Yale Corp. policy unaffected by Brooks fiasco

When Diana "DeDe" Brooks, PC '72, abruptly resigned as CEO of the auction house Sotheby's on Mon., Feb. 21, speculation swirled around the University about whether she would resign her position on the Yale Corporation as well.

Estimated by many to be one of the most powerful women in the art world, Brooks' resignation was prompted by an FBI investigation into price-fixing in the auction industry. Brooks has also given up her place on the Board of Directors at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter—yet she still remains with the Yale Corporation with the full support of the Yale Administration. Amidst controversy over the scandal, many were left wondering what action Yale would take.

FRANCES M. ROBERTS/NEWSMAKERS SILENT BID: Scandal-beset Yale Corporation member Diana Brooks, PC '72, still has the University's backing.

University Secretary Linda Lorimer, LAW '77, acknowledged,"There aren't any detailed regulations regarding trustee behavior, but there is a formal policy which every trustee is obliged to sign concerning any conflict of interest the trustee might have." So did the "most powerful woman in the art world" commit a crime that would bring her status on the Yale Corporation into question? Yale administrators emphatically say no. "DeDe is a remarkable woman," University President Richard Levin, GRD '74, stated in a press release. "She is a devoted alumnus, trustee, and parent, and she has served Yale with distinction. Based on what we know, we see no reason for a change in her status as a member of the Yale Corporation." Not much is known about the auction house scandal, which may support Yale's stance. The government has yet to charge Brooks with any wrongdoing, and many of the details of the investigation remain shrouded in mystery.

Still, there have been comparisons of the Brooks scandal to a 1993 incident involving former Yale Corporation member Vernon Loucks, BR '57. Once the CEO of Baxter Healthcare Corporation, Loucks was linked to a possible infringement of a 1977 anti-boycott statute. After a campus-wide controversy, Loucks eventually resigned from the Corporation, although he reportedly did so for personal reasons.

Despite his resignation, Yale administrators see no relation between the two incidents. "I've never figured out why these two cases have been brought together," Lorimer said. "The only common denominator between Vernon Loucks and DeDe Brooks is that they are both remarkable individuals who are devoted to this institution, and who have each given substantial service to the University."

Although Brooks has resigned from two prominent associations already, she still serves on the boards of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Central Park Conservancy. The Yale Corporation, it would seem, is not alone in throwing its seemingly unconditional support behind a woman whose recent troubles cannot negate her tremendous influence. "DeDe has given devoted service to Yale and many other organizations, and the community needs to appreciate that," Lorimer said. "What we look for in attaining new members of the Corporation are people who can make outstanding contributions to the stewardship of Yale, who have been prominent in their own professional careers, and who have been connected to the institution in a variety of ways," Lorimer said. "DeDe Brooks embodies all of those."

Indeed, Brooks joins an esteemed group of Yale alumni on the Corporation, including the first doctor to separate Siamese twins conjoined at the brain, the first female bishop in Canada, and a former mayor of Baltimore. Composed of 19 members, members of the Corporation choose their own successors for up to two six-year terms. Alumni select six Alumni Fellows, to serve for six-year periods.

The Board members convene six times annually, and are divided into 10 standing committees: Audit, Buildings and Grounds, Development and Alumni Affairs, Educational Policy, Finance, Honorary Degrees, Institutional Policies, Investments, Investor Responsibility, and Trusteeship. Corporation members make their decisions about Yale according to the guidelines of a Trustee Handbook, which, as Lorimer describes, includes "a number of practices and traditions that [they are expected to follow]."

"The idea with the Corporation is to provide people who can collectively give good leadership to [Yale]," Lorimer said. "That's why those who make up the Board all work in different professions and all graduated from a variety of Yale's schools. Each one gives us his or her own unique perspective—his or her own unique ideas about how to make the University better."

Back to News...