“You’d like to say he’s gone and forgotten but that’s not the case,” said Vahlkamp. “It’s surprising he went to a school like [Georgia]. He’s good at some aspects but he is a divisive character. Not a consensus builder. Still, I don’t think anyone would say his presidency was detrimental to [Centre] in any way.”
If Adams had any misgivings about his ability to make the leap from Centre to UGA it certainly didn’t show. Following his carefully scripted initial appearance at the University Arch, he toured the various UGA institutions, armed with talking points that had been prepared for him by the chancellor’s office. Making note of the considerable concern about Adams’s lack of experience, Chancellor Portch advised him to reach out to the existing administration and faculty at Georgia:
You likely have read some of the press clipping since the announcement of your appointment and already have noted the questions about your past experience as an educator and administrator as it relates to large, land-grant, research institutions. In general, I suggest you appeal for help from those present, for time to learn, and give assurances that you are prepared to provide strong, decisive leadership within the context of close collaboration with the faculty and others who have the expertise to meet the needs of the University of Georgia. It would also be wise to state that you are aware of the positive role that the Staff Council has played in providing input and advice to the president.
4
On his first work day in June 1997, the University of Georgia’s new president met with community leaders, faculty and staff, sticking close to the guidelines Portch had scripted. Adams spoke of lofty goals for the university—of establishing international educational programs, of increasing research, of creating a system to reward teaching, and of becoming a part of the greater Athens community. He promised a team effort in “moving this great university to the next level.” Students, he said, would be his primary focus.
In his first State of the University speech in January 1998, Adams elaborated on his plans to increase the school’s foreign studies program, as he had done at Centre College. He emphasized that he wanted to take UGA to national prominence. The speech was well-received on and off campus, and at this point faculty and community response to Adams’s vision for UGA seemed generally positive.
However, there were warning tremors. Shortly after settling into Charles Knapp’s old office, Adams announced plans to restructure the school’s upper management team, reducing the number of senior vice presidents from seven to three. Adams also created the Office of Provost and hired Karen Holbrook, Vice President for Research at the University of Florida, to the new position, a move explained as a way to free himself from some of the day-to-day management tasks, thus allowing him to be away from campus more often to raise funds. But it had the effect of isolating Adams from the faculty, some of whom were already grumbling about his corporate CEO management style. His early words about a “team effort” were beginning to ring hollow to senior faculty and staff who felt their input was ignored as Adams dismantled the existing hierarchy of university governance and replaced key administrators with his own loyal supporters.
In January 1999, Adams announced plans to add four schools and colleges to the Athens campus. A part of the expansion would have dismantled the prestigious Grady College of Journalism, creating in its place a new College of Communications that would include rhetorical studies, speech, and technology. Faculty and prominent alumni revolted. What stuck in the journalism faculty’s craw was that Adams had not bothered to consult with them. “I am sickened and saddened by this,” said journalism professor Conrad Fink. Grady College Dean Tom Russell knew nothing about the proposed changes until the evening before Adams was to announce them during his second State of the University speech.
Russell made no attempt to hide his disappointment. “As you can imagine, mass communication and speech therapy are not areas in the past that have had any [curriculum] relationship. I really think the reaction is somewhat surprised, simply because for all of us this really had not been something that had been considered.” A month later, the well-regarded Russell, who had been at the school for thirty-four years, announced he was resigning as dean so he could to return to the classroom—not at UGA but seventy miles away at tiny Piedmont College. “It was too good of an opportunity to pass up,” Russell wryly explained. Adams said he was surprised by the reaction of the journalism professors. The proposed change was an expansion of an existing program, which he said, is usually viewed favorably. But most journalism professors felt the change would adulterate what had been a clear focus.
The hostile reaction to the Grady College changes was severe enough that Adams was forced to abandon the proposal, but his top-down management continued to rankle faculty feathers. Criticism of Adams was widespread among the faculty. As botany professor Barry Palevitz observed, “Universities succeed best when the programs come from bottom up and this is from the top down.”
The dawning of the twenty-first century also saw Adams publicly humiliated when one of his biggest administrative blunders was revealed after the firing of head football coach Jim Donnan. And the perception that Adams had little appreciation for the university’s research mission persisted as twenty-six research faculty members sent a letter to Adams and Provost Holbrook expressing concern about the lack of administrative support. Adams met with them and pledged more support. Holbrook backed up Adams’s promise by committing $4.1 million to recruit faculty to fill existing vacancies.
Some of Adams’s troubles with the faculty and staff over administrative and academic issues were out in the open. But an even bigger storm was brewing in the background over issues of spending, compensation, and accountability. Criticism of Adams over spending began almost as soon as he arrived at Georgia. Eyebrows were raised when it became known that the university had spent $90,000 on his inauguration, followed by another $220,000 to renovate the president’s sky box at Sanford Stadium. In response, Adams claimed that he and his wife used the sky box to entertain alumni, legislators, and potential donors at home football games.
Then there was the matter of his personal office. Adams first occupied the same office that his predecessors had used, a modest space in the uninspiring Lustrat House, a small two-story brick dwelling built in 1847 as a professor’s home. The building was relocated to its present location on the old North Campus in 1903. That move so angered Professor Charles Morris that he vacated the premises, and the eponymous Professor Joseph Lustrat’s family occupied the dwelling from 1904 until 1927. It was then converted into a museum, and later into the president’s office.
When Adams took over at Georgia, a $2.1 million renovation was already planned for the 21,000-square-foot building that had housed the Georgia Museum of Art until 1996, when the museum moved into a new structure that was part of expansion of the campus during Knapp’s tenure and in the run-up to the 1996 Olympics. Meanwhile the former museum, erected in 1907 as a library, was to be remade into offices for campus planning and legal affairs. Adams quickly decided the location, near the oldest building on campus, would make perfect digs for him and his senior staff. Two months later the Board of Regents approved Adams’s request, with a price tag that had grown to $2.5 million. The spending occurred at a time of belt-tightening at UGA and drew criticism from among the faculty and students. Critics dubbed the opulent new office space “the winter palace,” adding to a growing perception that Adams had too much appreciation for his personal concerns and too little for academics and research.
Still, Adams seemed to have solidified his support with the chancellor and the governor’s office. In August 2000, Portch gave Adams a sparkling performance review and a $100,000 a year pay raise, bringing his annual compensation to $558,557. The pay hike was financed by the UGA Foundation, as was another $51,000 a year being paid to Mary Adams to accompany her husband and represent the university at various factions.