U. President: 'Call me Bernie'

"I'm different," he says. "I don't come at this job the way others do. . . . A lot of people would be frustrated by my not giving them more direction. I try to give ideas about where the university is going. If I have a talent, it is thinking big down the road. But I haven't a clue how to get there. I have these other people to tell me how we're going to get there."

As a result, Machen thinks the need for meetings is vastly overrated. Almost the first thing he did as president was cut weekly cabinet meetings from three hours to one. He also meets with each of his eight vice presidents for an hour each week, "and I tell them if they don't need it they'll get a gold star for canceling. Most of the time the issues could be covered in e-mail.

"Sometimes it's difficult for people to believe that I don't need to be involved in every decision that's to be made. I hate details," he says. "Having been in the trenches, I hate when someone tells me how to do my job. If I have to do that, then they shouldn't be working for me."

Not surprisingly, Machen replaced more than half of the school's vice presidents with his own hand-picked people — which of course didn't sit well with the established faculty, or with some of those who left or were removed. Some have questioned publicly the direction in which he is leading the university.

"Most were good people," he explains, "but I work on a different model. I needed people I was comfortable with who would be more independent. It was a case of finding skills that matched mine."

Machen once described himself this way: "I'm not a structured person. I'm not trained as a manager. I like to just walk around. I like to talk with people about issues that come up."

Earlier this summer he had some time between appointments so he walked to another building on campus to check on the progress of a construction project and to visit with people in that department. He wound up getting locked in a stairwell. One of the faculty members was passing by when she heard a pounding on the door.

"She was a little surprised to find me in there," he says. "She said, 'What are you doing here?' She showed me around and gave me her opinion of what was going on" in her department.

"One of the dangers of administration is become isolated," says Machen. "With all these people who report to me, I can't let that be my only source."

Speaking bluntly

Without exception everyone who works for Machen describes him as "direct" or "blunt."

"He's a straight shooter," says administrative assistant Mike Benson. "What you see is what you get. He is not a complicated person."

Still, at first university officials weren't sure what to make of the new guy.