the fourth estate alumni in the digital age

1. The Fourth EstateAlumni in the Digital Age Eustace D. Theodore eAdvancement.org April 20, 2001 APPROPRIATE INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS Let me share the bad news right up front. I have been asked to speculate on how alumni will fit into the life of Yale over the next 50 to 100 years. There is no way to be successful in this assignment. But then when did that ever stop a Yalie from weighing in. In fact,we Yalies are the origin, I believe, of the famous tag line, sometimes wrong, but seldom in doubt! The good news is that we have never known just how we Yalies fit into the life of our University, at the time. Historians have the opportunity to make sense of our actions post hoc, and Gaddis did that brilliantly! But having lived through some of the events described this morning, many with others in this room, I can assure you that they did not seem as intentional at the time. This though is an extraordinary moment to be together. So, let me draw upon my organizational training to remind us of one powerful fact. As the century turned this January, it is estimated that there were just about 75 organizations still in existence that saw the world greet the sixteenth Century, some 500 years ago -- and more than 50 of them were Universities. Educational institutions must be doing something right. And, though Yale was not one of these fabulous fifty, this is an extraordinary year for our beloved Alma Mater. A three hundredth is a remarkable birthday. We gather this weekend to light the candles and begin a year long song of joy and thanksgiving. But unlike a celebration of senior citizen status in human life, we sing in the expectation that Yale will go on for generations to come. You have been kind enough to ask me to speculate on not only how, but why we might legitimately hold such expectations --- and to suggest how alumni will play a role in Yale’s life after the tercentennial. APPROPRIATE INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS Let me share the bad news right up front. I have been asked to speculate on how alumni will fit into the life of Yale over the next 50 to 100 years. There is no way to be successful in this assignment. But then when did that ever stop a Yalie from weighing in. In fact,we Yalies are the origin, I believe, of the famous tag line, sometimes wrong, but seldom in doubt! The good news is that we have never known just how we Yalies fit into the life of our University, at the time. Historians have the opportunity to make sense of our actions post hoc, and Gaddis did that brilliantly! But having lived through some of the events described this morning, many with others in this room, I can assure you that they did not seem as intentional at the time. This though is an extraordinary moment to be together. So, let me draw upon my organizational training to remind us of one powerful fact. As the century turned this January, it is estimated that there were just about 75 organizations still in existence that saw the world greet the sixteenth Century, some 500 years ago -- and more than 50 of them were Universities. Educational institutions must be doing something right. And, though Yale was not one of these fabulous fifty, this is an extraordinary year for our beloved Alma Mater. A three hundredth is a remarkable birthday. We gather this weekend to light the candles and begin a year long song of joy and thanksgiving. But unlike a celebration of senior citizen status in human life, we sing in the expectation that Yale will go on for generations to come. You have been kind enough to ask me to speculate on not only how, but why we might legitimately hold such expectations --- and to suggest how alumni will play a role in Yale’s life after the tercentennial.

2. As I settled to this impossible task, I realize that only those who read the archives in the next Century will be able to sit in judgement of what I share with you this morning. But, this euphoric thought was immediately constrained by an impulse to link what I say, to the reasons why. In my life now as a consultant, I spend half my time with businesses and the other half with Colleges and Universities. My work involves listening to “truths” embedded in everyday reality and showing why these truths no longer apply@ In the for profit community, this is the embedded truth that most needs to be exposed, examined and reevaluated. @ In the College and University community, this is its counterpart. In education, it is all about the mission and goals, not the business case. @ And, though I know that these are simplifications of complex cultural realities in these two worlds, please allow these stereotypes to stand for the elements that make my work these days so interesting. What interests us today is bringing the top and bottom lines into balance.@ This balance is critical because in the immediate future, just as telephones, television and computers will become one, so too will business and not for profit institutions blend into one reality. Telephones, television and computers are close to convergence. So too are business and educational institutions, even our beloved Yale. But then, I have gotten ahead of my story.@As I settled to this impossible task, I realize that only those who read the archives in the next Century will be able to sit in judgement of what I share with you this morning. But, this euphoric thought was immediately constrained by an impulse to link what I say, to the reasons why. In my life now as a consultant, I spend half my time with businesses and the other half with Colleges and Universities. My work involves listening to “truths” embedded in everyday reality and showing why these truths no longer apply@ In the for profit community, this is the embedded truth that most needs to be exposed, examined and reevaluated. @ In the College and University community, this is its counterpart. In education, it is all about the mission and goals, not the business case. @ And, though I know that these are simplifications of complex cultural realities in these two worlds, please allow these stereotypes to stand for the elements that make my work these days so interesting. What interests us today is bringing the top and bottom lines into balance.@ This balance is critical because in the immediate future, just as telephones, television and computers will become one, so too will business and not for profit institutions blend into one reality. Telephones, television and computers are close to convergence. So too are business and educational institutions, even our beloved Yale. But then, I have gotten ahead of my story.@

3. The Questions Who will be the students? Who will be the faculty, what will they teach and what will they do outside the classroom? Who will support the University, where will the money come from? Who will govern the University? What role will the alumni have in the academy? You will recall Gaddis’s key questions. Let me put the “sound of the owl” to each as we move to the future tense@ Who will be the students@ Who will teach these students and what else will they do@ Who will pay the piper and with what value stream@ Who will govern the university@ And, finally, the key question for us today, who will “keep Yale Yale,” what will be our role as alumni in Yale’s future. So, to paraphrase CNN Headline News, give me thirty minutes and I’ll give you this world@ You will recall Gaddis’s key questions. Let me put the “sound of the owl” to each as we move to the future tense@ Who will be the students@ Who will teach these students and what else will they do@ Who will pay the piper and with what value stream@ Who will govern the university@ And, finally, the key question for us today, who will “keep Yale Yale,” what will be our role as alumni in Yale’s future. So, to paraphrase CNN Headline News, give me thirty minutes and I’ll give you this world@

4. The Brilliance of the  AYA Structure From episodic intervention to continuous engagement Rejecting old metaphors and creating a new reality Embracing the whole University and all aspects of Advancement Preparing Yale for the opportunities of the digital age In many presentations such as this one, I have asked “What groups make up a University. Two are immediately identified, those at the two ends of the Socratic log, students and teachers. Then, perhaps because we are more inclusive in our thinking these days, someone will shout out, “and of course, staff” But, there will be a long pause before anyone mentions the fourth estate, “alumni” We have never been sure if alumni belong inside or outside the boundary of the University. As Gaddis suggested, alumni played key roles in Yale’s history. But even through the Dwyer Commission, it was usually from a New York base, on an episodic basis. And, in most instances, alumni interventions were unwelcome by some in the community. Jokes are often made about things that cause discomfort and I recall many jokes about the conversations at the second floor bar of the Yale Club of New York, the putative center of alumni thought! @ First Dwyer and then those who sat around Ruth Benedict’s kitchen table with Fred Rose and sketched the organization that would become the AYA changed that, some. They gave Yale the possibility of an alumni body that grew and changed with the times. The AYA created for the first time, a process that eliminated the Rip Van Winkle effect in alumni relations. No longer would graduates “wake up” after slumbering for 20 years following graduation, usually at the time daughters and sons are applying to colleges, to ask, “what the hell happened in New Haven -- this is not the Yale I remember!” With the AYA alumni relations moved away from Tad Jone’s view that graduates were to be kept, “ sullen but not mutinous” with limited contact with the University , preferably with their attention focused on football.@ The AYA structure asserted that graduates were part of the University They were not just sources of funds, but full participants, they were not just “stockholders” -- they were in the game. The founding board of the AYA had no idea just how possible this would be in the century to come@ The AYA structure recognized the importance of integrating all alumni activities. Only those still active can judge current success in the implementation. The AYA structure embraced all who attended Yale as part of one alumni body. All of us are Yalies, not just those who went to Yale College. The Corporation asked the AYA to be responsible for all alumni activity. In its design, the AYA embraced the three disciplines of a new profession, Advancement, a profession being created by the international professional association formed in the same year , the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).@ The AYA without realizing it was preparing Yale for the digital age. To suggest how, let me pose the question that has mystified Yale graduates most in my experience With apologies to my friend and mentor Bob Dahl for the misuse of the title of his brilliant book on New Haven politics.