The President's House The Chronicle of Higher Education Career Network Monday, June 3, 2002 By JEAN DOWDALL Tips about advancing your career in campus administration Few issues are more potentially troublesome for a new chief executive than the president's house. It's a lightening-rod issue -- i.e., it attracts attention and can cause an explosive response, sometimes because of matters quite unrelated to the house itself. I'll offer a few general observations and then discuss the house from the perspective of the board and the institution, and from the perspective of the new president. The president's house is a very important visible symbol of the institution, as well as its inhabitants. The location of the home, its external and internal appearance and furnishings, and the events that occur in it, are all matters of great interest to many campus constituencies. The character of the neighborhood in which an off-campus house is located is significant; its modesty or affluence conveys something about how the institution wants to be perceived. The appearance of the house similarly conveys a certain level of affluence or modesty, sophistication or simplicity, tastefulness or garishness -- and all these things reflect on the institution and the president. Finally, the extent to which the home is appropriate for entertaining, the kind of guests it seems to anticipate receiving, and the mode in which they are likely to be entertained (indoors or outdoors, formally or informally, in large groups or small) all, again, reflect on the institution and the president. For all these reasons, whatever happens that is connected with the house can become a matter of major interest on the campus and a potential source of controversy. From the board's perspective, the house is a major investment, in addition to its symbolic weight. For many reasons, there may be no official president's house. Perhaps the previous presidents have been internal appointees who remained in their own homes. Maybe the on-campus house was put to a different use and is no longer available to be converted back to a residence. The house may not be suitable for the entertaining that the board anticipates for the next president. Or perhaps the president is a layperson when previous presidents were members of the clergy, and so on. The board will face several decisions: Should a house be purchased and if so, should the institution or the president (or both) own it? Should it be on campus or, if not, which neighborhood is appropriate? What price range should the board set? Is it important to acquire a house in move-in condition, or should substantial renovations be undertaken -- meaning that the ultimate price tag of the house will not be fully known for a while, and that the president may need temporary quarters? From the president's perspective, there is another set of issues. Most presidents (especially male ones) have families, and home-related decisions normally are made with all family members' needs and tastes in mind. Both children and spouses can be an issue here. If a president's house is to be located in a neighborhood with an unsatisfactory school district, private-school tuition may become an issue, and a board may be asked to cover this expense. If there are many children, or if there is an aging parent who lives with the family, or if the spouse needs a home office, the house may need to be unusually large or laid out in a particular way. If a family member has a disability, accommodations may have to be made such as ramps and elevators. A spouse who takes an active role in decisions about the house may be seen as a helpful partner in the process, or as an interloper. Some institutions enter into joint-ownership agreements with their presidents. This may be because the high price of the home and the modest means of the institution make shared expenditures desirable. In other cases, the president wants to be building equity in a property that can be used when he or she wants to buy a subsequent home. Some institutions share responsibility by having the president purchase a home and then providing a monthly or annual stipend to cover the mortgage and possibly other costs that would be covered if the institution owned the home (e.g., utilities, cleaning, landscaping, maintenance). Obviously there are no simple answers to any of these questions, but I would offer a few guidelines: The board is responsible. The board should, as much as possible, take responsibility for decisions about the location, renovation, and decoration of the new house. While the president should have some influence on these decisions, he or she should not be perceived as driving the decisions, especially if the costs are high and the home is to be owned by the institution. If the home was previously owned by the institution and is simply being updated, this should be done as much as possible in advance of the president's selection or at least in advance of his or her arrival. The fundamental issue here is that expenditures on the house, like expenditures on any house, often cost more than you expect; the new president will have enough political challenges without adding to them the burden of explaining why costly house-related decisions were made, especially when many others in the institution cannot afford the amenities being provided for the president. Over a period of time, others will come to see the value of the investment in a home suitable for entertaining donors, but that may not be immediately apparent. Communication is essential. The president and an official representative of the board need to work closely throughout the process of making and executing decisions about the house. If all is not completed before the president arrives, it is essential that this partnership be clear and widely understood from the beginning and throughout the process. Once it's ready, use it. Once the home has been acquired and prepared for use, it should be used as intended, and as visibly as possible. If a major investment has been made in providing a home suitable for entertaining, the campus needs an opportunity to see that the entertaining is occurring. Professors, administrators, and students, as well as trustees and other community members, should have an opportunity to see the place that represents their institution. The home's living quarters can be off-limits, but the community should be made welcome in the rest of the space in which the institution has invested. Finally, I'd like to offer some words of advice about houses for new presidents: Where to live: If you have a choice in the matter, I think it's generally best to live off campus. This affords you some more privacy, gives your family and especially your children a more normal life, and shelters you from demands that are more likely to be made on your time if you are on campus. However, if the president's home has always been on campus, and there is general sentiment that the president should continue to live there, moving off campus may not be worth the political price it is likely to cost. People may wonder why the traditional home isn't good enough for you when it was good enough for the beloved predecessor, or how the cost of acquiring and redecorating a new property compares to the cost of a new position in their department or an expanded faculty development program. If you decide to press for an off-campus home anyway, do it with sensitivity and awareness of the likely fallout. If you live on campus, consider strategies for managing the likely demands that will result. Many of these demands will come from students (e.g. protesters, late-night carousers) or from the physical plant (e.g. staff members performing routine maintence or dealing with minor crises like burst pipes). Work with the senior officers in charge of these areas to agree on guidelines for when you want to be involved, and when you don't. Know your social obligations. Wherever you live, you have to anticipate that your home will be an essential public space for the institution. Be sure that you know what the expectations are before you accept the positio. Be sure that the house and the staff support are adequate to the expectations, and clarify what the social expectations will be for your spouse. Will you be hosting sit-down dinners for 30 alumni, corporate and political leaders, or international visitors several nights each week? Do faculty members expect to be invited to monthly gatherings to explore intellectual themes, or only to the annual faculty-staff picnic? Each of these events requires a certain level of planning, space, staffing, equipment and cleanup. Be sure that both you and the trustees have a clear understanding of the cost in time and money to do these things, and of who will do them -- hoping that it will not fall to you or your spouse. You have a right to protect your family's living quarters. This can be challenging, since some of your guests may feel that their tuition or tax dollars are paying the rent and therefore that they have a right to check the contents of your medicine cabinet. It may be safest to resist the normal impulse to invite first-time visitors on a tour of the whole house, drawing the line clearly and consistently between public and private space. Negotiating a housing allowance. If you live in a home that you had owned previously, or that you purchased upon becoming president, you can expect that the board will provide a housing allowance over and above your salary. How much the allowance should be is a matter for negotiation. Items to consider include the downpayment, the monthly mortgage payment, utilities, cleaning, landscaping and lawn care, general maintenance, major maintenance, initial and periodic decorating, and renovation. Joint ownership of a president's house is another option. This can make it possible to acquire a property in neighborhoods that might otherwise be too expensive for either the institution or the individual to afford alone, and can give the president enough equity to use in purchasing another home after leaving the position. The decision-making process can be complex, and the formal financial agreement would surely require the involvement of a lawyer. Jean Dowdall is vice president at A.T. Kearney Executive Search, which handles searches for senior academic administrators. She has assisted with searches at a wide variety of institutions around the country, including Georgetown University, Goucher College, the University of Wisconsin, and Community College of Philadelphia. She has also been a faculty member, dean, vice president, and president at both public and private institutions. Ms. Dowdall welcomes comments and suggestions for future columns at movingup@chronicle.com