Demise of the Center

For the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, no subject has been too cosmic, no issue too complex. In the past 16 years, the center has boldly sought to "clarify the basic issues and widen the circle of discussion about them." An offshoot of the Fund for the Republic, an organization dedicated to defending civil liberties, the center was organized by Robert Hutchins, iconoclastic former president of the University of Chicago. Amidst the seaside splendor of a 43-acre Mediterranean-style estate in Santa Barbara, Calif., the center's scholars pursued Hutchins' formidable goal. An average of three mornings a week, the chimes of a Benedictine bell summoned them forth to a marble-floored edifice for "dialogues" on weighty issues--many of which eventually appeared in a lofty publication called The Center Magazine.

Last week, however, the dialogue was less reasoned and rational. In fact, there had been increasing acrimony in Santa Barbara, and everything was in a shambles. The center, nearly out of funds, was planning to move to Chicago. The president had resigned, the staff had been cut to the bone, and the center's last major financial benefactor said that he would withdraw his support.

Ford Money. Much of the blame for the center's current plight lies with Hutchins, who firmly believes in sparing no expense in the pursuit of knowledge. Despite initial backing of $4 million, supplied by the Ford Foundation from money originally granted to the Fund for the Republic, and subsequent bequests that totaled some $26 million, the center's annual expenses often exceeded income--and unrestricted gifts were never put aside for endowment. Hutchins gave the up to 20 resident fellows--many of whom were often absent from the center--annual stipends of as much as $35,000 each, and visiting scholars were boarded in luxury at the Santa Barbara Biltmore. Says Senior Fellow Dr. Alex Comfort, author of The Joy of Sex, "Hutchins may have set out to study democratic institutions, but he ran this place like a Byzantine harem."

Last June, Hutchins hired Malcolm Moos, formerly president of the University of Minnesota, and installed him as president in the hope that he could raise funds to restore the center to solvency. Hutchins, now 76, ostensibly retired to a cottage on the estate as a salaried "life fellow," but retained considerable behind-the-scenes clout. "I knew I'd have to scramble," says Moos, "but I had no idea the situation was so desperate." In November he reduced the staff from 64 to 39 and pared his budget by 50%, to $1.2 million. In January, 24 more employees were let go, and Moos submitted an austerity budget of $500,000. In the past four months, he managed to reduce the center's deficit to $30,000 by raising more than $300,000 from foundations and private contributors.

But for Moos' critics at the center, these efforts were not enough. Says Harry Ashmore, former editor in chief of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and Hutchins' chief operating officer: "When Moos was elected we were in no worse financial condition than we always had been. If we're in trouble now, it's because Malcolm Moos doesn't have the prestige to maintain the dialogue."

As the center's financial plight worsened, Moos last month offered its 26-member board two alternatives for survival. The center could remain in Santa Barbara, retaining only four resident fellows, or it could affiliate with the University of California at San Diego, with funding for as many as ten resident scholars. The board chose instead a plan crafted by Hutchins, who marshaled opposition against Moos. Under Hutchins' plan, the center would sell the Santa Barbara property and support only a small staff--one of whom would be newly reappointed President Hutchins--at the University of Chicago. That was too much for Moos, who promptly resigned.

But even the "Chicago plan" appears in jeopardy. The center has recently been largely dependent on the royalty income from Senior Fellow Comfort's bestselling book. But Comfort, distressed at the board's decision, says, "The center has no future--it is a fiction and a sham." He plans to withhold payment of the rest of 1975's royalties, estimated to be $51,600.

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