JB: So, how's your day going?
LM: Actually it's lovely. Great weather. Everyone's got classes and seems to be excited about them. The staff and I had our first staff meeting this morning. We went around in a circle and talked about what was going on....
JB: What events have you gone to?
LM: I toured through all of the opening weekend events, including events on East and West, observing that move-in process... talking to parents of Trinity and Pratt children. I was at the activities fair. I was at Maya Angelou and the health and cultural fair after. I went to a Freeman Center advisory board meeting....
JB: What surprises you most so far about this job?
LM: I can't really say that I've been surprised. One, I think that the Duke folks who recruited me were accurate in portraying both the challenge and the opportunity. That was a pleasant surprise--I guess that there was some accuracy in that, often truth in advertising may not be necessary. Maybe the absence of being surprised--I probably came in thinking that's going to be what the reality of the thing is. It's obviously pretty close to the goods that were presented.
JB: Is the environment much different from what it was at Penn?
LM: There is almost an inverse situation. Penn, located right in the heart of Philadelphia, can use the city in many ways as a support mechanism. The largest cab stands in the city of Philadelphia are lined up in front of the residence halls. The students really do jump in the cabs on weekends or any time to go downtown to dance clubs. That puts the university in a different role in terms of providing special recreational and cultural opportunities. Here, you got the inverse relationship--the bulk of the upper classes still live on West.
It's very interesting that the center of the campus is residential with a lot of the academics at the perimeter, which is different from many other campuses. There's not much around this area--there's not a college town for people to slip into. It's a real burden--not a burden in a negative sense--but a burden in terms of cause to realize that we've got to create more cultural and recreational services here on the campus. And that's framing the way that I think about the Bryan Center and West Union and campus renovations in the long haul....
JB: Problems like alcoholÉ are they similar between the schools?
LM: They're similar, but I think that they take a different shape because the fraternities are off campus at Penn; here, they're on campus. But I don't say that assuming that fraternities are the infamy of alcohol, but Philadelphia's got bars all over the place, so students who drink can do that outside of the residences. Here, again, because of the absence of much of a place to go, much more of it takes place on campus. But, the alcohol issue--I'm tired of talking about it as the alcohol problem--but the alcohol issue is a national phenomenon. It's not unique to Penn or Duke.... So, when I got here, there were some patterns already established. You only need to look at the commercials for most sporting events on TV to see the pervasive impact, influencing how one thinks he has to socialize. And while it may take a different procedural form because of the surroundings, it's not unique to Duke.
JB: There's a football displayed in your office--is it signed by someone?
LM: It's signed by Don Shula.
JB: Are you a Dolphins fan?
LM: No, no--I'm from Boston. What happened is one of my responsibilities [at the University of Pennsylvania] was [to oversee] a couple of restaurants. And Don Shula opened up a whole chain of national restaurantsÉ. So, Don came up to the grand opening and brought pictures and a couple of footballs.
JB: And there's a basketball in your office also.
LM: That's a funny story. We had a faculty-staff game against the students. [Duke Vice President for Human Resources] Clint Davidson was on my teamÉ. I coached the team, and I also hit the winning three-pointer in overtime.
JB: You have your own web page. Are you into technology?
LM: I have an interest in playing with the webÉ. Actually, my mother-in-law has an avid interest. I created the web page so that I could post family pictures on the Internet and my mother-in-law would have access to them in Florida.
JB: How long have you been married?
LM: 28 years.
JB: How did you meet?
LM: I was a junior [at the University of Massachusetts] and came back early.... I tried to get a date and she was there and as they say the rest is history.
JB: There was a picture of you in front of the Great Wall of China in The Chronicle last spring. How long ago was your trip?
LM: Last November. It was part of a conference on higher education. So, after the conference, my wife and I stayed for another week or so and toured Shanghai....
