Computer seminars being what they are, it wasn’t long before John Requeturned to the Web to stave off the yawns. The Medill senior lecturer, awayin northern Minnesota last week, brought up the journalism school’s siteand settled in for some nice, distracting fluff about graduation.
What he got was a jolt: Medill Dean Ken Bode is resigning.
“My first reaction was that it was a senior prank,” Reque said. “As I reada little more closely, though, I found out that of course it was not.”
After that, software tutorials didn’t stand a chance. On June 22, news ofBode’s decision – he will step down by the end of the next academic year -spread quickly via e-mail. Copies of both Bode’s and Provost LawrenceDumas’ letter to Medill faculty were cut, pasted and forwarded to students- and met with big eyes and gaping mouths at computer terminals across themap.
It was, needless to say, a shock.
“This is only his third year here,” Reque said of Bode, whose clout broughtbig money to the school and high-profile speakers to the campus but whosegruff personality clashed with some faculty and students. “That’s not avery long time for a dean. I can’t imagine that anybody expected him tostep down.”
Medill students were equally surprised.
“It made me sad,” said Medill junior Karthika Harinath, a broadcast major.”I thought he did a really good job as dean.”
But Bode, speaking from his farmhouse in Delaware, said he had beenweighing his resignation since January. Explaining his decision, he citedbureaucratic burnout.
“Deans are required to do tons of reviews, reports, meetings, committees,what have you,” said Bode, who will remain on staff to teach and to overseethe Crain Lecture Series. “I guess that it’s absolutely necessary, but Idon’t want to be spending time doing that any more. I didn’t do thatpoorly. We accomplished a lot at Medill, but it’s time to declare victoryand move on.”
Leaving the limelight
One of Bode’s most public accomplishments was the Crain Lecture Series,which was initiated in September 1998 and was scheduled to run for 10 years.
During the series’ first two years, Bode brought speakers such as MikeMcCurry, Ken Starr and Jerry Springer to campus. Bode and the guest speakerwould appear in front of a giant, purple Medill banner – a plug for theschool and a perfect photo opportunity for visiting press.
Medill students said the lecture series was one of the school’s strongestassets.
“The Crain Lecture Series has been a really great educational experience,”said Medill junior Jamie Tschida. “Having that sort of contact with realmembers of the journalism community has been exciting.”
Bode said the interview format helped convince potential guests to come tocampus – they didn’t have to prepare a speech and sometimes charged a lowerrate.
Although he will continue to work with the series, Bode said his role willnot be as active next year.
“I’m going to start turning it over to the students and letting them startpacking the halls with people they want to come and letting them do themoderating,” said Bode, who currently is producing CNN documentaries onGeorge W. Bush and Al Gore.
While some students and faculty members doubt he can step out of thespotlight, Bode said he is ready to take a break.
“I don’t need the spotlight,” said Bode, co-chairman of NU’s Martin LutherKing Jr. Day Committee. “I’m glad not to have it.”
Inside Medill, faculty say Bode will be remembered for one thing inparticular: the $20 million broadcasting Taj Mahal that will be builtadjacent to Fisk Hall.
“That will be his legacy,” said Medill Prof. Ava Greenwell.
Bode began building that legacy not long after his arrival in January 1998as a “part-time dean.”
During his first year at Medill, the school received a $20 million grantfrom the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation to construct the newbuilding. Under his direction, plans took shape for the building to housenew broadcast facilities and a multimedia center.
Bode said one of his goals has been to send off all Medill students, notjust broadcast majors, with a better understanding of television journalism.
“If you’re a newspaper major in Medill taking your first paper job, thefirst time you have a front-page story, the local TV station is going todebrief you on air,” Bode said. “If you don’t know how to do TV, you’re notas valuable of a reporter to a newspaper.
“It’s in the nature of business to know well what the competition is doing.We’re being sure that our print people understand that. That wasn’t beingdone before.”
A focus on broadcast
During Bode’s two and a half years at the helm, the broadcast programgained two full-time professors, bringing its total to five. The schoolalso raked in a $1.5 million grant from the James L. Knight Foundation tohire a Knight Chair in Journalism. The broadcast chair will be Medill’sfirst endowed journalism professorship.
