Edwin Colodny's 13-month interim presidency at U.V.M.
By Candace Page Free Press Staff Writer
The University of Vermont took big strides during Edwin Colodny's 13-month interim presidency, from launching a quarter-billion-dollar capital campaign to reforming its academic structure.
But UVM people say they remember the small things most vividly -- Colodny's chats with the custodial staff, for example, and his insistence on spiffing up the paint on the front door of the Waterman building.
The small things, they say, show how Colodny succeeded at the big issues: through extraordinary people skills, a commitment to serving the customer, an ability to make clear decisions and an instinct for action.
Friday, trouble-plagued Fletcher Allen Health Care chose the 76-year-old retired airline executive as its interim CEO.
The hospital faces a set of problems uncannily like those at UVM when Colodny arrived in June 2001: a recent scandal, low employee morale, a brand-new union, a damaged reputation.
"Ed is a class act. He's brimful of people skills and integrity. He's a wonderful selection for Fletcher Allen," said John Bramley, UVM's interim provost.
Grumbling initially greeted Colodny's UVM appointment in the spring of 2001. Faculty, staff and students feared the corporate CEO -- who acknowledged he knew relatively little about universities -- would not understand academia.
"I expected a hard-boiled businessman and what I got was a real gentleman," UVM Vice President Tom Gustafson said. "He was unbelievably curious about everything and everybody."
Math professor David Dummit, vice president of the Faculty Senate, said, "I'm not sure he understood the faculty in the traditional sense, but he had an amazingly quick sense of what was important to us."
Colodny is heavy-set, dresses formally and speaks with a deliberate, almost ponderous, style. That's camouflage for a man who genuinely enjoys most people he meets and whose eyes twinkle a lot of the time, say those who know him.
Colodny soon disarmed most of his campus critics and moved quickly to make decisions on issues that had been hanging fire at UVM for years in some cases.
Acting decisively
Within months, he and Bramley announced a modest academic restructuring proposal, proposed a $170 million renovation of UVM's drab dormitories and kicked off a $250 million fundraising campaign. Colodny pressed constantly for action, asking impatiently at meetings why a plan couldn't be moved forward faster or pressing hesitant trustees to commit to a new student center.
"He's a decision maker," said Karen Meyer, a former UVM trustee and now an aide in the president's office. "He leaves no ambiguity at the end of a discussion."
Colodny was a reassuring presence, she said, partly because of his deep experience.
She recalled, for example, how Colodny was pressed during his UVM job interview about how he would deal with the media during a crisis. UVM was recovering at that time from a hockey hazing scandal that had made national headlines.
"He talked about the time a USAir plane went into the Hudson River," she said. The hiring committee realized the problems Colodny had handled at US Airways dwarfed those at UVM.
"He has faced so many crises and challenges. Things that appear insurmountable to some of us seem manageable to him. His wisdom and calm are something I learned from," Meyer said.
The 4-20 kibosh
Half a dozen UVM faculty, students and administrators cited Colodny's handling of the annual campus marijuana-fest, 4-20, as an example of his leadership style.
Colodny was personally offended by the lawbreaking, but also thought the revels damaged UVM in the eyes of Vermonters and their leaders. He made 4-20 the topic of one of his first meetings with top administrators.
Colodny told them that simply cracking down with more law enforcement wasn't the answer.
"He said the only way to fix this is to have the students change it," Bramley recalled.
Colodny won the support of the Student Government Association -- then asked them to come up with a plan. Some administrators were taken aback by the students' solution: a big outdoor party the administrators feared would encourage more illegal substances.
"The whole thing was definitely a risk, but he took us seriously. He backed us," said former SGA President Bill Tickner.
The event, Springfest 2002, succeeded in entertaining students and preventing a mass smoke-in like the previous year's.
It was Colodny's biggest public relations coup. There was loud applause in many quarters around Vermont -- particularly at the Statehouse, where some lawmakers had questioned the wisdom of giving more money to a university that allowed such goings-on.
At moments during Springfest planning, though, a 55-year age gap yawned between the president and the students.
There was the time Colodny sat in on a student meeting to discuss what bands to hire. They had in mind the latest jam bands.
"How about the Dixie Chicks? I met them once. They're nice ladies," Colodny suggested, Tickner recalled.
There was a moment of stunned and disapproving silence around the table. "We were like, um, the Dixie Chicks?" said Tickner in a tone of disbelief.
Colodny went with the jam bands -- though he wasn't sure what they were -- and turned up at the concert himself.
Serve the customer
Colodny's attention to detail extended to the paint on the doors of the Waterman Building. He thought they looked shabby and left a bad impression on prospective students and their families. The doors were repainted.
"With Ed, the cardinal sin is not to serve your client well. That is a fatal problem," said Gustafson.
Colodny was also known for prowling the campus, dropping in to talk to the grounds staff, custodians, students and prospective students visiting the campus.
Meyer recalled a summer visit he made to the kitchen of the Waterman Manor dining room.
"He went in to introduce himself and heard them talk about how really, really hot it was in the kitchen. He said, 'This is silly. Let's get them some fans.'" Meyer said.
He became famous on campus for his accessibility and willingness to listen, then resolve problems. Tickner recalled trying to solve a problem for weeks with lower-level administrators, then getting an answer from Colodny in less than a day.
As a result of this kind of handling, though UVM was in contentious labor negotiations for much of his tenure, the faculty union president at the time praised Colodny to the skies.
Triumphant goodbye
Colodny left UVM to apparently universal sadness. But the good-bye Meyer remembers best was his last appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
"They were still arguing about whether to give us our money," she recalled, referring to the 2002-03 UVM budget. "But the committee started with every member asking for a moment to thank him for his service to the state. It was wonderful."
Contact Candace Page at 660-1865 or at cpage@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com
