The Vanderbilt Question

by Vince Durnan

The singular opportunity to bring university-affiliated school heads together last week invites consideration of our working partnership with VU. "Informal but important" best describes our connection.
In case it missed your attention, the generous-of-spirit leaders of independent schools connected with Boston University, Yale, Columbia, the University of Chicago, and Nova Southeastern in Ft. Lauderdale journeyed to USN for a full day meeting last Monday with a streamed panel discussion to follow. We compared balance sheets, program initiatives, reporting relationships, origin stories, and prospects for the future in the shadow of research university neighbors. We concluded with a discussion about whether our gathering was the end of my dissertation project or the beginning of a new collegial benchmarking initiative.

At our public discussion, the chance to hear their stories kept me uncharacteristically restrained, such that some in attendance were left wondering about the nature of our dynamic with Vanderbilt. Let me share some of the specifics about what it is and what it isn’t:

Very little money changes hands. We still buy steam heat in the winter, through a 1925-vintage pipe under Edgehill linked to the VU energy plant. It helps the pool too. Past that, we pay our share for courses taken by high schoolers who are ready for Vandy curricula beyond what we offer. And we pay our share for the Community Service Officers you see on campus courtesy of VUPD. Rarely do we rent space on the busy VU campus, but at Commencement time and MS Musical time and on occasion for athletics, we happily pay for that privilege.

We have no admission set-asides. We meet great families as a function of our proximity and history with the Vanderbilt community, and we embrace the chance to be part of the welcome wagon, but there is no VU quota as we mail acceptance letters, and we never over-enroll, period. Neither is there a special lever for us to pull for our graduates who apply across the street. They earn their way in, and we’re grateful when they do. Past that, it may be worth confirming that there are no tuition discounts for VU faculty at USN, just as there are no discounts for our own faculty children—everything runs through need-based financial aid.

We’re colleagues, not direct reports. No one at VU is the boss of anyone who gets a USN paycheck. Our governance remains entirely independent, though we’ve benefitted considerably over the years from some fantastic Board leaders whose day job was at Vanderbilt—including the current Chancellor and our current Board President emerita. Some of the heads in the schools here last week report to a provost as their supervisor, while I get to speak to the VU provost in her role as a USN mom.

The point is mutual benefit. What passed for a conclusion in my dissertation is the notion that initiatives work best when they help in both directions. Such is the case when we host Peabody classes in teaching method, when we work on HS curricular projects funded by the Edward E. Ford Leadership grant awarded last year, and just yesterday when our 4th graders walked over to the Bishop Johnson Center for a reading of Gloria Churchwell’s new book (illustrated by Michael McBride--another USN alumni parent) on her father-in-law, the inspiring Robert Churchwell, Sr.—a USN grandparent many times over. We share on more mundane levels, like parking and security training, and we take nothing for granted in this busy, thriving neighborhood.

In this watershed year, we’re left wondering about the ideal iteration of the USN/VU partnership. Perhaps we’ve already reached that point, two generations after the big transition from the Demonstration School. Maybe there are wishes left in the genie’s lamp, but what would we ask? What might Vanderbilt ask? Where is the next great opportunity to be found? I’d submit that we occupy a category of one when it comes to blending proximity and autonomy, with our multi-billion dollar neighbor and our historic tie to its acclaimed college of education. Endlessly interesting stuff for me, supercharged with potential.

Our guests last week noted those possibilities, bringing fresh perspective that might help inspire our next big breakthroughs. Take a moment to appreciate our situation from the inside. Let me know what you think.

We’ll plan together,
Vince
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