this year.
    As a retired faculty member I recall dozens of “outsiders” who came and were found wanting and run off. Why did Crabtree and all of the Vice Chancellors of UTK all leave at once? Was it because they were not hOltists or they got scared or fed up.
    There are a half dozen former presidents, chancellors and etc still on the payroll ready to critique the next chancellor or president.
    One way to get a man is through women ask Lamar, Gilley,Shumaker and now Petersen.

    — Doug1978    Dec 2, 09:04 AM    #

16. Some donors are real pieces of work – and need to be told they are acting like spoiled children. Principles are more valuable than the money sometimes.

    — Jax    Dec 2, 10:44 AM    #

17. The document that allegedly describes the incident is full of holes. What a waste of time, energy, and resources.

    — ---    Dec 2, 11:17 AM    #

18. I wonder what the reaction would be if this were a tenured faculty member’s partner ticking off a donor? Or untenured? Discuss!

    — SMF    Dec 2, 11:21 AM    #

19. I have never been able to figure out why the wife or husband of anyone should be mixed with the other persons job. Many have this false notion in higher ed that the president is the Mommy and Daddy of the academy. Please, that ended many, many years ago. The expectations put on leaders is high enough without adding a spouse to the mix. Does that mean if you’re single you can forget a President’s job because you don’t have a spouse? Sound insane? It is.

    Just as insane as being judged on the job YOU do based on how the janitor performs. So to believe that the spouse should be judged with the other spouse, and both “be shown the door” if there’s a problem means we all have to interview our spouses before we commit. If we ever want to be in administration we need to make sure they’ll be suitable material later on. To heck with anything else, they’ll have a job to do.

    Even if a spouse draws some salary for putting up with endless dinner parities, they should never have to be an alumni anything. That is just unreal expectations in today’s world.

    UT, get with it, this is 2008. Spouses should not be alumni anything, and the thought that they are is backwards, old fashioned, foolish thinking.

    Why can’t the President deal with the Women as well. It’s what should have been happening in the first place. To me, it’s a slap in the face of any significant woman donor to “only get” the wife to attend to them. It should be and have been the President, just like it would have been for any men’s alumni group.

    — Wazoo    Dec 2, 01:41 PM    #

20. Carol Petersen is keenly aware that she runs the UT presidency using her husband. In essence, John Petersen is Carol’s marionette and that is how their entire life together has been at all the places he has worked – from Clemson, to Connecticut and everywhere else in between. They never stayed for any length of time anywhere probably because people quickly became aware that Carol was John’s boss. In fact, he refers to her as, “the boss.” If John tries to change something she chews him up one side and down the other all night long & he drags into work tired for the entire day…often day in and day out. Carol Petersen is a real problem whereever she goes. She will not take ‘no’ from anyone, including UT’s Board of Trustees, Governor Bredesen, or even U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney’s secret service. Trying to keep Carol Petersen down is like trying to smolder a volcano eruption. Her mean behavior is the norm for her.

    — John D. Fountain    Dec 2, 10:09 PM    #

21. I don’t know the background here, but it sounds like an easy argument to me. Carol Peterson was tired and fed-up with money-bag donors calling the shots. She put one in their place, and what happens? That person goes whining to the Board of Trustees. Look at other colleges and universities in the country…. this is not the only place this is happening. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent on salaries, but that only keeps those people at a grater distance from students. Yes, it is a business, but it is also a business for children. Students that are 17, 18 and 19 years old come to an institution to learn. It needs to get back to being about the student. Some of these donors and board members and yes, presidents, husbands and wives, are so far removed from the student realm, it’s ridiculous. To me, it seems as though Ms. Peterson told a grumpy, wealthy donor how she truly felt, and the old, money-gubbing donor ran and tattled on her. Shame on UT and shame on it being just about the money. Remember, your sole job is to ensure a quality education to all (and some of them poor) students. Quit bickering like eighth grade schoolchildren.

    — no name    Dec 5, 04:42 PM    #

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