McKean resigns as student affairs VP; search for replacement begins

By William Knox
Norwich Guidon Managing Editor

On Nov. 21, 2002, President Richard W. Schneider announced that he received the resignation of Col. Michael McKean as Norwich University's Commandant and Vice President for Student Affairs.

"There was not one single event that led me to ask for Col. McKean's resignation," Schneider said. "It was not an easy decision. It was a very, very hard decision. I just didn't think it was a good fit for Norwich. It was a sad day for me to have to do that."

"It is true that I did ask Col. Mike McKean for his resignation, which he did tenure," Schneider said.

Schneider discussed the changes in the commandant staff with the senior class of the corps of cadets in a meeting held in White Chapel on Monday evening, Dec. 2.

According to Schneider, the national search for McKean's successor has already begun.

"I think we should be able to find someone who can really add some depth and some strength to our staff," Schneider said. "I think that is really our ideal candidate. Whether we can find that will really be up to the marketplace."

Schneider announced that, effective immediately, he will assume the responsibilities of the Office of the Commandant and Vice President for Student Affairs.

Lt. Col. Michael Abraham, current chief of Norwich Security, will be taking on the additional role of an interim deputy commandant, in charge of operations for the Corps of Cadets until a new commandant is found.

Schneider expressed appreciation for the many accomplishments made within the student body during McKean's time at Norwich.

"He's done many good things for the corps that I want to keep," Schneider said. "I think, in large measure, we met many of the goals set out during the initial search for a replacement for Col. Docinski. I did ask Col. McKean to do a number of things, and he did do them, and I don't want to lose ground on any of those things."

Schneider said that the decision was personally difficult for him to make.

"I liked Col. McKean, and I think Brenda McKean was the best commandant's wife we've ever had, at least in my 11 years at Norwich," Schneider said. "She was a wonderful role model for students."

Cadet Col. Jacob S. Sotiriadis, a senior international studies major, said that the decision to change the leadership in the commandant's office was "necessary."

"I think this is something that was necessary," Sotiriadis said. "The president made a command decision. He didn't make it totally by himself, either. He took a lot of input. I spent considerable amount of time with him talking about restructuring not only the chain of command, but also the way information will flow."

Schneider said that there will be some changes but indicated that much of the structure will remain the same.

"I believe in the model of having one student advocate at the table in the Cabinet," Schneider said. "We've had many different scenarios, now, and I believe that we got this model right, to have one person be commandant and vice president for student life."

Schneider also said that the office of deputy commandant will also be maintained within the organization.

"We had a deputy commandant at the beginning of the year, and I believe it is a model that works," he said. "We had the smoothest start of any academic year this year in the time that I've been here. Things started to implode as a function of time, but we started the year really well."

For now, the role of deputy commandant will be filled by Lt. Col. Michael Abraham, who had served previously as an assistant commandant before taking over as chief of Norwich security.

Schneider said Abraham will only be serving temporarily, until the university can find a new deputy commandant.

"Under my rules, if you want to be a candidate for a job, you can't serve in the interim," Schneider said. "You want to put someone in the spot who is capable and competent and willing to serve the institution, but not candidate for the job. Because I don't want people candidating for the job. I want them doing the job."

In Monday's meeting with senior cadets, Schneider publicly thanked Abraham for taking over the additional duties of deputy commandant.

"He's your man," Schneider told the seniors. "He is responsible for the day-to-day mentoring of the Corps of Cadets in the same way that Col. Braman served when he had the job."

Abraham said that he looks forward to the coming months.

"My goal is to have the seniors in the corps graduate and have as many as the underclassmen coming back as possible," Abraham said. "I'm totally in line with the president. That's why I'm here."

Abraham said that he had been asked by the president to take a look at the corps' training program during the coming semester.

"One of the things I've been charged with doing is to take a fresh look at training, and that needs to come from the cadets also," Abraham said. "We need to figure out what is important training and what is just wasting our time, because we don't need to be wasting each others' time."

Abraham also said that the commandants would be giving the cadets more responsibility in the day-to-day operation of the corps.

"We need to refocus on the corps running the corps," Abraham said. "The corps has got to run the corps. It's not going to be the commandants' office. If you don't keep the standards in the corps, then don't expect us to do it for you."

Schneider indicated that heavier responsibility would be falling on the Cadets for the Corps.

"The staff is there to mentor cadets, not run the regiment," Schneider said. "That is the cadets' responsibility. The staff is there to show you what the standard is, not to help enforce it.

"To be quite honest, I think we got in a little too close," Schneider explained. "You have to do it. Now the question is, will you."

The president said that civilian operations would continue to fall under the responsibility of Dean Martha Mathis.

Schneider outlined for the seniors in the Monday meeting the nature of the search for a new commandant.