But it’s the subtractions that have stirred controversy at Medill.
In the past year, six faculty members, five of whom are print professors,have left Medill or been notified by Bode that their contracts will not berenewed.
Most recently, visiting lecturer Mike Reilley and senior lecturer JohnReque, both print journalism professors, were told they will no longer beteaching at Medill after this year and next year, respectively. The deantold them there isn’t enough money.
Reque said his status will remain the same, though Bode has decided to stepdown.
While some have criticized Bode for neglecting the print program andcausing tension between print and broadcast, Bode says “the schism isoverstated.”
“There’s just no evidence of that,” Bode said. “I keep hearing students saythat, but I don’t hear faculty say that.
“I have no idea why (students) are saying that. When they say that to myface, they leave saying, ‘Now I understand.'”
Plans ‘going to go forward’
Despite the praise heaped on Bode by faculty and administrators, someprofessors warned against giving the dean all the credit for the grant andfor the resurrection of the broadcast program.
“In attributing some of these more public achievements to him, peopleforget some of the groundwork,” said Medill Prof. Donna Leff, who listed anumber of other faculty members who began working on the grant before Bodeeven joined the school. “He stepped into the continuity, and he did a verygood job of it, but it wasn’t just Ken. It’s more complicated than that.”
But no one denies Bode has been instrumental in making plans for the newbuilding – adding to colleagues’ confusion at his sudden departure.
“I do think it’s a little peculiar to create a building project in yourvision and then quit before it comes to fruition,” Leff said.
The building is scheduled to open no earlier than fall 2002, which meansBode will not serve as dean through the project’s completion. But Bode saidhe is not worried about plans for the building falling through the cracks.
“The provost and (University President Henry Bienen) made it pretty clearthat this is not just my goal – they share these goals,” Bode said.
“Everybody is on board with the new building and with what our goals arethere. I don’t think things are going to stop. I think they’re going to goforward. Priorities are pretty much set.”
Medill administrators agreed that Bode’s departure should not interrupt thebuilding plans.
“We’re way too far down the road for something to go wrong there,” MedillAssoc. Dean Richard Roth said. “It’s begun. All these things aren’t justideas in the air that are going to float away or evaporate.”
No heir apparent
While many people predicted that Bode would eventually leave Medill forgreener pastures, few thought he would step down after just two years.
“Even those of us who didn’t think he was a long-termer didn’t think hewould quit this soon,” said Leff, who co-chaired the search committee thatbrought Bode to Medill.
“I find it sort of disturbing that we would have to go look so soon. Idon’t think the external pickings are all that great.”
Leff said she is unsure of t
he prospects for finding an equally qualifieddean and that administrators might be better served by looking around FiskHall.
“It’s not like there are 50 people out there dying to be dean of Medill whowould be great deans,” she said. “But there are definitely 50 people outthere dying to be dean of Medill.”
Leff said she wouldn’t mind seeing more of a focus from the next dean onthe internal workings of Medill.
“All this external stuff is great, but the students and research areimportant too,” she said.
Some faculty members already have opinions on what to look for in the nextMedill dean.
“I would expect the new dean to be a woman,” Reque said. “It’s veryimportant that they try to do that. Because they’ve never had one. Becausethe leadership here at the university is male-dominated. But you can’talways do that because it depends on who’s available.”
Many students said they would like the next dean to take Bode’s lead andemphasize less-developed areas of Medill.
“My main hope for the next dean is that he or she realizes the importanceof new media and how the Internet is changing journalism,” said Medillsophomore Tom Gibes.
But for others, the new dean simply should reinvest attention in theschool’s print program.
“This is an opportunity to have a dean with a broader focus,” said Medilljunior Casey Newton. “Someone who can bring in new blood to inspire theprint program and replace the people we’ve lost. I think the print programwas in limbo.”
But some are not necessarily looking for change at all.
“I can really identify with him,” said Medill Prof. David Protess. “I’mmuch more concerned with Ken Bode’s future than with my own, and this is agood move for him. I hope they find a clone for Ken Bode. He’s going to bea tough act to follow.”
Liz Austin, Tommy Craggs, Liz Raap, Denis Theriault and Tara Tidwellcontributed to this report.
