Countdown to Inauguration

These days Joe Jackson is keeping one eye on the calendar and the other on the weather, but neither is being kind to the manager of Duke's grounds crews. That's because they're messing with his plans for getting the university campus ready for next week's inaugural of President Richard H. Brodhead.

"I tell you, my knees are getting tired, I'm doing so much praying," said Jackson on Tuesday, as persistent rain soaked the campus and prevented grounds crews from doing preparation work. "I'm looking at my calendar, and there aren't many days left."

Jackson's job is to get the campus looking sharp with floral designs at the major intersections and campus entry points. Rain not only slows down the preparation work, it adds to the amount of grounds maintenance - from grass mowing to the clearing of drainage ditches -that needs to be done when the sun finally comes back out, he said.

From a floral perspective, September isn't a great time for an inauguration. "We're in between seasons right now," Jackson said. "The summer flowers aren't in bloom any more, but the fall flowers aren't out yet. So I'm not sure yet what flowers we're going to pick. I'll have to see what's available."

However, Jackson was confident the campus would be ready for the Sept. 18 inauguration.

"It's going to be looking good," he said. "We'll have it ready. It's an exciting time. It's my first inauguration, so this is something I'm going to remember. We've set a high standard at other university events in the past. We intend to meet that standard, and then give it a little extra oomph this time."

Jackson is just one of dozens of Duke employees working on various details of the inauguration. An inaugural committee led by University Marshal Richard White has been working since the spring to come up with a variety of pre-inaugural and inaugural weekend events.

White said the committee wanted the events to serve a dual purpose of introducing Brodhead to the various constituencies of the university as well as underscore the intellectual strengths of the institution. What the committee has come up with is a mix of social, informal and fun get-togethers involving Brodhead, as well as some academic events looking at key issues facing the university and the nation as a whole.

"The approach of the committee is that Duke is comprised of the broad local community, a social community and an intellectual community, and we want the president to meet with each of these," White said. "Then it's all concluded with a colorful and traditional inauguration."

The importance of the inauguration was emphasized by outgoing Duke President Nannerl O. Keohane, who will attend Brodhead's inauguration along with Duke's other living former presidents, Douglas Knight and H. Keith H. Brodie. In a recent interview, Keohane said that when walking during her inaugural procession with other Duke officials through the main West Campus quad, "I felt that I was really the president of Duke University."

"I think the ceremony is a very good idea, for that reason," Keohane said. "There is a sense of passage in which you are confirmed and validated, and the symbolism is powerful. People get to see you and recognize you and hear you as president. It brings about a visual passage of power, and the sense is, 'Okay, now this is yours -- now do what you can with it.'"

In the lead-up to the inauguration, more than a dozen events, involving community leaders, students, faculty and employees, will have been staged. It all starts this Saturday, with a remembrance of the six Duke alumni killed during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and "Into the City," an annual event of the Community Service Center (CSC) in which an expected 300 undergraduate students will visit community sites in Durham. Brodhead is expected to visit several of the sites.

Todd Adams, assistant dean of students, is a member of an inaugural subcommittee responsible for planning a variety of student and employee-related meetings during the week.

On Tuesday, CSC employees were working on details for the buses to pick up students for the "Into the City" event and on the delivery of 300 ice cream sandwiches to an after-event social for the participants. Adams was also making last-minute notes on advertising for the events and changes that needed to be made to the inaugural Web site.

"My files are about the size of an encyclopedia," Adams said. "What we wanted to do was to plan enough events to involve the entire variety of university constituencies, but at the same time we had to remember President Brodhead still has to run the university. He doesn't have unlimited time.

"I think the events we planned will be fun and informal, but we'll consider them a success if they're also engaging. The university should end up knowing a little bit more about the president, and he should end up knowing more about who his constituents are and what they are thinking."

In the Special Events office, director Terry Chambliss spent this week putting finishing touches on seating charts and menus for a number of events. Much of her attention went to a black-tie, invitation-only banquet on Friday, Sept. 17, in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The stadium will be dressed up in an elaborate Gothic design than will transform the athletic arena. The decorations will also serve as a backdrop for the open community dance Saturday night following the inaugural.

"Seating is definitely one of the toughest assignments," Chambliss said. "There are so many things to take into consideration. We're going to have hundreds of people, and they all want to be close to the Brodheads. The thing is, it's Cameron, so there's not going to be a bad seat."

Work on the inaugural event itself is centered in the offices of University Secretary Allison Haltom and Special Events Services manager Jim Slaughter. The latter is responsible for technical set-up, including getting nearly 5,000 seats onto the main quad.

In the University Secretary's office, staff members were still gathering RSVPs from more than 110 delegates from universities across the world. The delegates will march in the procession just before the Duke faculty in the order of the date that their institution was founded. Leading the procession of delegates will be Alison Richard, a friend of the Brodheads who is a member of the faculty of Cambridge University, founded in 1209.