University of Massachusetts officials said yesterday that John V.Lombardi, a nationally respected educator and fund-raiser, is thefront-runner to become the next chancellor of UMass-Amherst, in spiteof a series of missteps and gaffes that repeatedly got him intotrouble as president of the University of Florida from 1990 to 1999.
Lombardi, 60, will introduce himself today to Amherst students,faculty, and staff during a campus visit, where he plans to describehis vision for turning the state's flagship campus into a first-ratenational university with top-tier science and humanities programs andan aggressive new fund-raising machine, UMass officials say.
Yet Lombardi - who now teaches history and runs a research centerat the University of Florida - also faces some skepticism fromprofessors he will meet today. 'There are real concerns aboutLombardi's frequent lapses in judgment,' said Ernest May, a leader ofthe Amherst faculty senate. 'Lombardi can express himself in anextremely extreme way. We're not sure what we're getting.'
Lombardi's most notorious gaffe as Florida president came during asmall holiday party at his house in December 1997, when he referredto his boss - an African-American - as an 'Oreo,' or a black personwho ostensibly acts white. The comment led the system's Board ofRegents to censure Lombardi and put him on probation for six monthsin 1998, which he completed without incident.
Lombardi did not return phone calls and e-mail seeking commentWednesday and yesterday, but UMass officials made an unusual defenseof the candidate yesterday, volunteering two African-Americans on theAmherst chancellor search committee to speak in support of hisrecord.
'When you bear in mind his scholarly accomplishments, his recordwith people of color, his passion for issues of social justice, itmakes the `Oreo' comment a misnomer,' said one of them, MzamoMangaliso, an Amherst management professor.
UMass President William M. Bulger, who also declined to commentyesterday, is expected to name a new chancellor later this month fromamong three finalists. Officials say Bulger will charge that personwith dramatically improving UMass-Amherst's reputation and raisinghundreds of millions of dollars, far more than the $125 millionAmherst campaign that ended last year. The Amherst chancellorshipbecame open upon the resignation of David K. Scott last year.
A second finalist for the job, Elizabeth D. Capaldi, 56, isprovost of the State University of New York at Buffalo, and was alsoLombardi's assistant and provost in Florida from 1991 to 1999. Thethird finalist is William E. Hogan II, 59, a Minneapolis venturecapitalist who is a regent of the University of Minnesota and aformer engineering dean at the University of Kansas.
Hogan, who drew enthusiastic support yesterday from some Amherstprofessors and the student government president after a visit tocampus, would be Amherst's second African-American chancellor. [Thecurrent interim chancellor, Marcellette Williams, is also black.]
All three candidates have had leadership positions at universitiesbelonging to the Association of American Universities, a group ofelite research campuses. Joining the AAU is a top goal of UMass-Amherst leaders.
UMass officials say they are particularly excited about Lombardibecause of Florida's impressive growth during his presidency;Lombardi raised about $700 million - an extraordinary amount for apublic institution - and boosted Florida's academic competitiveness.While he was there, the average SAT scores of incoming freshmen rosefrom 1130 (out of 1600) to 1210, and enrollment grew from 33,000 to44,000 a year. Student racial diversity also grew: minority studentsmade up 21 percent of the student body in 1999, compared to 15percent in 1990.
UMass-Amherst has been buffeted recently by two state budget cutsthat have triggered a student fee increase, staff layoffs, and therecent elimination of seven varsity sports teams. May and otherprofessors said yesterday that scores of faculty are expected to takeearly retirement this June, and that morale is at a low.
Grace Fey, chairwoman of the board of trustees, said yesterdaythat each of the finalists would improve the campus, and singled outLombardi for praise because he is the only one of the three who hasrun a university.
Another UMass official went further, saying, 'We think he's theperson best able to come in and convince people that the glass ishalf full, to get the engine firing again. He's the man to beat.'
While Lombardi helped boost Florida as a national researchuniversity, which is also a goal at UMass, he was frequently at oddswith faculty leaders and his superiors in the university system.
After the 'Oreo' comment was reported in early 1998, Floridaregents expected him to apologize and resign. But with tacitencouragement from Lombardi, the university's influential network ofalumni rallied behind the president. The regents finally called anemergency meeting with Lombardi, where he publicly apologized to thechancellor, Adam W. Herbert, Jr., who accepted it, and was placed onprobation.
Steve Uhlfelder, the chairman of the regents at the time, spokereluctantly about Lombardi yesterday. He said he viewed Lombardi as'a Bobby Knight figure' - referring to the talented IndianaUniversity basketball coach who was fired after years of clashingwith his bosses.
'He doesn't like authority - he wants to be in total control, andI guess if Massachusetts gives him that, you'll be fine,' Uhlfeldersaid.
The Florida president was ultimately 'eased out' of his job,Uhlfelder said, because of further conflicts with his superiors.According to Uhlfelder, the 'final straw' was a meeting in whichLombardi verbally assailed the law school deans of the University ofTexas at Austin and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,who were evaluating Florida's law school at the time. In a letter tothe regents, the deans said Lombardi had 'a penchant for abusivebehavior.'
The two deans stood by their letter in interviews with the Globeyesterday, but declined to comment about Lombardi.
UMass's Fey called the 'Oreo' comment 'unfortunate' but said shewas confident that she, Bulger, and others would work well withLombardi. 'An agent of change is always going to create controversyand make enemies along the way,' Fey said.
Patrick Healy can be reached at phealy@globe.com.
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