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Both James Moeser and Sue E. Estroff made their debuts before the Faculty
Council on Sept. 15, but one would be hard pressed to say who stole the show.
Moeser, as chancellor, endeared by emphasizing his respect for the tradition of
faculty leadership here and his belief in shared governance.
Estroff, on the other hand, entertained.
She comes to the job as new chair of the faculty with a sense of purpose, to be
sure. But she was quick to demonstrate that she came with an unchecked sense of
humor, too.
After being officially installed, Estroff whipped off her jacket and replaced
it with a glittering sequined jacket seemingly suited for a different kind of
stage. A student gave the jacket to Estroff, then doubted if Estroff would have
the nerve to wear it to the Faculty Council meeting. The student obviously did
not know the new chair well enough, Estroff said.
But Estroff had the chutzpah to not only wear the jacket but to make it fit the
moment. Expect the unexpected: That was the statement those sequins seemed to
scream.
As Estroff paced the room, she wondered aloud how her years here had passed so
quickly. She joined the Department of Social Medicine in 1982, the only woman
on a faculty of nine. Today, there are four full-time female faculty members --
including three full professors -- among a faculty of 12.
When Estroff arrived at the school, she was so out of step with the fashion of
the day that women in her building felt compelled to drag her into a restroom
to teach her a thing or two about how to put on makeup. "You can see how well
that worked," Estroff said.
The Sept. 15 meeting, she told Faculty Council members, marked the start of a
long conversation about a range of issues vital to all of them in different
ways.
There are issues to address within "the academy," the place where minds are
sharpened and deepened through asking and answering, exploring and wondering.
That same academy falls subject to a maze of rules and regulations and
processes that have been developed over many years by many people who are no
longer here, Estroff said. One Faculty Council task should be to ask and answer
whether some of those rules and regulations and processes are still doing what
they were intended to do, or if what they were intended to do still makes
sense, she said.
There are issues for the Faculty Council to address that deal with the campus
as both a workplace and as a social community. These are issues that touch on
everything from achieving more diversity to better benefits and, dare she say
it, an easier time of finding a parking space in the morning. "Parking and
transportation should not be an extreme sport that require the skills of a
tri-athlete," Estroff said.
Moeser, for his part, steered clear of parking but repeated how happy he still
is to be here after his first full month as chancellor. "I'm just having a
great deal of fun," Moeser said. "I know every day won't be fun, but so far it
is.
"I do not believe there is a better job in America than to be the chancellor of
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and I am very grateful."
Moeser said he has immersed himself in the history of the University since he
won the job in order to "figure out how such a great university came to exist
in Chapel Hill.
"I continue to be a student of that question," Moeser said. "You cannot have a
great vision of the future if you don't have a clear picture of where you've
been."
As he does wherever he goes, Moeser emphasized the importance of supporting the
$3.1 billion bond referendum on the Nov. 7 ballot that would bring this campus
nearly $500 million for capital needs.
Moeser then fielded questions from the floor that ranged from the plans to
develop the Horace Williams tract to his plans to increase the Latino presence
on campus.
Horace Williams has the potential of becoming "our Centennial Campus," Moeser
responded to the first question. Answering the second question, Moeser noted
that North Carolina has one of the fastest-growing Hispanic populations in the
country. "We can't reach our goals without this campus more accurately
reflecting the real world."
Then Philip Bromberg stood and identified himself as a professor with the
School of Medicine and as a fellow amateur musician. "I urge you to keep
practicing," Bromberg told Moeser. Moeser nodded and said he would, but added,
"I promise not to afflict my performance on you."
Moeser recalled the last time he played the organ with a symphony orchestra. It
was an unmitigated disaster, he said, but the audience seemed not to know. "I
escaped with my reputation and my dignity intact," Moeser said. "I will now
coast on that."
In a later interview, Estroff emphasized that an agenda that organized issues
around the academy, the workplace and the social community was a framework that
she developed with the council's Executive Committee.
It is an agenda, she said, "that is about and for the faculty and the
University. Without the energetic participation of everyone in the work that
lies ahead, the agenda means little.
"I see this as a time of palpable opportunity and risk -- opportunity to make
both small steps and some swaggering strides, risk of doing too much, too
little or the wrong things."
Another hint of Estroff's open style could be found in the new seating
arrangement in the Wilson Library meeting room. Members arrived to find their
chairs arranged in a U, with the podium at its top.
The configuration has people facing across from each other rather than staring
at the back of heads. Estroff called the arrangement a "modified parliament
style" that she hopes will invite more discussion and debate.
As for that jacket, Estroff had only one other thing to say. "You might want to
include that sequined jacket is quintessentially Carolina blue."
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