Save the Villa Spelman

The following is the transcript notes, compiled from multiple students' notes, of the meeting Dean Falk held to discuss the sale of the Villa Spelman with students. It is not a verbatim transcript. It should be noted that these notes have been screened by students at the meeting in an attempt to ensure accuracy and fairness. It is our intention to share information with those who are interested but could not be there.

Notes taken at meeting between Dean Falk and graduate students on Thursday, March 9, 2006, 8 am:

Dean Falk:
The rumors we hear do not reflect what is going on. The Spelman Villa is not sold and there are no negotiations to sell. Considering these rumors, I decided to develop a list of people to talk to. We are not as far down the path as you think we are. There has been no appraisal.
All this has raised certain issues:
1. If we no longer own the villa, we need to consider a buyer who would enable us to run the program elsewhere in Florence, or perhaps would allow us to continue the program in the villa.
2. I understand that the Spring semester is important and has to continue, but the Fall semester has less to do with Florence (fewer students have been going in the fall)
3. Walter Stephens has made it clear that he was not happy about running an undergrad program in the Villa Spelman.
4. We are considering running it better and more economically.
5. We have had a problem with sexual assault in the past there has been one incident on via San Leonardo, and are concerned about the safety of our students.
6. Students (graduate students present) need to discuss how they feel they are being treated by the school of Arts and Sciences and not use the villa as a proxy.
7. Unless 5 million dollars are raised, the building WILL fall. It’s a “piss or leave the pot” situation. The paint is peeling, retaining walls are falling, the plumbing needs fixing, it needs a new furnace, the garden wall needs replacing. A structure in the garden has fallen [students protest, say jokingly it is the tool shed; Dean then says he has not been there in 14 years]. Among other costs: gardeners, lawyers, architects. We need a 10 million dollar endowment. A 15 million dollar endowment total, 5 million for restoration and renovations. That is a lot of money to raise.

Question from audience (Italian):
Other schools run similar programs with less funds. How do we sell the Villa without losing face?

Dean Falk:
Viewed externally, operation budgets are hard to understand. The house was given to the University in the 60s, which gave it to Arts and Sciences in the 70’s. The University did not want to keep it. The Spelman family anticipated that the Villa might become a burden to Hopkins and instructed that the property be sold if such became the case.

Question from audience (Art History):
It is extremely valuable for graduate students to teach in front of the artistic objects. Teaching at the Villa Spelman has distinguished my research, I now have a better chance to get a job. Also, the interaction between graduate and undergraduate students is rich and should not be lost.

Question from audience (French) :
Two things: 1) I have heard rumors that there is a potential buyer; I have also heard that Romance Languages was not given the option to raise funds to keep the Villa; 2) We have been talking a lot about money, but it is important to consider the fact that this Villa has enormous symbolic value, and taking that value away from Hopkins is taking away something from the humanistic tradition for which it has been so well known in the past. Besides, the whole University was founded on those very grounds.

Dean Falk:
Walter Stephens was consulted; there are potential donors. My priority is those who give to Gilman Hall, and I often redirect potential donors to that. Fundraising, a complicated matter. The Villa Spelman is a symbol, but a symbol that costs money. So does the Evergreen house, another symbol. Symbols are not necessarily valueless, but they don’t necessarily have infinite value. The villa will always be a symbol…

Comment from audience (Humanities):
Yes but it will not always be OUR symbol [laughter in audience].

Dean Falk:
There is a whole space of possibilities, there are other facilities.

Comment from audience (History of Art):
What about the possibility of sharing the Villa with other schools or Institutions?

Dean Falk:
That possibility has been discussed, but in the past there has been considerable resistance to that kind of arrangement.

Comment from audience (undergraduate student):
Our program works better than others. I was there for a semester and we worked a lot more than the other schools. You get much closer contact with faculty there than at Homewood. Most of them were there for fun and rented their own apartment. You cannot separate the villa from its symbolic value. It would be a setback to sell it.

Comment from audience (undergraduate pre-med student):
The villa emblematizes why people come to Hopkins. You are giving up a huge value.

Dean Falk:
I am curious to know how you see our priorities. The University turned the villa over to A&S. We have 30 million dollars, and Gilman has a priority. I have been asking for a renovation for a long time now. There are other priorities: graduate students’ stipends which are inadequate, and endowed chairs. In any budget decision there is a tipping point where cost has to outweigh the value, symbolic or otherwise, to the community, where should that point be drawn for the villa?

Question from audience (History of Art):
Why did it take so long for this public dialogue to be established? Will students have a place in the conversation in the future?

Question from audience (History of Art):
The staff at the villa is invaluable in helping students gain access to works of art through their contacts and letters of support. Without the staff the program is useless.

Question from audience (Anthropology):
I would like to come back to the distinction you make between A&S and the University. We are clearly a non-profit making section. Why doesn’t the University take the Villa back?

