By Patrick KerkstraSummer Bruin Staff
In a decision that promises major consequences for Los Angeles’
artistic and educational communities, UCLA’s second-highest ranking
official, Executive Vice Chancellor Andrea Rich, announced her
resignation last week.
On November 1, Rich will assume the top position at the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), as the unanimous selection of
the museum’s board of trustees.
As UCLA’s executive vice chancellor, Rich is responsible for the
day to day operations of the university and reports directly to
Chancellor Charles Young. She oversees the College of Letters and
Science, the UCLA Medical Center and 11 professional schools,
comprising more than 40,000 persons. When Young is out of town,
Rich holds final authority.
Rich’s announcement raised concerns of an administrative power
vacuum, since she is responsible for running so much of the
university.
"Young takes care of high level decisions and is UCLA’s
ambassador. He doesn’t take care of day to day management," said
Tim Beasley, last year’s graduate student president. Beasley worked
extensively with Young and Rich on a wide array of student
affairs.
"They think very similarly; he trusts her to carry out all kinds
of things," Beasley continued. "A lot of what comes out with
Young’s name on it is probably her handiwork."
Rich expects to officially resign her $144,000 a year job in the
beginning of September, leaving the university two short months for
the transition.
"There’s never enough (time). Transitions are always difficult
and this one will not be not difficult," Rich said, adding that she
feels many issues can be resolved in her remaining days.
Rich’s looming departure created immediate speculation on who
her successor will be. Young, who is out of the country and
unavailable for comment, said in a prepared statement that he has
begun pulling together a search committee for her replacement.
It is unknown whether or not students will have a voice in the
search process, but some student leaders are already calling for
representation in the selection.
"I believe we have a unique opportunity to offer student input
at a very high level," said graduate student president John
Shapley. "The executive vice-chancellor has a lot of power and
student opinion needs to be heavily considered in choosing the next
one.
Shapley hopes to see at least one undergraduate and one graduate
student on the search committee.
In her 34 years at UCLA, Rich has grown from a student to the
second most powerful administrator on campus. As Rich began to
attract the attention of other campuses, becoming a presidential
candidate for colleges elsewhere, she was approached by LACMA.
Although she was not interested in the job at first, she gradually
changed her mind.
"I think that there comes a point in people’s lives and careers
where you stand at a crossroads. I have been at UCLA for 34 years,
I have been in the Chancellor’s Office almost 10 years, and I’ve
been the executive vice-chancellor almost five years," Rich
said.
"I was beginning to be recruited by other universities. And
sometimes you’re more appreciated from the outside then you are on
the inside."
Besides the dramatic career change, Rich said she was attracted
to the ability the position gave her to remain in her Los Angeles,
her home since she entered UCLA as an undergraduate student.
Since those early days, Rich has helped create the communication
studies major, the splintered School of Theater, Film and
Television, and the School of Public Policy and Social
Research.
The executive vice-chancellor lists these among her proudest
accomplishments at UCLA, but much of her time has been spent on
less visible projects, such as reorganizing the medical center and
creating the Office of Instructional Development, which attempts to
improve undergraduate curriculum.
Those achievements won Rich the admiration of Young, who
entrusted her with increasingly larger projects as she moved up the
administrative ladder.
"(Rich’s) vision and leadership will be greatly missed at UCLA.
I am delighted, however, that she will continue to play a central
role in the educational and cultural life of our community at
LACMA," Young said in a prepared statement.
Although Rich’s career has garnered official praise and LACMA’s
recognition, some of her other actions have earned her criticism
from the campus community, and in particular student leaders.
Rich provoked a flurry of complaints and helped spark further
protests when she called in the Los Angeles Police Department to
control a student occupation of the Faculty Center in May, 1993.
Students were demanding creation of a Chicana/o studies
department.
Young was off campus then, leaving Rich in charge. Her decision
to bring in the city police, dressed in full riot gear, resulted in
99 student arrests. A series of letters to the Daily Bruin’s
Viewpoint section condemned Rich’s actions, and dubbed her the "Ice
Queen." One submission, signed by over 100 people, called for her
immediate resignation.
Rich was also challenged when Young appointed her to the
position of chief academic officer. The Graduate Student
Association (GSA) called for an official search process to fill the
position, as well as questioning the appointment of the untenured
Rich to such a senior academic position.
Student leaders also challenged Rich’s attitude towards
students, arguing that she failed to give much weight to campus
opinion.
"I would assume that a person in her position would push for
student input as much as possible," said Loc Nguyen, graduate
student internal vice-president and former commissioner of academic
affairs. "She hasn’t pushed it as much as I would hope for."
Others agreed, but said that her style would work well at
LACMA.
"If you can work and survive within academic politics, then
you’ll do well pretty much anywhere else," Nguyen said.
"She is competent at managing things, and runs an organization
incredibly well, effectively and efficiently," Beasley agreed. "I’m
just not sure she belongs at a university."
Rich’s new position, as president and chief executive officer of
LACMA, is bound to be as public and political as her work at
UCLA.
Los Angeles Times art critic Christopher Knight has already
questioned the ability of an administrator to effectively run an
art museum, pointing to past, similar failed attempts at other
museums.
The difference between LACMA’s situation and Knight’s examples
is its unique management organization. Rich will head the
administrative side of the institution, working with public
officials and setting general policy. A still unchosen director
will work under Rich, and will be responsible for the artistic end
of the museum. The director is likely to more closely resemble the
typical museum curator.
"We’re going to be looking for someone who is absolutely
focused, committed, devoted to the art part, with excellent
credentials and creativity around acquisition, exhibitions, and
scholarly work as well as conservation," Rich said.
"It’s a new paradigm," she continued, describing LACMA’s
structure, "and nobody knows what to quite make of it."
Museum officials said they are pleased with the new specialized
leadership arrangement and highly regard Rich’s administrative
skills.
"She is a woman of extraordinary abilities and intellect, we
want to transfer that experience," said William Mingst, president
of the museum board of trustees.
Rich’s plans for the museum include increasing community
connectedness through diversifying the institutions displays and
the creation of new programs.
Rich also expects to quickly establish formal links between
LACMA and UCLA, which she feels both share a common purpose and
challenge. Budget cuts are forcing both the university and LACMA to
re-examine their means of business.
"My goal for all of these institutions is to ensure that they
are as relevant and great in the year 2000 as they were 10 years
ago. Conservative institutions like museums and universities are by
definition and nature, appropriately built for all time," Rich
said.
"They need to be agile, not to shift their mission, but to be
adaptable."
Rich leaves school for sculptures