f history repeats itself, those at the Fleming Administration Building could see a number of new faces and say farewell to old ones, following the appointment of a permanent University president.

"It is not uncommon for when new leadership comes in for the senior members of the administration to change," said Vice President for Student Affairs E. Royster Harper, who was appointed to her current position by former University President Lee Bollinger.

Bollinger appointed Harper and many other top University officials during his reign as president replacing executives who had worked under his predecessor, James Duderstadt.

"No one who was here under Duderstadt is still around. You can make what you want out of that," said Nancy Asin, assistant to the University secretary and vice president.

While several positions were already vacant when Bollinger arrived in 1997, some officials were asked to resign, including General Counsel Elsa Cole.

Many administrators who left the University during past transitional periods returned to academics or administrative positions at other universities, said history Prof. Rudi Linder.

"A number of people who held high administrative offices were offered presidencies elsewhere," Linder said. "Many will go back to the positions they had, others will be chosen or recruited by other institutions."

Several University administrators have already stepped down or changed positions within the past month, including Vice President for Development Susan Feagin, Vice President for Medical Affairs Gil Omenn and Scott Emr, who was scheduled to head the Life Sciences Initiative.

Although Feagin and Emr both sighted Bollinger"s absence from the University as a factor for terminating their relationships with the University, Harper said she does not see a connection between the University"s transitional phases and the recent loss of administrators.

"I think that people make decisions about coming to the University for all kinds of reasons," Harper said. "Do not connect dots that aren"t connected."

Harper added that she is not concerned about her position at the University or the stability of the institution during this transitional phase.

"The reality is everybody isn"t going," Harper said.

"There are people who every day come here and do their work. It gives the impression that the only people who matter here are the senior administrators. That isn"t true. Sometimes, we count the least. I mean, if we had an exodus of bright students, then we would be in trouble," she added.

Last spring, similar changes occurred at Harvard University, when former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers was appointed to the presidency. Although the institution has not seen significant restructuring to the administrative staff, changes have been made to the style of governance, said spokesman Joe Wrinn.

"He is much more heavily staffed as far as wanting people around to know what is happening," Wrinn said. "There is more work as far as preparing information for interviews, both on topics and basic briefings. It"s just a more complicated place than it was 15 years ago."