We were in Beijing just as China was gearing up for the Olympics. And the other interesting thing is that we were there on the night of the presidential election. Of course, no one knew for a month after, but we had cell phones, trying to call back. I don't even want to tell you how much I spent in phone charges calling back to find out the result of the presidential election and realizing how little difference it made to the Chinese. We think that everybody in the world is focused on the U.S. election.É And certainly there is Western influence in China. We walked into the Forbidden City and there was a Starbucks right there in the Forbidden City. And there are McDonald's everywhere. Not to criticize McDonald's, but when you go to another country, you hope to see the culture of that country and not Kentucky Fried Chicken everywhere.
JB: Do you travel often?
LM: I love traveling.... We're looking into a trip to Alaska....
JB: Growing up in Boston, were you a Red Sox fan?
LM: I am a desperate Red Sox fan. I have a lot of Boston sports allegiances, probably first and foremost with the Boston Celtics. I grew up with those years of championships. The Red Sox are not far behind, and the Patriots and Bruins are nominally there.
Where are you from?
JB: Atlanta.
LM: You know where [the Atlanta Braves are] originally from? If fact, I heard that in the revised interleague play, Atlanta and Boston will still play each other even though the National and American League teams will differ. Each team has been designated one interleague rival. Boston and Atlanta are because of that history. Atlanta will be in Boston, and every other year Boston will be in Atlanta. I think that I might need to go to Atlanta to see some games.
JB: Have you watched many or been to any Duke games yet?
LM: Actually, I was at the NCAA tournamentÉ. As a Celtics fan, you root for those coaches [men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski] who have a lot of continued successÉ not a lot of superstar teams--it's a real team....
JB: What made you want to work on a college campus in administration?
LM: I was a math major and had taken the LSATs to consider going to law schoolÉ. I was heavily involved in student leadership but thought I couldn't stay forever, and I realized that there were professions that did this sort of thing....
JB: What's coming up for you in the next several weeks?
LM: I'm looking forward to meeting with staff... and the archivist, William King, is going to give me a walking tour of the campus.... I've been reading a lot of history about the campus. I'm also enjoying reading about the history of Durham and learning about the culture, heritage and the political issues that are involved here. I want to get out on occasional weekends because I really don't know North CarolinaÉ. I'm also learning about campus rituals--I'm a big believer in them. I think about maintaining them and maybe even adding a few more ritualsÉ.
Also, I want to explore the campus. I don't want to waste Duke's time, but I feel that wandering is part of my job. I feel that I should be spending a greater time seeing students and faculty come together, seeing what the graduate student needs are. You can't do it by sitting around; I need to do more walking around getting a feel for what the crowds are.... This is really a beautiful campus.
JB: Did you follow sports much at Penn?
LM: Two years ago, the basketball team did a tour, and one of my roles was that I was the Ivy League representative and also the academic eligibility officer for the university, so I felt that in that capacity I should go to Italy with them.É That also happened to be my 25th anniversary, so I surprised my wife with the tripÉ. So it was one of those ideal romances where I got great romance credit for taking my wife to Italy for our anniversary, and I went to seven basketball games. You couldn't have planned it better if you had tried.
JB: If I recall correctly, Penn lost to Florida that year and then we lost to Florida.
LM: We could have beaten Florida. In the first half, we were hitting three pointers from everywhere and I think that we were up on Florida by as many as eight points. Maybe someday Duke and Penn could play. It could happen. We played Princeton last year, didn't we?
JB: What colors would you wear to the game?
LM: I'd show up wearing blue--you can't lose. Penn's colors are red and blue, and then Duke's colors are blue and white. Actually, the only reason that I maintain an affinity to Penn is that both of my children went there.... I'm here now.
JB: Maybe we could play in football?
LM: No, I think that Penn would get killed....
JB: Twenty years from now, what would you like people to say about your tenure as vice president for student affairs?
LM: Maybe a combination of someone who really listened and cared about Duke... working with the environment. Actually, I'll take perfect comfort in being the person who people say OI remember that guy. I don't know what he did, but things seem to be pretty good.'
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