Presidents and deans can no longer concentrate their efforts on running the university. They are increasingly representatives of the university on the fund-raising circuit and travel far and wide seeking donations. In addition to administrative skills, they must now, like the fund-raiser noted above, know how to ask for money. The modern fund-raising president is entirely unlike the president of yesteryear. Because the president's key role is as a fund-raiser, he or she must delegate responsibility extensively.
Presidents are campus leaders largely in a figurative sense.
Not only are they disengaged from the workings of the university, they have also dropped their traditional role as commentators on the political, moral, and ethical issues facing society. Nowadays, out of fear of offending potential patrons, they avoid discussing any issues not related directly to higher education. The formerly standard model of the stuffy dean in the ill-fitting tweed sport coat is also becoming a thing of the past. The dean of today needs to possess an easy smile, good clothes, a firm handshake, and good cocktail party smarts. The Faculty Forum is published monthly by the Academic Council of Duke University.