The New Medill Dean, Indeed

There is one primary reason I decided to sign on when I got Andy's invitation. That is, of course, the Dean John Lavine/Medill 2020 cataclysm that has taken place over the past year. The school's abrupt change of course and its uncertain direction, enunciated in only the most ambiguous prose, has left hundreds of students, alumni, and other journalists scratching their heads.

I hope we can bring a discussion of these issues to the public with this site. I propose an "On Medill" category for the blog, in which "NU Media People" will turn a critical eye on the institution from which most of us hold degrees. I was asked by a reporter soon after the announcement that Lavine would become dean whether there was "cause for concern." After some thought, I said, "I don't know if there is cause for concern, but I know that people are concerned." In that spirit, let's gather some information, maybe even do some good old-fashioned reporting, and get to the bottom of this change.

First, a disclosure: I was serving on Medill's Curriculum Committee as an undergraduate student representative when Lavine took the helm. That committee stopped meeting for the rest of the academic year, and I don't know whether it has been reinstated. I then served as a member of Lavine's "Advisory Council" before he released his vision publicly. Because of the nature of those groups, I will generally withhold information I gained there. I learned nothing in that environment that shouldn't be accessible without that access, and I would like to maintain a bit of distance from my own advisory service.

I'll start by posting a few of the stories out there on the issue. Happy reading:

• The Vision for Medill 2020 – This document outlines Lavine's vision, which emerged some weeks after he took over as dean. It is a written document, not an interview, and many have told me the charts the dean uses here appear regularly in his presentations to outside groups.


• CJR's story, "The Magician" – Less fawning than the title might suggest, this story gives a good deal of background that we might not otherwise encounter. A highly recommended read for those who haven't seen it.


• The Mystery Of Medill's Missing Macs – A Daily story on Lavine's decision to switch to Windows computers. The story got Romeneskoed. A friend mentions that this change makes design Prof. Susan Mango Curtis' job incredibly trying, as layout and design happen on Apple operating systems almost 100 percent of the time.


• "The Medill School of Media Management?" from the Chicago Reader – From December 2005, this story contains comments from a Medill alumni listserv (who knew?) and an anonymous faculty member.


• Inside Higher Ed's December story – On balance a positive story, this includes comment from Lee Ettleman, who served on the advisory council with me.