With an inaugural celebration that mixed formal pomp and circumstance with Frisbees, hotdogs and rock music, new University President Lee Bollinger officially took office Friday, demonstrating that a new era has begun at the University.
Bollinger was inaugurated as the University's 12th president during a public ceremony in Hill Auditorium.
After officially signing himself in as president in a special inauguration book, Bollinger outlined principles of academic autonomy and the importance of having a transparent administration.
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| ADRIANA YUGOVICH/Michiganensian Participants of the 300-person procession leave the Rackham Building and walk toward Hill Auditorium Friday morning for the inauguration ceremony of University President Lee Bollinger. Below, Bollinger greets members of the University community on Ingalls Mall following the formal ceremony.
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"When someone comes to us with an idea that seems good, our response should not be first and foremost what will it mean for our school, our department or our group," Bollinger said.
"Instead, there ought to be ... a University perspective at heart and a sense of pride in helping make things happen without anyone having to know it happened," he said.
Bollinger said the administration should take the attitude that everything it does should be "transparent or invisible to our faculty and students."
"I share the view a few others have expressed that the greatest problem for the modern university is not its disordered, somewhat chaotic, structure, but its tendency towards bureaucracy," Bollinger said. "Creativity abhors a bureaucracy."
Physiology Prof. Louis D'Alecy, chair of the faculty's governing body, said Bollinger's insights on the importance of the autonomy of the faculty are significant and necessary.
"He's just an intellectual shining light," D'Alecy said, adding that Bollinger's statements show his commitment to the faculty. "I feel a certain responsibility to carry his message to the faculty ... I hope to work to convince them by his actions that he is very pro-faculty."
Before his inaugural address, Bollinger was introduced by former University President Harold Shapiro, who now serves as president of Princeton University.
Shapiro shared some poignant words of advice with Bollinger that he withheld from the new president prior to his accepting the reins of the University.
"You and I discussed many of the tasks and responsibilities that would lie before you if you were to accept this position," Shapiro said. "But since I very much wanted you to accept the job, there were just a few things I neglected to mention.
"I feel it is now my responsibility to articulate certain expectations we have of you that I have not previously disclosed and that are at once highly specific, perilously vague and often quite conflicting," he said.
Among his many responsibilities, Shapiro joked that Bollinger "will be expected to be personally responsible for each students' emotional, physical, spiritual and mental growth; for the development of their altruistic spirits; and for transforming them into leaders, even legends and perhaps, who knows, saviors of humankind."
Bollinger said a University community's most important task is to provide an intellectual atmosphere for its members.
"This involves a hard-won capacity of suspending one's own beliefs and of risking the unnerving feeling of losing one's own identity in the process ," he said.
Michigan Student Assembly President Michael Nagrant said the principle of suspension of one's own beliefs is necessary for a diverse community.
"I think that's a very important thing that you need to take into account at the University," Nagrant said. "I think this is sort of characteristic of how Lee's tenure as president will be - a lot of outreach and inclusion."
Nagrant said he was disappointed that few students attended the inauguration speech, though thousands stopped by the outdoor reception in Ingalls Mall after the ceremony.
The students who did attend the ceremony had differing opinions regarding Bollinger's messages.
LSA senior Mary Jane Wagg said she was unimpressed by Shapiro's speech, which she said was "too pompous."
"He wasn't funny at all," Wagg said.
Wagg, who said she feels the value of a liberal arts education is not emphasized enough, praised Bollinger for taking steps to include the arts during the inauguration celebrations.
"Despite the pervasiveness of the LSA community, it has always struck me that ... a liberal arts education hasn't always seemed to be valued," she said. "I admired (Bollinger's) stance on valuing the humanities and the arts."
Other students, including LSA sophomore Adam Dratch, found Bollinger's speech to be less sincere than Shapiro's.
"I think the Princeton speaker, the old president guy, was better," Dratch said. "I enjoyed his speech more. I thought the new president was a little conservative, a little contrite, yet humorous and entertaining."
University Regent Philip Power (D-Ann Arbor) said he was extremely impressed by the principles Bollinger outlined in his inaugural address.
"I thought that the two speeches by Harold and Lee taken together were the best two speeches of that sort that I've ever heard at an academic gathering," Power said. "I especially like the phraseology of the transparent administration."
The festivities began even before the official speech as Bollinger led a 5K run from North to Central campus beginning at 7 a.m.
LSA senior Andrew Shotwell, who participated in the run, said about 150 students and faculty members ran alongside the president in the early hours of the morning.
"I don't know how I made it," Shotwell said. "It was worth getting up at 7:30 for. ... There is not going to be another (inauguration) for a long time."
Following the run, Bollinger shed his sneakers, changed into a formal black robe and joined the procession of 300 invited guests that marched from the Rackham Building to Hill Auditorium.
With the traditional carillon music streaming from the Burton Memorial Bell Tower, the colorful procession, lead by D'Alecy, filed into the auditorium.
Former University President James Duderstadt said he felt a lot better than he did nine years ago when he was on stage being inaugurated in a ceremony very similar to Bollinger's.
"Perhaps it was just my imagination, but instead of academic pomp and circumstance, the refrain of Berlioz's "March to the Scaffold" kept running through my mind as I followed the academic procession to my inauguration that fall morning," Duderstadt wrote in a book he plans to publish soon on higher education.
"Perhaps it was an enhanced awareness of just how challenging the modern University presidency had become, facing the challenges of leading one of the most complex institutions in modern society while buffeted by a bewildering array of complex political issues," he said.
During the ceremony, School of Music Dean Paul Boylan said the obstacles and challenges that Bollinger faces may become monumental at times, and an inauguration celebration provides a chance to remember the past and prepare for the future.
"No one can foretell all the challenges Lee Bollinger will face during his time here," Boylan said. "Inauguration is a time of beginning, of renewal, not only for the president, but for the University. On important occasions, we reflect on our history and our rich traditions."
Newly appointed Athletic Director Tom Goss said Bollinger's wish to build on the history of the University pleases him, since it mirrors his own aspirations for the Athletic Department.
"He clearly laid down the principle we should go into the future with," Goss said. "Frankly, I was glad to hear it because a lot of those were the same things I've been talking about - going back and looking into tradition and bringing those (traditions) forward to move forward."
Former Regent Nellie Varner (D-Detroit), who served on the Board of Regents when Bollinger was chosen for the presidency position, said Bollinger's speech demonstrates his knowledge of the University.
"I thought it was excellent," Varner said. "He's an intellectual. He has a tremendous understanding of the nature of the institution."
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