12 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, April 18, 1997
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University president may not have an official place in the Fleming
University payroll. Her role is generally not publicly recognize
he life of the president's wife is full of societal constraints and
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In I95 wht'Anne HatCh'erleanied1fher tis-
band's appointment as University president, her
reaction was a solemn one.
As the daughter of a professor, Anne Hatcher's
upbringing revolved around the world of acade-
mia and university campuses. Growing up sur-
rounded by faculty members, Hatcher said she
developed a mistrust of all higher levels of the
administration, making the news of her husband's
selection as University president difficult to
absorb.
"I was opposed to it," Hatcher said. "I knew
something like this would happen because he was
moving up. This came sooner than I would have
hoped."
Hatcher said she was distressed because she
feared her young children would not have a "nor-
mal upbringing," living in the president's large
white house on South University Avenue.
"I was not happy about it because my chil-
dren (Bob and Anne Linda) were only 7 and 5,"
Hatcher said. "It kind of spoiled my vision of
how I was going to bring them up. So I was not
happy about it, but since he felt it was the thing
he wanted to do I had to support him, and I
went along in the traditional view of the wife
of the president."
Anne Duderstadt also said she was initially
skeptical about her husband's promotion to
University president in 1988.
"I didn't want Jim to take the Michigan presi-
dency in the first place when the regents offered it
to him because of the stress I believed it would
put on our family," Anne Duderstadt said. "But
eventually we decided together that we simply
arranged to meet
with students in
the house. She
was just terrific."
Fleming took:
on the the role of
first lady during
the tumultuous
politics of the The Hatcher family
late 1960s.
Fleming said one of the first questions she was
asked was whether she planned to continue "Mrs.
Hatcher's tradition and have teas."
"If that's what the students want, I guess that's
what we'll do," Fleming said in a 1988 panel inter-
view at the Bentley Historical
Library.
For a year the social climate on &
campus was stable and tranquil, > HarlanI
but before long, things began to ' 19
change.
"During 1968, 1969, 1970, the Robben
students' manner of living was 19
changing," Fleming said. "Mores
were different; bare feet and blue j
jeans were the order of the day." Harold
The teas and formal dress were
just two casualties of the new era.
"Realization of the discrimina- Jms
tion of the last 200 years dawned James I
on campus at that time, and the stu-1-9
dents made Mr. Fleming and the
other administrators feel that they B
were responsible for everything L
that had happened up to y'
that point," Fleming
said.
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another.
"(Anne) was indeed my chief adviser," James
Duderstadt said. "Since the presidency is a total
immersion, experience that occupies most of one's
waking moments, almost everything we did
involved University activities of some type."
Personal time
Behind the looming stature of
atcher each president stands a woman
S1967 who creates waves of her own.
Hatcher was involved with the
eming > Red Cross board and hosted local
women groups' meetings at her
z979 home. She said the "full-time
job" of maintaining the presi-
hapiro dent's house was an "activity in
0-1987 itself,"
"I had always been very inde-
pendent," Hatcher said, adding
iderstadt that she was a teacher for 10 years
8-1996 before she married.
"I had no feeling of being the
dependent little
inger wife," Hatcher
7- said. "i felt that I
was somebody. I
had proved myself
as being someone
who contributed to society."
Hatcher said that after 16
years of service she was pre-
pared to bid the position
farewell.
"In general it was a good expe-
rience," Hatcher said. "I certainly
would not want to have lived that
kind of life for my whole life. I
was relieved. I was getting very
tired. I had more than enough."
Fleming was an active member
of the Ann Arbor community.
"I thought it was important to
have community-University rela-
tionship," she said. "I was on the
Bti da1 role as a faculty member aidas tie
pres fe i4proided an uncomfortable con-
flict when her department in the School of Social
Work was phased out.
"Everybody assumes I could have influence in
that decision," Shapiro said. "We had lost our
funding and some people wanted the University
to grant further support and pressured me to act. I
would say I am very, very careful on the subject
of special influence. I feel that it is inappropriate
to try to have more influence than I ought to by
virtue of my faculty appointment."
Anne Duderstadt dedicated her private time
to renovating the president's house on 815 S.
University Ave., and the Inglis House, which
is frequently used to house visiting dignitaries.
"Each of Michigan's first ladies has had a unique
impact on the University," James Duderstadt said.
"Each first lady has become an important part of.
the history of the University."
Over time, each first lady of the University has
brought a sense of individuality and dignity to the
position.
"I think being here has changed my whole
life," Fleming said. "It has given me a lot more
self confidence, and a feeling of well being. It
has been a growing experience, a widening
experience.
"It has just been of tremendous advantage to me
throughout my years here," she said. "It has been
the apex. I remember telling Charlie Overberger
(former vice president for research) when we were
about to leave, 'From now on it's going to be all
down hill."'
Fleming
said her
experiences in that era were a mix of
good and bad. She said she admired
the spirit of the students, but admit-
ted to being scared after bricks were
thrown through the windows of the
president's house during a student
protest.
By 1980, when the Shapiros moved
into the president's house, the student
body was less volatile, and Vivian
Shapiro and her husband looked for
outlets where they could improve
communication with students.
"So many decisions the University
has to make are very difficult, and some
can be very complicated to explain,"
The Duderstadt family
Sally and Robben Fleming
01
eew 44%CC a I'We
By Katie Wang
Daily Staff Reporter
Her days are spent tucked away in a cozy studio in New
Hampshire, painting and reading incessantly.
For Jean Magnano Bollinger, a third-generation Italian and
Swedish descendant, this is where she is most at ease.
Bollinger, a passionate, strong-willed woman, uses paint strokes
on a canvas to express what she is feeling. Her inspiration is drawn
from looking at art within the context of society today. The product
Tied, and attended Columbia University, where Lee obtained his law
degree, and Jean received her masters in education and psychology.
In 1973, Lee was offered a position to become an assistant pro-
fessor at the University Law School, which brought the Bollingers
to Ann Arbor.
"There are so many interesting talks and exhibits being shown
that it really draws you in," she added. "It's a nice diversion from
life."
While Lee climbed the ranks in the Law School's faculty, Jean
combined her appreciation for art with her degree in education to
going to take a lot of time to figure out how this all works. I think
it's going to be a long evolution and I haven't come close to figur-
ing it out."
What Jean Bollinger is sure about, however, is her passion for the
University and the students.
"I love the life of Ann Arbor and the campus," Jean Bollinger
said. "Compared to Hanover, it's a very different student body -
there is a breadth that one senses."
Her desire to wander around the campus freely and explore how
students feel today is the central reason why she would like to main-