I remember a conversation I had last fall with a Medill professor. We were talking about the faculty’s views on Medill 20/20-the slogan new dean John Lavine gave to the slew of curriculum changes he proposed for the school-and the weekly day-long learning-sessions they had to attend to prepare. Northwestern’s alumni magazine had just reported President Henry Bienen and Provost Lawrence Dumas gave Lavine “free reign to transform the school” by placing a three-and-a-half year halt on faculty oversight while Lavine implemented Medill 20/20. After offering mutual distaste, the professor leaned toward me and said, almost whispering, “I wish they weren’t so fucking benign.””They” referred to the other professors who were apparently keeping quiet any doubts about Lavine’s methods and Medill 20/20 itself. But the faculty, it seems, have finally spoken up. Chicago Reader media blogger Michael Miner reported last Friday Northwestern’s General Faculty Committee had “formally accused NU’s administration of abolishing democracy” at Medill. The Committee handed down the rebuke June 6, calling Bienen and Dumas’ free-reign policy “unacceptable and in violation of the University’s Statutes” and essentially saying it created an adverse climate for faculty members who wanted to be involved in the process. Who knows what will come of the resolution-nothing more than a strongly worded letter the Committee sent to Bienen and Dumas. But its unanimous passing indicates something I’ve felt about Lavine since he was introduced as dean: The man seems considerably out-of-touch with his fellow faculty and, most important to me, Medill students, who have been left to the margins. I first felt alienated when my fellow peer coordinators and I were in a meeting with some faculty and heard Medill would require all incoming students to purchase their own laptops, software, video iPods and digital camcorders without reimbursement-all while the school was planning to sell off the Dell computers in its classrooms. It felt like a quick-fix solution made during a spell of obliviousness: Although the equipment-worth about $3600-will be considered by the financial aid office when handing out awards, most students on financial aid know extra costs typically mean more loans rather than grants. Lavine did hold town hall meetings a few months after he was named the dean and, in Medill 20/20 fashion, opened an online discussion board for student input. And then 12 faculty committees came up with the new curriculum. We first saw an outline in late May when Lavine sent mass e-mail asking for our opinions, but the message came after the fact, making it nothing more than electronic empty talk. It’s a shame Lavine’s brief tenure has disaffected students, faculty and alumni (the G.F.C. even said the free-reign policy could corrode the school’s national reputation), because it started out with a good idea: Medill needed to be as dynamic as the media industry. When Lavine introduced his ideas, he was obviously thinking of the future. Bienen and Dumas agreed, and apparently wanted to see change as rapidly as possible. Instead, they may have introduced a dangerous precedent, and it’s the duty of the entire NU faculty, the Board of Trustees, students and alumni to ensure this free-reign policy is a one-time deal.

Reach Steve Aquino at [email protected].