Q&A: Sears addresses DEI, open expression in first interview with Wheel

When Emory University's Interim University President Leah Ward Sears (80L) received a call from Board of Trustees Chairman Robert Goddard III in April, she immediately knew why the chairman was calling: Goddard was going to ask Sears to serve as Emory's next interim president. 

Sears convinced herself to consider the offer and ultimately decided to take up the mantle as the University’s first Black female president. 

In May, a university-wide statement announced that then-President Gregory Fenves would step down as president and assume the long-dormant position of chancellor. In his stead, the Board of Trustees appointed Sears, then a veteran trustee, as interim president. To take the role, Sears left her job as a partner at Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP, an Atlanta-based law firm.

Sears joined the University administration amid a tumultuous time across higher education and at Emory. Since assuming the role, Sears has led the University through several highly impactful decisions for the Emory community: ending Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs, controversy surrounding the revised Open Expression Policy as well as offering free tuition for families making under $200,000. 

One of Sears’ hopes during her time leading Emory is to improve transparency across the University regarding changes made in response to evolving federal guidelines, but emphasized that the pace at which the government is making changes has complicated that goal. The Emory Wheel asked the interim president if the Emory community will ever receive more information about changes at the University due to federal directives.

“I’m not even privy to what might have to change given the volatile environment that we are in right now,” Sears said. “We have to be nimble, we have to be flexible to survive. So, I can’t tell you what I know, because I don't know. I don’t know what’s going to happen next week. I don’t know what’s going to happen next year, but I will promise you, as soon as I’m privy, … you’ll be privy. I know how scary it is not to be able to tell you black or white, up or down, but we're just not in that kind of environment.” 

While she has been engaged in Emory’s affairs for years, Sears shared with the Wheel that her role has shown her a new side of the University. 

“I had limited knowledge,” Sears said. “I thought I knew it all. I came into this job, and I found out I knew very little about the tension, the emotions, what the expectations were. The trustees get lots of information, lots of information, but you have to be here to feel it.” 

The Wheel sat down with Sears to discuss her new role, her goals for the University and her perspective on current issues at Emory. 

Below is a record of our conversation.

The Q&A has been edited for clarity and length.

The Emory Wheel: Coming into this new role, what changes did you want to see at Emory from your perspective as a trustee?

Sears: More transparency … I thought we were more transparent than we were. So, it wasn’t from my perspective as a trustee, but when I got here, I think the place is very siloed. Each college is its own college, and there’s not a lot of collaboration, and we don’t talk to each other the way I would like to, and I think that’s a real — I don’t want to say problem — but we could do way better with that. And it’s not from my perspective as a trustee, because I thought that was going on, and then when I became president, I could see that it wasn’t. Even on a granular level, it’s hard to get information, like, ‘What’s going on, who’s doing what, why is this happening?’ that kind of thing. And you start talking to the students, talking to the faculty, talking to staff, and you realize they don’t know either. That was a shocker. I don’t think it’s because of anything malicious or anything. I just think that’s the culture. 

Wheel: You made a big announcement that families making under $200,000 would be effectively not paying tuition. Was that something that you thought of as a trustee? How did that project come up?

Sears: From May, June, July and August, I spent all that time, not all of it, but a really good chunk of time, going into a transition, getting oriented on what the problems were, what’s coming from Washington and what’s going on here, what we need to do, how we need to fill gaps, who the alumni are, who the donors are. They were coming up to my office two or three times a week: with, ‘Hi, I’m the donor people, I’m the development people.’ Here we go, around the table. ‘Hi, I’m the police. This is a problem with us. … ‘Hi, I’m this.’ Two or three times a week, I just meet with people. And that came out of that process, that maybe we could do that, because the DEI thing came out of that process too. So it wasn’t like I started on September 1, and I woke up the next day and said, bingo. It was all put together during that process, what the first week was going to look like.

Wheel: Can you provide some insight on whose decision it was for Fenves to transition into his role as chancellor?

Sears: I don’t know that. It’s typically a trustee. There’s no one person, no one person can do that. And I was not involved in that, anything about that. I didn’t even know we had a chancellor slot. I found that out later, but [Goddard] did tell me, ‘We’re going to make Greg chancellor. We want you to be president.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, we got a chancellor thing going again?’ I did say that, too, when he says, ‘Yes, we have used that several times in the history.’ … But, who did that, who came up with the chancellor, all of that. Or even who picked me,  I can’t tell you where that came from, honestly.

Wheel: How do you work with Fenves, and what is his day-to-day? 

Sears: We work in tandem, but not together every day. … He’s doing the lobbying and Washington stuff, which he had already gotten into, and which is a lot right now. And I’m doing the operational campus stuff, like pretty much the rest. He does donors, but I’m doing donor development too. But he sends a report every two weeks to [Goddard] and me, and I read the report. Fenves and I were at Cornell at the same time. He’s two years younger than me. … I didn’t know him there, but that was always a connection. I like him very much.

Wheel: Over the summer, Emory decided to let go of many Campus Life senior leadership. Can you tell us about what led to the downsizing of the Campus Life division?