@In many presentations such as this one, I have asked “What groups make up a University. Two are immediately identified, those at the two ends of the Socratic log, students and teachers. Then, perhaps because we are more inclusive in our thinking these days, someone will shout out, “and of course, staff” But, there will be a long pause before anyone mentions the fourth estate, “alumni” We have never been sure if alumni belong inside or outside the boundary of the University. As Gaddis suggested, alumni played key roles in Yale’s history. But even through the Dwyer Commission, it was usually from a New York base, on an episodic basis. And, in most instances, alumni interventions were unwelcome by some in the community. Jokes are often made about things that cause discomfort and I recall many jokes about the conversations at the second floor bar of the Yale Club of New York, the putative center of alumni thought! @ First Dwyer and then those who sat around Ruth Benedict’s kitchen table with Fred Rose and sketched the organization that would become the AYA changed that, some. They gave Yale the possibility of an alumni body that grew and changed with the times. The AYA created for the first time, a process that eliminated the Rip Van Winkle effect in alumni relations. No longer would graduates “wake up” after slumbering for 20 years following graduation, usually at the time daughters and sons are applying to colleges, to ask, “what the hell happened in New Haven -- this is not the Yale I remember!” With the AYA alumni relations moved away from Tad Jone’s view that graduates were to be kept, “ sullen but not mutinous” with limited contact with the University , preferably with their attention focused on football.@ The AYA structure asserted that graduates were part of the University They were not just sources of funds, but full participants, they were not just “stockholders” -- they were in the game. The founding board of the AYA had no idea just how possible this would be in the century to come@ The AYA structure recognized the importance of integrating all alumni activities. Only those still active can judge current success in the implementation. The AYA structure embraced all who attended Yale as part of one alumni body. All of us are Yalies, not just those who went to Yale College. The Corporation asked the AYA to be responsible for all alumni activity. In its design, the AYA embraced the three disciplines of a new profession, Advancement, a profession being created by the international professional association formed in the same year , the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).@ The AYA without realizing it was preparing Yale for the digital age. To suggest how, let me pose the question that has mystified Yale graduates most in my experience With apologies to my friend and mentor Bob Dahl for the misuse of the title of his brilliant book on New Haven politics.@

5. Who Governs? Faculty, students and staff each have a role in guiding the University. These roles evolve over time. Alumni, as a group, have been limited inside players. They will become more significant in the life of the University when they join faculty, students and staff as participants in ongoing campus life. Jack Kelly and Paul Lambert will recall taking a young AYA director with them as they went to see the relatively new President of Yale, A Bartlett Giamatti. Our mission was to get a commitment to hold an Assembly on the big question, just who does run Yale. After that Assembly and several more in the years ahead on the same topic, alumni were a little better informed, but many still wonder, “just who does run things around here.” Though I worry that my simple construct will not provide comfort or clarity, it is important retrospectively to the point I just made and to the future I see for Yale and her alumni -- so here it is@ One of the reasons that Universities have lasted so long, dare I say the reason that Yale has become as great as it has, is that Universities are led from within by all key constituencies, faculty, students and staff -- and though not as efficiently nor as effectively, by alumni. They are not command and control organizations, but institutions that are guided by those that are part of their very fabric, with each group taking responsibility for guiding specific aspects of University life. Working with the President and Fellows of the Corporation, the officers of the University set policy. The faculty takes primary responsibility for the curriculum and the students for that critical 50% of the learning experience we so proudly proclaim is obtained outside the classroom. And the alumni, as suggested earlier this morning, “keep Yale, Yale” by providing the primary check against basic values and ideals that are at the center of the institution’s mission. Graduates, at the same time, provide the critical link to the forces of change outside the campus gates. Though alumni are often thought to be conservative, holding fast to old traditions, as Gaddis suggested earlier today they can be the significant force for externally driven change.@Jack Kelly and Paul Lambert will recall taking a young AYA director with them as they went to see the relatively new President of Yale, A Bartlett Giamatti. Our mission was to get a commitment to hold an Assembly on the big question, just who does run Yale. After that Assembly and several more in the years ahead on the same topic, alumni were a little better informed, but many still wonder, “just who does run things around here.” Though I worry that my simple construct will not provide comfort or clarity, it is important retrospectively to the point I just made and to the future I see for Yale and her alumni -- so here it is@ One of the reasons that Universities have lasted so long, dare I say the reason that Yale has become as great as it has, is that Universities are led from within by all key constituencies, faculty, students and staff -- and though not as efficiently nor as effectively, by alumni. They are not command and control organizations, but institutions that are guided by those that are part of their very fabric, with each group taking responsibility for guiding specific aspects of University life. Working with the President and Fellows of the Corporation, the officers of the University set policy. The faculty takes primary responsibility for the curriculum and the students for that critical 50% of the learning experience we so proudly proclaim is obtained outside the classroom. And the alumni, as suggested earlier this morning, “keep Yale, Yale” by providing the primary check against basic values and ideals that are at the center of the institution’s mission. Graduates, at the same time, provide the critical link to the forces of change outside the campus gates. Though alumni are often thought to be conservative, holding fast to old traditions, as Gaddis suggested earlier today they can be the significant force for externally driven change.@

6. The Past is Prologue Connections established by the AYA will pale in comparison to the reality of a digital future. Lifelong education will link alumni to Yale in far more meaningful ways. Communities built around class, club and graduate schools will develop on-going connections; special interest groups, now under-served will be linked in new digital communities. As I predicted, I still can feel the question “So really, who is in charge here” resonating in this hall. The answer of shared power, especially power that comes from engaged participation, never completely satisfies, as this leadership model has become a part of corporate thinking in just the last few years. But, this is as close to the truth as we can come. To put it simply, Yale is in the hands of those that are in the game. @ And, even with the innovative structure of the AYA, alumni are only in the game from time to time. This reality leads to my first prediction, one already articulated -- “As alumni enter the daily life of the University, especially in the ways made possible in a digital world, their influence will become a far greater factor in guiding the University.”@ As the world changes, it is expected that the primary link for alumni to the University will be an educational connection. In an information society, continuous learning will become a central, ongoing part of life. And, the importance of being connected to a constantly changing cultural landscape will encourage educational links beyond those “required” for job success. Those institutions that succeed will provide lifetime connections for their graduates, connections to alma mater’s educational resources. Yale has recognized this, while many peer institutions have not. Through the new Oxford, Princeton, Stanford consortium, Yale is investing almost three million dollars this year to move up the learning curve in this arena. This is a relatively small investment, which is not likely to lead to immediate success, but the learning from the experiment will be priceless. Indeed, the three million will seem like a small down payment in the years ahead, as the need to learn more, by failing faster becomes apparent.@ Meanwhile, the AYA in partnership with the Provosts office, the Development Office and the Office of the Secretary among others, is putting in place an alumni online community. This comprehensive application will provide a key building block for all alumni groups. In the digital world, the strain of serving special interest groups experienced in the analogue world, gives way to the power of those special interests in building a home for all alumni underneath AYA’s cyber-tent. @ As I predicted, I still can feel the question “So really, who is in charge here” resonating in this hall. The answer of shared power, especially power that comes from engaged participation, never completely satisfies, as this leadership model has become a part of corporate thinking in just the last few years. But, this is as close to the truth as we can come. To put it simply, Yale is in the hands of those that are in the game. @ And, even with the innovative structure of the AYA, alumni are only in the game from time to time. This reality leads to my first prediction, one already articulated -- “As alumni enter the daily life of the University, especially in the ways made possible in a digital world, their influence will become a far greater factor in guiding the University.”@ As the world changes, it is expected that the primary link for alumni to the University will be an educational connection. In an information society, continuous learning will become a central, ongoing part of life. And, the importance of being connected to a constantly changing cultural landscape will encourage educational links beyond those “required” for job success. Those institutions that succeed will provide lifetime connections for their graduates, connections to alma mater’s educational resources. Yale has recognized this, while many peer institutions have not. Through the new Oxford, Princeton, Stanford consortium, Yale is investing almost three million dollars this year to move up the learning curve in this arena. This is a relatively small investment, which is not likely to lead to immediate success, but the learning from the experiment will be priceless. Indeed, the three million will seem like a small down payment in the years ahead, as the need to learn more, by failing faster becomes apparent.@ Meanwhile, the AYA in partnership with the Provosts office, the Development Office and the Office of the Secretary among others, is putting in place an alumni online community. This comprehensive application will provide a key building block for all alumni groups. In the digital world, the strain of serving special interest groups experienced in the analogue world, gives way to the power of those special interests in building a home for all alumni underneath AYA’s cyber-tent. @

7. The New Reality Time and space will no longer be a barrier. Concerns about size of affiliation will be replaced by power of affiliation. The new digital reality will redefine slow as it redefines proximity. As with the rest of the digital world, the difference between the haves and the have nots will increase. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Yale students by and large came from nearby and stayed nearby. The twentieth century brought world wide diversity on entrance and produced world wide diversity on graduation. The digital world returns us to a time when we can come together each day as an educational community, whenever our day begins or ends across the time zones of the world.@ In the analogue world, diversity is difficult to manage. Small groups with powerful interests, are a source of resource strain. In the digital world, each group can be brought together to celebrate their own Yale and in partnership across all groups, to serve the center that is Yale.@ It has been noted that the digital world did not define fast, but did redefine slow. Recently the Washington Post noted that congressional offices are overwhelmed by e-mail messages from constituents. The best offices respond to messages in a bout four days, the same response achieved by these offices with snail mail. The rest of the congressional staffs respond much more slowly. No one suggests that even the best response time is just fine, not even the four day turnaround staffs. There is a lesson here about the future on campus; we have redefined slow and those that understand and respond to this challenge will be successful in the world that is already here.@ The divide between those that will be able to bring alumni inside the boundary of the campus, to engage them in the life of the institution and those that will not, will grow. Yale has the ability to do what is required; Yale has put the technology in gear and the AYA is leading the charge, in communication and constituent connections. The challenge ahead will be to recognize the changes this will bring in the way in which graduates engage in continuous, rather than episodic governance. The golden age of alumni relations or alumni relations hell hangs on the way in which this new reality is embraced. As with much of technology, it is all about how it is used, not what it can do.@In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Yale students by and large came from nearby and stayed nearby. The twentieth century brought world wide diversity on entrance and produced world wide diversity on graduation. The digital world returns us to a time when we can come together each day as an educational community, whenever our day begins or ends across the time zones of the world.@ In the analogue world, diversity is difficult to manage. Small groups with powerful interests, are a source of resource strain. In the digital world, each group can be brought together to celebrate their own Yale and in partnership across all groups, to serve the center that is Yale.@ It has been noted that the digital world did not define fast, but did redefine slow. Recently the Washington Post noted that congressional offices are overwhelmed by e-mail messages from constituents. The best offices respond to messages in a bout four days, the same response achieved by these offices with snail mail. The rest of the congressional staffs respond much more slowly. No one suggests that even the best response time is just fine, not even the four day turnaround staffs. There is a lesson here about the future on campus; we have redefined slow and those that understand and respond to this challenge will be successful in the world that is already here.@ The divide between those that will be able to bring alumni inside the boundary of the campus, to engage them in the life of the institution and those that will not, will grow. Yale has the ability to do what is required; Yale has put the technology in gear and the AYA is leading the charge, in communication and constituent connections. The challenge ahead will be to recognize the changes this will bring in the way in which graduates engage in continuous, rather than episodic governance. The golden age of alumni relations or alumni relations hell hangs on the way in which this new reality is embraced. As with much of technology, it is all about how it is used, not what it can do.@

8. A Look at Faculty Futures The preservation, creation and transmission of knowledge. Entrepreneurs and the establishment of educational firms. Private versus State; profit versus non-profit. I have spent much of our time talking about how Yale and her alumni will be affected by the changes to come. Let me address the other questions raised about the future -- for faculty, students and about the sources of financial support.@ These are the three missions in a modern University. As one moves down the food chain, from major research institutions like Yale to more utilitarian schools, there is decreased attention to the first two activities and increased attention to the last one. In Yale’s world today, the balance between the three is the source of our greatest strength, our brand identity. On the road ahead, a clearer separation of these three activities is likely to occur. As scholars find convenient digital access to research materials, there will be less and less reason for faculty to be located at a University or even near a University . Some will find think tanks in their specialty a better place to create knowledge, others will find a compatible home in for profit organizations committed to producing knowledge for proprietary purposes, and still others will work as independent scholars.@ The choices faculty make will begin a slide toward the transmission of knowledge as the primary focus of colleges and universities. Yale will be among the last to slide and will slide the least, but the direction of movement is clear. Faculty will become independent entrepreneurs, most likely arranging themselves in teaching “firms” either as independent entities or quasi-firms sponsored by Universities. Branding, similar to the firm brands in law and medicine will emerge; the ongoing learning environment will develop around educational brands of choice. Imagine the power of the educational firm such as Pelican, Smith and Lamar in History, not to mention the potential for cross disciplinary firms. Residential learning experiences will stand or fall based on an ability to bring students a unique way of learning outside the classroom. At the moment Yale and a few others own this increasingly important brand identity, but we will be challenged by others as they seek to refine their on campus learning product. @ We already have seen the beginning of the merger of private and public higher education. What does public mean when a number of state schools have completed billion dollar private fund drives. What does private mean when, as in Yale’s case more than half of the annual budget comes from government funds? Clearly, convergence is already taking place. In the past, for profit educational institutions focused their attention on preparation for work, while non-profits handled a broader educational mandate. In my early days in New Haven, I recall a fierce argument in a Yale College faculty meeting about the propriety of teaching computer skills which, if I recall correctly turned for some on a parallel between such technical training and the teaching of dance, a subject thought to be clearly beyond the pale. But for profit schools are now offering philosophy as often as the proffer plumbing and great Universities talk frequently about preparing students to “get a job.” This convergence of intent will continue as each type of institution attends to market forces, forces affected by new delivery systems.@ I have spent much of our time talking about how Yale and her alumni will be affected by the changes to come. Let me address the other questions raised about the future -- for faculty, students and about the sources of financial support.@ These are the three missions in a modern University. As one moves down the food chain, from major research institutions like Yale to more utilitarian schools, there is decreased attention to the first two activities and increased attention to the last one. In Yale’s world today, the balance between the three is the source of our greatest strength, our brand identity. On the road ahead, a clearer separation of these three activities is likely to occur. As scholars find convenient digital access to research materials, there will be less and less reason for faculty to be located at a University or even near a University . Some will find think tanks in their specialty a better place to create knowledge, others will find a compatible home in for profit organizations committed to producing knowledge for proprietary purposes, and still others will work as independent scholars.@ The choices faculty make will begin a slide toward the transmission of knowledge as the primary focus of colleges and universities. Yale will be among the last to slide and will slide the least, but the direction of movement is clear. Faculty will become independent entrepreneurs, most likely arranging themselves in teaching “firms” either as independent entities or quasi-firms sponsored by Universities. Branding, similar to the firm brands in law and medicine will emerge; the ongoing learning environment will develop around educational brands of choice. Imagine the power of the educational firm such as Pelican, Smith and Lamar in History, not to mention the potential for cross disciplinary firms. Residential learning experiences will stand or fall based on an ability to bring students a unique way of learning outside the classroom. At the moment Yale and a few others own this increasingly important brand identity, but we will be challenged by others as they seek to refine their on campus learning product. @ We already have seen the beginning of the merger of private and public higher education. What does public mean when a number of state schools have completed billion dollar private fund drives. What does private mean when, as in Yale’s case more than half of the annual budget comes from government funds? Clearly, convergence is already taking place. In the past, for profit educational institutions focused their attention on preparation for work, while non-profits handled a broader educational mandate. In my early days in New Haven, I recall a fierce argument in a Yale College faculty meeting about the propriety of teaching computer skills which, if I recall correctly turned for some on a parallel between such technical training and the teaching of dance, a subject thought to be clearly beyond the pale. But for profit schools are now offering philosophy as often as the proffer plumbing and great Universities talk frequently about preparing students to “get a job.” This convergence of intent will continue as each type of institution attends to market forces, forces affected by new delivery systems.@

9. A Look at Student Futures Education and coming of age in the digital world. Relationships and their impact on education. The power of a hidden voice within the free spirit of inquiry. Anyone who has ever had a teenager knows that there will always be the need for somewhere to send eighteen year olds “off to school!” @ But, as we have suggested, it is more likely that the place will emphasize transmitting knowledge, that is teaching, especially in the context of both curricular and extracurricular leaning. And, it is likely that instruction will come from great teachers located elsewhere, while the “school” provides attention to those things that cannot be delivered at a distance. We are already in the midst of this change. In the world that is just on the horizon, the word student will apply to most of us. Classrooms will become ubiquitous and multigenerational, as age integrated as the modern day English pub, leaving behind the age segregation of today’s Yale.@ And, since we believe that a major portion of our education comes from those with whom we study, all will be the richer for this -- as those alumni, who have participated in the AYA’s ground breaking program that permits graduates to return to Yale to audit courses, can already testify. Further, the best universities will find new ways to build relationships among learners, creating the equivalent of the Yale College dining hall in cyberspace, a place to engage with one’s fellow students. @ And, finally, students will experience the freedom of mind that comes when face to face interaction is a less important part of the educational process. Early experience with learning in cyberspace suggests that when all other aspects of a person are hidden, leaving the spot light solely on ideas, an entirely different dynamic takes hold. Freedom of expression and deep learning opportunities come to the surface and replace prejudgments evoked in traditional classrooms.@Anyone who has ever had a teenager knows that there will always be the need for somewhere to send eighteen year olds “off to school!” @ But, as we have suggested, it is more likely that the place will emphasize transmitting knowledge, that is teaching, especially in the context of both curricular and extracurricular leaning. And, it is likely that instruction will come from great teachers located elsewhere, while the “school” provides attention to those things that cannot be delivered at a distance. We are already in the midst of this change. In the world that is just on the horizon, the word student will apply to most of us. Classrooms will become ubiquitous and multigenerational, as age integrated as the modern day English pub, leaving behind the age segregation of today’s Yale.@ And, since we believe that a major portion of our education comes from those with whom we study, all will be the richer for this -- as those alumni, who have participated in the AYA’s ground breaking program that permits graduates to return to Yale to audit courses, can already testify. Further, the best universities will find new ways to build relationships among learners, creating the equivalent of the Yale College dining hall in cyberspace, a place to engage with one’s fellow students. @ And, finally, students will experience the freedom of mind that comes when face to face interaction is a less important part of the educational process. Early experience with learning in cyberspace suggests that when all other aspects of a person are hidden, leaving the spot light solely on ideas, an entirely different dynamic takes hold. Freedom of expression and deep learning opportunities come to the surface and replace prejudgments evoked in traditional classrooms.@

10. A Look at Funding Futures Philanthropy will be replaced by enlightened self-interest. Corporate support will be based on effective partnerships. Institutional diversity will increase as funding differences grow. Tuition driven institutions will begin to dominate the educational landscape. We are living in a golden age of philanthropy. In the intermediate term, I do not expect the good times to end, no matter what our favorite son on Pennsylvania Avenue urges in estate tax law reform. The real challenge to matrix governance in higher education comes more from the increase in mega giving and its philosophical underpinnings. We have moved from a time when more provided significant gifts, to a time when fewer provide mega gifts --- with clear intentions, indeed instructions about their use. As we move forward into the longer term, this trend will continue. The impact on philanthropy is already clear. We have started to call these gifts philanthropic investments rather than pure philanthropy, the love of outcomes rather than the love of man.@ But bigger changes are coming on the corporate side. As the public purse shrinks support of research, and as the locus of investigation becomes more diffuse, corporate support will be targeted to support corporate goals. Partnerships between Universities and corporations have become important already, and will continue to be so. If partners cannot be found on campuses, off campus facilities will be built to carry on research work directed toward corporate objectives. Unlike today’s Route 128 or Silicon Valley, new technologies will make it much easier to have research centers removed from Universities. I’d recommend selling Palo Alto real estate short.@ Finally, it is clear that the new technology makes the world a place in which differences between those that have and those that want, grow each day. This dynamic will be true for educational institutions as well. While at the moment, past loyalties and philanthropic spirit float many boats, the ability to attract partnerships and support will drive funding success in the future, and the best dancers, with the closest relationships will fill their dance cards, while others will not even be at the ball. @ The outcome of all this will be the growth of tuition driven institutions, closely attuned to the market and focused on providing for the demands of a population that is willing to pay for their education throughout life. And, more and more of these will take the for profit option, as the non-profit option becomes less and less meaningful.@We are living in a golden age of philanthropy. In the intermediate term, I do not expect the good times to end, no matter what our favorite son on Pennsylvania Avenue urges in estate tax law reform. The real challenge to matrix governance in higher education comes more from the increase in mega giving and its philosophical underpinnings. We have moved from a time when more provided significant gifts, to a time when fewer provide mega gifts --- with clear intentions, indeed instructions about their use. As we move forward into the longer term, this trend will continue. The impact on philanthropy is already clear. We have started to call these gifts philanthropic investments rather than pure philanthropy, the love of outcomes rather than the love of man.