Universities: A Mediator for Michigan

“We considered suggestions from and about anybody who could breathe. Probably the only person who could meet all the qualifications we wanted died about 2,000 years ago.” Robert Briggs, chairman of the committee which was assigned to choose a new president for the University of Michigan, was exaggerating—but not all that much: finding the right president for a big university today is an arduous, time-consuming task. Last week, after a search that lasted for 13 months, Michigan finally picked as its new head Robben Fleming, 50, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin’s main campus at Madison.

A former labor lawyer and mediator, Fleming was for five years director of the University of Illinois’ Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations. He was appointed chancellor of Wisconsin in 1964. The Michigan selectors were impressed by his skill in dealing with the Wisconsin legislature, and by his shrewd handling of student demonstrations, combining firmness with give-and-take. After having been blockaded in his office by one group of antiwar protesters last February, for example, Fleming turned around and put up $1,250 of his own money to bail out 19 students who had been arrested by police during the demonstrations.

Fleming, who was also considered by the University of Minnesota as a candidate for its presidency, will have his work cut out for him at Michigan. Although still one of the nation’s best public universities, Michigan (enrollment: 36,000) recently has not kept up with its competition in the intense academic scramble for funds and professors. The faculty salary level has dropped from among the top five in the nation to 17th. All too often, in fiscal negotiations with the state legislature, Michigan, under retiring President Harlan Hatcher, 68, has been outmaneuvered by the aggressive lobbying of

President John Hannah of archrival Michigan State University. Michigan hopes that Fleming, who is a man of persuasion and diplomacy, will give Hannah a run for the money.