Sears: I can say this: From what I know, they were all confidential employee personnel matters. … I can tell you what I can tell you, ‘Was it race-based?’ There are rumors I hear about that, because some of the leaders were African Americans. It wasn’t. What are some of the other rumors? It wasn’t that we’re just downsizing Campus Life because we don’t care about Campus Life. We really do care about Campus Life — to the point that I’ve asked the new provost to really do a lot more. We need a lot more work on Campus Life for undergrads and graduate students as well. We know we’ve got an issue there, and that was before they left. I want our student body immersed in their studies and learning and all that, but joyful on campus and happy, because when I went to school, I was happy just walking around the quad. 

Wheel: As the Wheel reported in June, Emory has the highest turnover among its peers for provosts, deans and presidents. What is the University looking to do to decrease that? 

Sears: To stop that. Get the right people. We know we’ve got a problem. We know there is some thought that that’s not stable. And that’s why I appointed Dean Ahad — not interim, but provost. She’s a provost. She’s got a two-year contract, but we know we have to stabilize. Everyone knows that, even the trustees know that, and we’re working on it.

Wheel: What was the reasoning behind the two-year contract for [Provost] Ahad?

Sears: We had gone through a long search, everyone was involved, … but the search failed — I couldn’t come in as an interim, for whatever time I’m in, and not do another two-year long search and then think that. … We needed someone to come in immediately and fix things and get things going. And I was actually at the Faculty Eminence Award Reception, and she got up there, and I heard two faculty behind me saying, 'Oh, finally, we have a provost.’ … We needed a provost.

Wheel: Do you know why this search went on much longer than expected, and why, like you said, it failed? 

Sears: I do know, but that would be getting into some legal and ethical problems. But I do know the answer. 

Wheel: On your third day leading the University, you announced that Emory would be ending Diversity, Equity and Inclusion offices and programs throughout the University. How do you plan to address students’ fears that this will fundamentally change the experience of being at Emory?

Sears: The only way to do that is to make sure that the student experience doesn’t change, that our values stay the same. It’s just going to take a long time. Look, as an African American woman, I know how it is to be fearful in environments where you’re such a minority … The fears like this just take time. When people see that the research continues, the teaching continues, the spaces are still open, everybody’s welcome, and all that, the fears will subside. It’s like building trust. You can’t build trust overnight. It’s a slow process, and the only thing to do is show up and fulfill the promises that you’ve promised. In my statement, I said our values will not change. We will continue on as we are. And I meant that. 

Wheel: Many community members have also noted that there’s been some lack of transparency with what constitutes DEI at Emory. How did the University pick and choose what programs had to end versus which places needed a name change?

Sears: We didn’t just name-change things, because that would be a problem. A legal problem. [Ending] DEI [offices and programs] doesn’t include teaching about race, and it doesn’t include [stopping] the research into diseases that are big in African American or Asian communities. It doesn’t go that far. That’s our interpretation of it. I got my interpretation from our general counsel’s office, and I’m a lawyer too, so I can read and come up with stuff. 

Wheel: So, would you say the process [of ending DEI programs] is still ongoing? 

Sears: No, I think we’re in, as far as I understand it, we’re in compliance. The process of responding appropriately to what we need to respond to [with the federal government] is going on. So, that’s more than DEI, a lot more than DEI. 

Wheel: There has been some controversy over the University Senate finding that the University violated the new Open Expression Policy in the termination of a former faculty member. When making personnel decisions, does the University follow the Open Expression Policy? 

Sears: Yes.

Wheel: Do you intend to make any kinds of protections or changes to the way that the Open Expression Policy is implemented?

Sears: It’s my understanding that’s for the Senate to do. That’s a Senate function. I’ll just say this: There are some gaps that need to be filled. … And that’s not atypical. Something comes out, and you think it’s going to work a certain way, and it doesn’t quite work that way. And then you say, ‘Oh, this is being interpreted one way by one group and one way by the other group.’ And maybe that’s what the law is. We’re constantly like, ‘Oh, well, this didn’t work for here, but we’re going to have to tinker here and tinker there.’ And I think the Open Expression Policy is always going to have to be an evolving policy that we’re always tinkering with, never set in stone. Nothing should be that set in stone. But this University is committed to open expression, and I personally am for freedom of speech. [The University Senate has] cited my cases a dozen times. So you can read my cases, you know where I stand, okay on that, and I haven't backed off. 

Wheel: The [Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression] has also given Emory a D- in its College Free Speech Rankings this year. Do you see Emory as a place that does foster debate? 

Sears: Yeah, I do. And if it didn’t, we’re going to hear about it, and we’re hearing about stuff now. So, if it didn’t foster debate, we wouldn’t be in a debate, and we are in a debate. 

Wheel: As interim president of the University, you’ll only be leading Emory temporarily. What do you want your legacy to be at Emory, even with a short timeframe?

Sears: I helped improve transparency, got rid of some of the silos, increased efficiencies, because we could do better on that, and really enhanced the student experience, or at least got it kicked off. I want students here to be happy, not just with their classes, but just with the overall student experience.

Wheel: Is there anything that you want the Emory community to know about yourself, or any of your other goals?

Sears: I’m happy here, and I’m enjoying the experience, and I’m learning something every day about the University. And it’s a great place to go, particularly now. I mean, it really is a fantastic university to be a part of. 

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