Pulling together as one university will see Vanderbilt through the worldwide financial crisis, Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos said during the spring faculty assembly.

“We stand or fall together, academically and financially,” Zeppos said. “There are no silos and tubs, especially when leaks spring. … Let’s go forward together. This is a strength, and our efforts to divide, isolate or build silos will prove to be fruitless and has proven to be expensive.”

Zeppos spoke April 17 in the Student Life Center. He revealed that he had recently been studying the career of Chancellor James Kirkland, who led Vanderbilt through the Great Depression, for insight. Kirkland would occasionally assemble the entire Vanderbilt community for a “town meeting” to discuss how things were going.

With more than 22,000 employees and 12,000 students, such a meeting was now logistically impossible, Zeppos said.

“We cannot physically, but can metaphorically, come together to agree on shared sacrifice, on prudence and devotion to our mission,” Zeppos said. “Regardless of the growth and complexity of our great university, at its core we are still a community.”
 
Zeppos noted that faculty had taken the lead in suggesting strategies and sacrifices to prevent layoffs. Vanderbilt’s endowment has declined about 16.5 percent during the crisis while some of its peers have lost up to 30 percent.

The federal economic stimulus bill recognizes the key role colleges and universities will play in recovery efforts, Zeppos said.

“The American dream may often run down main street,” he said. “It may even lead to Wall Street. But it always runs down University Avenue or College Boulevard. America’s wealth, its health, its social fabric, its global competitiveness, its respect, rests on that most empowering and noble of our callings – education and innovation and discovery that is found at the great American university.”

The program began with a presentation by Ellen T. Armour, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Associate Professor of Theology, on “Blinding Me With (Queer) Science: Humanity, Animality and Homosexuality.” Virginia L. Shepherd, professor of pathology and chair of the faculty senate, introduced the chancellor.

For faculty award winners announced at the assembly, go to http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/myvu/news/2009/04/17/five-win-awards-at-spring-faculty-senate.78006.
 
A podcast of Chancellor Zeppos’ spring faculty address is available here.

Contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu