Not everyone around a university knows or cares about its traditions.  Remember one of their leading spokesman blurted  out "our tradition is to have no tradition."  

One of the UO decisions that angered a lot of faculty some years back was the removal of our Great Seal from faculty stationary and replacing it with the "Autzen O" on the grounds our out of state athletes were confused by the  difference between the athletic department O and our  university motto.  It was a "branding thing" as pioneered by toothpaste ads.
Some saw it as a rejection of tradition and our history, others saw just more "dumbing down." I think the faculty, using their minds to move dull matter, got it back.

Motley, have you thought about the fact that a university has an odd contrast in goals, between supporting both "tradition" and cutting edge scholarship and progressive thought.
I believe  this is one reason we're having trouble dealing with Deady.