CONSTANCE GEE PICKS HER BATTLES

Wife Of Vandy Chancellor Keeps Her Counsel After Journal's Story

Forgive Constance Gee if even she chooses to disagree with one or two
of Wikipedia's takes on her given name.

Constance: a plain, old-fashioned woman who is prim, proper and patient.

Forgive her, too, for not finding time in recent days to talk about
herself.

It was one of those weeks.

When invited to sit and chat for the purpose of a "get-to-know-you"
profile in the wake of Vanderbilt University's Wall Street
Journal-gate, Gee, who along with being on faculty is also married to
the school's chancellor, politely declined and explained: "People who
know me already know me."

Probably. But they aren't sharing, either.

What we do know about the chancellor's wife is this: She's generally
well-liked by students, has been known to dance at university socials
and at one time made a habit of bringing to class her pet poodle.
She's an artist at heart, liberal and is rarely afraid not only to say
but to act, regardless the consequences.

When Brown University's alumni magazine suggested in an article that
she was to blame for Gordon Gee exiting that school to come to
Vanderbilt -- the allegation was that she desired professional
advancement at Brown -- Gee immediately fired off a letter to the
publication's editor.

"I write with specific regard to the inaccurate speculation about why
Gordon Gee allowed himself to be drawn into Vanderbilt's courtship,"
her letter, which was published in the May-June 2000 issue, read. "You
presented two leading questions: 'Was it simply the money? Was it that
Vanderbilt had offered his wife tenure, something that Brown has
refused to do?' The first question does not merit a reply. Your second
question is built on a false and slanderous premise."

She ended the letter with, "I am not the scapegoat that some members
of the Brown community appear to require. I suggest that those who
love Brown and care about its dignity accept my husband's graceful
explanation of his resignation."

That example brings up another aspect of "Constance." The name derives
from Latin and means "constant, knowledgeable, steadfast and loyal."

Absent is mention of "flair."

It's her flair that may have attracted Gordon Gee, a likeable and
successful leader who, while certainly social and a fan of fun, is a
Morman and does not drink or smoke. The chancellor replied to a 2002
Tennessean interview question "who are the three sexiest people alive"
with the following answers:

"First, my wife, Constance, who is bright, opinionated and clearly her
own person."

"Second, Vanessa Redgrave, who reminds me of my wife, though a bit
older."

"And third, Maggie Smith, who reminds me of my wife, though quite a
bit older."

An artist early on

Constance Bumgarner Gee was born 53 years ago in Raleigh, N.C., the
daughter of Marie and Clifton Bumgarner, who is deceased. She is an
accomplished artist who began painting as a child and eventually
earned a bachelor of Fine Arts degree from East Carolina University.

After a summer of studying sculpture at Los Angeles' Otis/Parsons
School of Art and Design, she enrolled at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn,
N.Y, where she left with a master of Fine Arts degree. She spent time
working in New York, then returned to Pratt as an employee.

She later earned a doctoral degree in art education from The
Pennsylvania State University.

Gee's professional career path includes working for the South Carolina
Arts Commission. In 1993, she went to the Ohio State University as an
assistant professor of art education and, eventually, director of the
arts policy and administration program.

In November 1994, she married then-Ohio State University President
Gordon Gee. They departed the Columbus, Ohio, campus for Brown
University in late 1997.

At Brown, Constance Gee was assistant professor of education and
public policy. Published reports called her "a very likable woman" but
described her teaching performance as "subpar." In a Village Voice
article, a colleague was quoted as saying Gee was a "woman who worked
hard to be affable, look good and fulfill a thankless role" as first
lady.

And according to The Critical Review, a campus-wide survey to evaluate
Brown courses, students assessed Gee's first semester performance
there as "below average." A number of students said she occasionally
had bouts of "nervousness."

She also took some heat as first lady, credited with requesting
renovations to the presidential house, which reportedly cost Brown
hundreds of thousands of dollars.

By 2000, the Gees were bound for Nashville, where the husband and wife
team are, by most accounts, well-liked.

"She offered a lot of good insight and was able to connect, probably
since she had worked as an artist," said Andrea Legg, a 2002
Vanderbilt graduate who lives and works in Georgia. Legg, who took one
of Gee's classes, said: "She even took us on a class trip to New York
to learn more about the real working world."

Legg fondly recalls Gee bringing her "mascot" to class.

"She had a standard poodle named Lucy, and from time to time,
Professor Gee would bring Lucy with her. She was nice about it, asking
if anyone minded. The dog was always well-groomed and sat quietly in
the back of the room."

Gee, noted to be extremely anti-Republican, has also been involved in
her fair share of rumbles since arriving in Nashville.

When then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was invited to
speak during the Vanderbilt graduation ceremonies in 2004, Mrs. Gee
signed her name on a letter to the chancellor, protesting the speech.
The letter, of course, was delivered to her husband.

Vanderbilt officials have said the letter wound up posted on the
mansion's refrigerator.

That same year, when President George W. Bush won re-election over
Democratic challenger John Kerry, she lowered the flag at Braeburn,
the university mansion in Belle Meade, to half-staff. Speculation is
that Gordon Gee told her to raise it.

Pot not quite a bombshell

Constance Gee has been tight-lipped this past week, likely a result of
Vanderbilt's first lady being caught up, possibly by accident, in a
media bombing originally aimed at her husband and the university he
serves as chancellor.

In a long-anticipated Wall Street Journal piece about oversight and
spending at the school, reporters introduced the notion that Mrs. Gee,
in an attempt to relieve discomfort from an inner-ear disease, had
been using marijuana at the school-owned chancellor's residence.

Some would say those aren't the actions of an old-fashioned
woman.

But the most important members of the Vanderbilt community don't seem
to mind what the chancellor's wife does in her spare time. Constance
Gee will never be accused of being plain, university students say.

"Really, students think the whole thing is kind of funny," said Reeve
Hamilton, a junior English major from Boston. "I mean, every single
person I've heard talk about Mrs. Gee and pot says, 'Big deal, who
cares?' "

Even if you don't count the residents of McGill Hall, who proclaimed
her an honorary resident after the marijuana allegations, Gee seems to
have built a sizable fan base among the student body.

"Legal matters aside, she seems like her own woman," Glenda Pavon, a
junior from Atlanta said. "This can be a stuffy place, but she doesn't
come across that way. Pot on a college campus, even among faculty,
isn't exactly news."

Though no faculty at Vanderbilt would go on record with an opinion on
Constance Gee, students said there apparently isn't an uproar over the
marijuana revelations.

"Some of the professors in my classes say they don't think it's that
big of a deal and my friends have said their professors say the same
thing," said Reeves.

As for the people in control of the university, those willing to speak
on the subject support Constance Gee.

"My own personal thought on the matter is that it certainly was not
for recreational use," Monroe Carell Jr., a Vanderbilt trustee, said
in the wake of the news. "Knowing that lady, Mrs. Gee, as I do, I
can't imagine that it was for anything other than medicinal purposes."

What else would a "prim and proper" woman use it for?