@ But bigger changes are coming on the corporate side. As the public purse shrinks support of research, and as the locus of investigation becomes more diffuse, corporate support will be targeted to support corporate goals. Partnerships between Universities and corporations have become important already, and will continue to be so. If partners cannot be found on campuses, off campus facilities will be built to carry on research work directed toward corporate objectives. Unlike today’s Route 128 or Silicon Valley, new technologies will make it much easier to have research centers removed from Universities. I’d recommend selling Palo Alto real estate short.@ Finally, it is clear that the new technology makes the world a place in which differences between those that have and those that want, grow each day. This dynamic will be true for educational institutions as well. While at the moment, past loyalties and philanthropic spirit float many boats, the ability to attract partnerships and support will drive funding success in the future, and the best dancers, with the closest relationships will fill their dance cards, while others will not even be at the ball. @ The outcome of all this will be the growth of tuition driven institutions, closely attuned to the market and focused on providing for the demands of a population that is willing to pay for their education throughout life. And, more and more of these will take the for profit option, as the non-profit option becomes less and less meaningful.@

11. Keeping Yale, Yale Define Yale’s core mission and values. Engage faculty, students, staff and most especially alumni in preserving this core. Move with the tides of change to ensure that Yale’s mission and values are achieved in new ways. So, where does that leave Yale? What will be left of the institution we celebrate this year when a few among us come to celebrate the 350th? What will keep Yale, Yale@ First, we have to decide what is truly important. We all think we know, but in a time of such profound change we need to articulate what we know, to make sure the urgent does not drive out the important in decisions taken on behalf of Alma Mater.@ Yale needs to become a place in which all four constituencies are active in daily campus life -- embracing the technology that has ushered in a golden age that supports life long relationships. To do less will mean that in the changes to come, Yale will not be able to hold onto her mission or her key values, for it is her graduates that have a special role in attending to this vital core. The AYA will play a critical role in this if it fulfills its founding mandate,@ And finally, we must continue to guess at the impact of what we can see on the future we cannot. The future I have painted this morning needs to be redrawn frequently by others, with a view toward seeing how to shape the impact of forces we cannot change on the institution whose values we hope to preserve. Visionary leadership in education has never been more important, especially for those few places like Yale that have a chance at remaining dedicated to all three educational goals: the preservation, the creation and the transmission of knowledge. @So, where does that leave Yale? What will be left of the institution we celebrate this year when a few among us come to celebrate the 350th? What will keep Yale, Yale@ First, we have to decide what is truly important. We all think we know, but in a time of such profound change we need to articulate what we know, to make sure the urgent does not drive out the important in decisions taken on behalf of Alma Mater.@ Yale needs to become a place in which all four constituencies are active in daily campus life -- embracing the technology that has ushered in a golden age that supports life long relationships. To do less will mean that in the changes to come, Yale will not be able to hold onto her mission or her key values, for it is her graduates that have a special role in attending to this vital core. The AYA will play a critical role in this if it fulfills its founding mandate,@ And finally, we must continue to guess at the impact of what we can see on the future we cannot. The future I have painted this morning needs to be redrawn frequently by others, with a view toward seeing how to shape the impact of forces we cannot change on the institution whose values we hope to preserve. Visionary leadership in education has never been more important, especially for those few places like Yale that have a chance at remaining dedicated to all three educational goals: the preservation, the creation and the transmission of knowledge. @

12. A final thought... Faculty come and go… students are supposed to come and go… happily administrations come and go… but the alumni go on forever! They are the only permanent part of an educational institution. . Those that remember how Bart used to end some talks with alumni will remember this tag line from that visionary Presidential era@ But as we think about a future we can only see through the glass darkly, it is a truth well worth remembering. Now it is time for me to hear your thoughts about the role of Yale’s graduates in the digital age. Thank you! Those that remember how Bart used to end some talks with alumni will remember this tag line from that visionary Presidential era@ But as we think about a future we can only see through the glass darkly, it is a truth well worth remembering. Now it is time for me to hear your thoughts about the role of Yale’s graduates in the digital age. Thank you!