Leadership - The Dean Sue Method

Sister Mary Clarence

The Duke Office of Student Activities and Facilities recently held its first program in the Distinguished Leaders in Action series. The OSAF serves as a resource for students in developing their leadership and management skills. The Kickoff was led by Duke Dean of Students, Sue Wasiolek, who discussed what a leader is.

Dean Sue was the Duke administrator who handled the University’s response in that first crucial week of the Lacrosse Hoax. She is best remembered by the parents of the Duke lacrosse team as the person who ordered the players not to tell their parents about the criminal investigation. This was followed by her decision to use an attorney who apparently was representing the best interests of Duke and not the students in negotiations with DPD Sgt. Mark Gottlieb. While DPD Cpl. David Addison of Crimestoppers was making false & incendiary statements about the Duke lacrosse team in local media with his “Wall of Silence” accusation, Dean Sue remained silent, not revealing she knew that the team captains had cooperated fully with investigators - given detailed oral and written statements without counsel, offered to be polygraphed, and freely submitted their DNA samples. Later it was learned that Dean Sue served on Durham Crime-stoppers Board of Directors none of whose members ever acted to correct the misdeeds of Durham Crimestoppers police coordinator David Addison. Along with his inflammatory and false public statements on behalf of the DPD, Addison also produced and authorized the distribution by uniformed officers of the infamous "this horrendous crime" flyer in Trinity Park. (See John in Carolina Article about the infamous wanted poster.)

With that resume one might question why Dean Sue was chosen as the person to kick off the “Distinguished Leaders in Action series.”“However, Dean Sue, who did not disappoint the 20 Duke students who joined the panel, had this personal observation for them.

"That word [leadership] frightens me because it carries a lot of responsibility to do something, to be something," she said. "I'm not exactly sure what leadership is, but I know it when I see it." The Chronicle

But the highlight came when Dean Sue finished her presentation.

Wasiolek closed the discussion with a clip from "Sister Act," a movie upon which she said she often reflects when leading. She identified actress Whoopi Goldberg's nun character as "a reluctant leader with high expectations for her followers" and credited the protagonist's success to talent and charisma. The Chronicle

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Hat Tip: Bill Anderson