"The ad was released on Wednesday," Schneider said. "It will go in the Chronicle Higher Education, which is the basic trade paper that people look to when they're looking for jobs in higher ed. It will also be in the Norwich Record, so our alums see it. We got to the federal service academies' alumni groups. We'll go to the Reserve Officers' Association. We'll go to student affairs associations."

In addition, Schneider voiced hopes of finding a candidate with an ideal background for addressing the unique requirements of the Norwich student body.

"My perfect candidate, in my mind, is someone who has done 20 years in the military, but also has done student life at some college or university somewhere," Schneider said. "Someone who knows what it is like to mentor students, to inspire them and deal with the issues that you are dealing with.

"I think that is really our ideal candidate," Schneider said. "Whether we can find that will really be up to the market place."
Such a candidate would augment the abilities of the administration to properly address student issues, Schneider explained.

"I have one trained student life person on our staff, who has properly trained and credentialed to do this work, and that is Martha Mathis," Schneider said. "I think we should be able to find someone who can really add some depth and some strength to our staff."

Whoever the new commandant is, Schneider said the job would continue to be that of commandant and vice president for Student Affairs and would not split the job again between two people.

"We need to continue to drive toward cooperation and good working relationships between the students as well as all the faculty and staff," Schneider said. "The students can't afford a whole bunch of senior supervisors here. We have to pay them, and that money only comes from one place, and that's students' pockets."

Financial as well as social concerns influenced the decision to keep the office intact.

"I'm really trying to be efficient in the organization, but I also want a good working organization," Schneider said. "I think one person can clearly represent the interests of 1,700 students and the student life staff that work on their behalf."

He invited seniors to nominate anyone they knew personally who fit his description of an ideal candidate. He added that he has spoken with Norwich alumnus Gen. Gordon Sullivan and that he would also be talking to Gen. Alfred M. Grey, USMC, in the coming weeks, "to pick their brains, also, on people they know."

"We're also starting to get letters and e-mail from people who are interested, because it's a fabulous job," Schneider said.

"You are an incredible corps and an incredible student body to lead," Schneider told the seniors. "So, I'm confident that we can have a good rich pool of people."

Schneider has asked the regimental commander to appoint one cadet from both the senior and junior classes to be formal members of the search committee. The civilian leadership will also select two representatives from the civilian student body. There will also be faculty and staff members on the committee and possibly alumni and trustees.

"I want a good cross-section, representation of the student body," Schneider said, adding that the search committee will be charged with reporting three names of candidates for the position that they "would love to have at Norwich.

"We will invite them to campus," Schneider said. "There will be individual meetings with certain groups, but there will also be open meetings where I'm going to have them speak about their philosophy about leadership and then have questions and answers among all of our students, so that they can get a sense of who this person is, so that you can feed back your feelings to the chairman of the search committee, too. That's how students get their thoughts about this person into the system."

Schneider has not yet named the chairman of the new search committee but said that it will be a member of the faculty or staff.

"I can't tell you how long the search is going to take," Schneider said. "But I'm going to keep searching until I find the right person."

Schneider, who has taken on the responsibilities of commandant for the interim, indicated that some of the trustees voiced concerns over whether he can effectively do the job of both the president and commandant.

"My answer is absolutely," Schneider said. "Besides, I want to get to know this operation better. I've got some back issues I'm already dealing with in a positive way.

"Things are basically quiet. The staff is going to be working while the students are gone," Schneider said. "This is good thinking time for me, good prep time for me."

Schneider further indicated that he was not going to be on the road during the coming weeks, anyway.

"This is a lousy time to fund raise."

The regimental commander indicated that he enjoyed the opportunity to work directly with the president.

"I'm really happy that I'm able to just report directly to the president," Sotiriadis said. "It really puts the corps in charge of the corps. The deputy commandant is only doing operations. He is not my reporting officer. My reporting officer is the president."

Sotiriadis added that he is confident in the corps' ability to handle the difficulties of the change in the coming semester.

"I think that the corps will definitely rise to the occasion," Sotiriadis said. "I think the corps has been through things this semester that would have made other universities and corps of cadets fold. I'm very pleased with the way that the corps has handled it. They are embracing the vision that we've got for the future."

According to Sotiriadis, for the corps to function in the coming months, it will take the efforts of upperclassmen to carry out the standards of the corps.

"For this to work we need cooperation, we need open-mindedness, but we need, number one, the upperclassmen to step up to the plate and say, 'I'm not afraid to enforce the rules and regulations,'" Sotiriadis said. "'I'm not afraid to tell the person when they are wrong.' It's not about a popularity contest. It's about doing what's right. The president wants to put more power back into the corps' hands. I'm confident the corps is going to do the right thing."

Asst. Commandant Maj. Joyce Rivers agreed with the regimental commander.

"We can get it right," Rivers said. "We hear a lot about leadership, but now it's time to walk the talk."

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