I have a proposal for several actions Case may take to become the "World's Most Powerful Learning Environment", as Hundert proposes.

The first action is for the Case board and senior administration to form a panel of Blue Ribbon Advisors who are qualified and able to develop for the University a renewal plan. The panel must be expert in the subject, globally-respected and ready to begin immediately. Therefore, for the panel I recommend:

William G. Bowen, president, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, president emeritus, Princeton University

William R. Brody, president, The Johns Hopkins University

James J. Duderstadt, president emeritus, University of Michigan

Harvey Fineberg, president, The Institute of Medicine, The National Academies

Malcolm Gillis, president emeritus, Rice University

Eamon Kelly, president emeritus, Tulane University

Scott Cowen, president, Tulane University

Farris W. Womack, chief financial officer emeritus, University of Michigan

These proposed Blue Ribbon advisors to Case are the same Blue Ribbon advisors to Tulane who just developed their "Blueprint for the Future" in response to the absolute devastation faced by the Gulf Region and Tulane since hurricane Katrina, which necessitated drastic revisioning and action overnight. The one important addition to the advisors is the president of Tulane, who is currently implementing the advisors' blueprint, and was a much loved leader of the Case family before Tulane hired him away, many years ago (a great loss for Case and NEO).

This is the best group of people on Earth to look at Case with finely tuned but open, world-class eyes and propose a plan based on a higher level of analysis and thinking than we are able to muster here in any other way. What will result is a vision to make Case:

• Part of the World's Most Powerful Learning Environment",  

That said, I recomment you look at the Tulane blueprint for the future and consider best practices they have already established there that we can immediately implement here. As a Tulane alumnus who has been watching Tulane deal with their crisis I can say it is the work of genius. Further, we can work with them and the same advisory panel on a higher level of collaborative planning - the collective strength of Case and Tulane working together will offer huge collaborative opportunities and economies of scale that the power and potential will be overwhelming.

The advisors will solve Case's problems and strategize a brighter future - but that doesn't scratch the surface of the opportunity I see here. I believe Case and Tulane should merge into one national university, in a process of also forming strong economic development relations between NEO and New Orleans and her surrounding region.... NEONOLA

 As strange as that may sound, I recommend this in response to what I see are the challenges facing both universities and their communities in the century ahead.

From a blog archive at the Tulane website, in a virtual dialog between President Cowen and students, found at http://www.tulane.edu/chat/december16.html: 

Mo9: Is Tulane planning on expanding its presence outside of New Orleans after this disaster, such as adding programs and facilities in Biloxi?

President Cowen: We already have a presence in Biloxi and I do anticipate over time we will create additional programs or a presence in other parts of the United States and perhaps the world. For example, we already have a new program we established a couple of years ago in Houston, Texas.

 If you go to the "new program" you learn:

The Tulane MBA in Houston

Globally renowned for its expertise in graduate business education, Tulane offers two distinctive MBA programs at its Houston campus, both conducted on weekends. You keep pace with your career while you earn the Tulane MBA degree at our world-class facilities in Houston—in as little as 19 months.

There's a reason Tulane is globally renowned for its expertise in graduate business education (which is profitable)... Tulane has Case's Dean of our business school, and Case's lost opportunity. Form a partnership between Tulane and Case and we get our Dean - their president - back, as co-President of our joint universtiy... and we become globally renowned for our expertise in graduate business education, overnight.

We suddenly have a school of architecture. And tropical medicine, with a primate research center. And their "Partnership for the Transformation of Urban Communities", which in collaboration with Case, KSU and CSU will make NEO part of the world's most signficiant urban planning resource, shared between NEO and NOLA. 

 I can go on and on, and will. The fit is astounding - very little overlap and many reasons to collaborate. Reason not to collaborate... traditions. Already much of the anger in the alumni community against Hundert is for the elimination of the identities that are the traditions of alumni, so they now feel disassociated, and are not donating as much money. Tulane is trying to determine how to address many more complex issues of traditions than is Case, and to do that they set up a task force - Case needs to do exactly the same thing - see http://renewal.tulane.edu/traditions.shtml

Your thoughts?