Memoir recounts 'magic' of Joel Seligman years at UR, and the scandal that ended it
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Joel Seligman, who spent 13 years as president of the University Rochester, recently published a memoir.
The title: "Twelve Great Years." It's not a typo.
Seligman's reputation as a bridge-builder, coalition leader and fundraiser was tarnished in 2018, his final year at the university, by sexual misconduct allegations against professor Florian Jaeger, as well as a charge that UR under Seligman failed to properly respond.
In the self-published book released this month, Seligman attempts to rebalance the narrative, describing the university's growth during his tenure.
Creating 'magic' at UR
When Seligman arrived in 2005, he writes in the book, UR's trustees "wanted to be perceived as one of the leading universities in the country." That posed an immediate challenge.
“The question for all of us was how do you revitalize a very good research university in a declining city without Division 1 sports where there then was not a clear sense of direction," Seligman writes.
His answer, in brief: "Magic." The son of a top Hollywood television producer, Seligman threw himself into fundraising, marketing and strategic planning, leading a capital campaign that ultimately raised $1.37 billion.
As president, Seligman oversaw a strategic planning process that better coordinated the university's disparate colleges and functions; helped achieve dramatic increases in the number of both students and faculty; and deepened UR's involvement with the community and the region.
He greenlit UR's involvement with East High School in Rochester and served as co-chairman of the Finger Lakes Economic Development Council.
"We ceased to be a university apart from Rochester and recognized we were part of a vital urban community," he said in an interview.
"Twelve Great Years" is a straightforward factual accounting of a 13-year period, written with a constitutional law professor's fondness for documentation and a fundraiser's knack for doling out thanks.
In perhaps the most candid passage in the book, Seligman criticizes former governor Andrew Cuomo and his hand-selected economic development guru, Alain Kaloyeros, and implies that Cuomo pushed him off the council after he successfully advocated for federally backed photonics-related facilities to be based in the city of Rochester.
"Cuomo's faith in Kaloyeros was badly misplaced," Seligman writes. "Many of the much-touted industry partnerships either never materialized or operated elsewhere. We would have done far better had Kaloyeros worked cooperatively with the University of Rochester."
Seligman recounts strife and a 'wrongful dismissal'
As for the Jaeger affair, "Twelve Great Years" offers little beyond a recitation of the official record. Seligman quotes the independent investigator hired by the board of trustees, Mary Jo White, in concluding UR "acted in good faith and appropriately under its then-current policies."
A federal judge later cast doubt on some of White's conclusions, and UR eventually paid a $9.4 million settlement without admitting fault.
In an interview, Seligman said trustees "implored" him not to speak publicly about the case while the investigation was happening, something he acknowledged may have made him look unresponsive. He resigned the same day White's report was released.
"The university ... had been mired in conflicting views of what had occurred, and it didn’t matter anymore who was wrong and who was right," he said. "I couldn’t restore the magic anymore."
According to public documents and a report by the UR Faculty Senate, Seligman received a $1.3 million settlement for what he called "wrongful dismissal" — trustees encouraged him to resign, he said. He then received $884,000 in 2018-19 for a yearlong sabbatical.
The Faculty Senate report highlighted those figures as part of a trend of inflated executive compensation. In an interview, Seligman said the sabbatical was part of his contract and that his later pay as a professor was "considerably lower." In the calendar year 2020, he said, he earned $427,000.
'The journey is never over'
As a university president, Seligman said, he felt it was important not to reveal his own political beliefs. Now that restraint is lifted. The proceeds from his book sales will go toward Planned Parenthood and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, organizations whose work he believes is critical.
Seligman was on the faculty at the University of Michigan when its race-conscious affirmative action admissions standards went into place. The U.S. Supreme Court this term is considering whether to overturn the precedent that supports them. Seligman said it would be "vile" and "a terrible tragedy" if the court did so.
"We live in a multicultural world where our students increasingly are going to work with people of every gender, every race," he said. "It’s wonderful to be in institutions that reflect the kind of world they will be joining."
Seligman arrived at UR with great aspirations for advancing racial equity and diversifying the faculty and student body. He succeeded only in part. Underrepresented students increased from 8% to 11%, and underrepresented faculty from 2% to 5%. Shortly before the Jaeger case became public, Black students on campus were protesting recent racist incidents and demanding change from Seligman and the administration.
"Clearly we didn’t go far enough during my time," Seligman said in an interview. "We made some progress, but the journey is never over, and there was still a long way to go when I left."
Seligman now lives in St. Louis, where he was dean of the Washington University School of Law before coming to Rochester. He and his wife, psychiatrist Mary Schwab Seligman, co-teach a course at Washington University called The Good Society. Students read classics in the humanities and religion and grapple with a question similar to the one that kept their professor occupied in Rochester.
"What is the Good Society, one that is fair and just and best satisfies the aspirations of its people?" the Seligmans write in the syllabus. But, they caution: "There should be no delusions that a Good Society has ever been fully achieved or ever will be fully achieved."
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Memoir recounts presidency, controversial end for former UR leader