Dean Falk:
The relation between A&S and the University is unique. A&S is indeed a cost center, and vulnerable. The University doesn’t want the Villa back.

Question from audience (Hist. of Art):
If money is tight, why not make use of all the energy created by the Villa? Why not put our energies into a visible spokesperson who could go out and look for a way to save the Villa.

Question from audience (co-chair of GRO)
General Council of GRO voted unanimously that we SHOULD put our efforts into renovation. Petition signed by 1500 people (many outside scholars). Concerned that the administration isn’t taking into account how Hopkins’ reputation directly impacts the faculty and students. Next time you look at the balance sheet you ought to consider the symbolic value of the villa.

Dean Falk:
My highest priority at A&S are the students and the faculty. We do need to consider that the undergraduates pay tuition. The 300,000$ spent on a garden wall at the villa is 300,000$ I do not spend at Hopkins. I have an ethical responsibility in this matter.

Question from audience (French) :
We must consider that selling the villa implies we need to build a new staff, there are costs involved, it may be just as costly as renovating, both financially, and to the cost of the program. It will be very difficult to start from a blank slate. What is the time-line?

Dean Falk:
All programs will continue through the summer. Since Walter Stephens resigned, we cannot continue in the fall. Without a director there is no degree of freedom. There are possibilities out there for renovation.

Question from audience (Italian) :
You put much fog on the issue of priorities: Gilman/students’ stipends/Villa Spelman. I am pessimistic: if you need to sell the villa can you at least keep its furniture and the library?

Dean Falk:
It is not repatriable.

Question from audience (Italian) :
I am also pessimistic about the next step: I do not see the viability of anything new being done. The atmosphere created by the Villa is important to what happens there in the seminar and in other events. I cannot see scholars in Florence taking an elevator in a modern building in suite 200 to go to a lecture for the seminar.

Dean Falk:
I am not a Florentine real estate agent. I don’t know what’s available as a replacement. We make resources available.

Question from audience (Italian) :
Before you sell the house I would like to see a plan for the future after the Villa.

Question from audience (History) :
Would you commit yourself to 1) give a plan 2) give a timeline, say 12 months before anything is done 3) publish the figures concerning the cost of renovation

Dean Falk:
No. But I will commit my good faith. I am not in a position to know what is going on. We are so early in the process. I would be very surprised if it took less than a year. In 2000 it was estimated that the renovation would cost 3-5 million dollars. Put this information in the newsletter? No! We do not publish faculty’s salaries, why would we publish this? You believe me or you do not.

Question from audience (History):
We would like some formalized itemization so we know what we are talking about. We do not need to know the faculty’s salaries.

Question from audience (Humanities) :
The attraction of graduate students to Hopkins is predicated on having the villa.

Dean Falk:
It matters a lot that we get good graduate students. Their stipends are essential.

Dean Falk:
I have a cost of 3-5 million dollars. I do not have a architectural plan, only a conceptual design study. I will share the Miller report on the state of the villa with students who come to see me. You are questioning my credibility.

Question from audience (Humanities) :
No, I think you are a lovely guy. We just want some figures to understand what is going on.

Question from audience (Anthropology) :
It is important for us to have your understanding in this matter. This is a transparency question.

Question from audience (Co-chair GRO):
You say that this is a Krieger problem, not a University problem, but then we get announcements from Pres. Brody that the university has received a large donation and that part of that will go to Gilman Hall; we simply do not understand who we need to take our concerns to. Would it help if we went to Brody, Knapp, the Trustees?

Dean Falk:
I need to know what you think – are we spending too much on science, is that it?
[yes from audience]
I am constantly struggling to protect A&S, as a Dean I think A&S is the most important issue. Gilman is my top priority. In order to get the support of the Trustees you need to set clear priorities, your plan can’t be too diffuse. We got the money for Gilman because I spent all last year saying Gilman, Gilman, Gilman. When I addressed them last weekend I said my three priorities were Gilman, stipends, and endowed chairs.

Question from audience
Are you open to the priority of the villa?

Question from audience
Are we allowed to try to raise more money? Will you give us a time frame?

Dean Falk:
This is how we raise money. The money we need is millions of dollars. The number of people who give millions of dollars is small.

Question from audience (Co-chair GRO) :
Can we designate some graduate students to come to you as representatives so we can get a fuller scope of the costs of renovation?

Dean Falk:
I do not understand what this report is about

Question from audience (Co-chair GRO) :
We fell we are left in the dark.

Dean Falk:
We need to leave this meeting with an action item. At meeting with GRO leadership on Tuesday [March 14] we will determine a way to include graduate students in the discussions.

Question from audience (French) :
We would have liked to have a plan before the program was interrupted. The program was interrupted without our prior knowledge, and this is symptomatic of how things are being done.

Dean Falk:
I want not to have an interruption in the Florence program. Currently working on a plan to ensure that Spring ’07 is not cancelled.