EMUtalk.org

Geoff Larcom’s piece on the AANews web site (probably the paper tomorrow), “Susan Martin picked as first woman president of Eastern Michigan University,” has some kind of interesting observations about things in this whole process I either didn’t think about or just didn’t know about. Read the whole piece, but here’s what I mean:

Six of the eight members of the board of regents - Roy Wilbanks, Jim Stapleton, Fran Parker, Gary Hawks, Floyd Clack and Sidlik attended the forums throughout the week, and could seen talking with faculty and staff in between sessions.

Not attending were longtime regent Phil Incarnati, a former chairman of the board, and regent Mohamed Okdie, who was appointed to the board last November by Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

I can understand Incarnati as a no-show since he’s more or less done as a member of the board. But what’s up with Okdie?

And then this:

The search included a variety of political twists. Granholm campaigned strongly for the selection of Flanagan, calling up members of the board of regents to express her support.

Former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, who is considering running for governor, supported Shelton. Supporters of each candidate attended their favorite’s respective forums, but Shelton had by far the greatest number of people who spoke in his favor at last week’s sessions. Shelton supporters attended a reception in his honor at Aubree’s in Depot Town.

Well, if Shelton had bought pizza for everyone….

As has already been posted, Pam Young has indeed emailed everyone on campus to announce that EMU’s next president will be Susan Martin.  That text is below the “read more” part.

I will say this:  while this would not have been my choice and everyone I talked to before Martin’s presentation thought she was the longest of long shots, it does prove that the Board of Regents hired who they thought was the best for EMU based on interviews and input from the campus, and the politics that we were all speculating about didn’t come into play and/or canceled itself out.  Go figure.

Congratulations, President Martin!

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From today’s AANews, “Susan Martin: ‘You need someone like me now’ for Eastern Michigan University President.” I had a somewhat heated conversation with a colleague of mine about Martin today, actually. His thinking on this (basically) was that I was nuts and that Martin was clearly the best choice. The numbers suggest that the other faculty at EMU pretty much feel the same way. So I don’t know; I have been wrong before (once or twice at least), so it is possible I’m wrong again.

Anyway, send in those comments. I learned a lot of different things from this week, and after meeting all but two of the regents (I think I have that right) in the hallway outside the auditorium where the candidates spoke to faculty, I did find that the regents are avid EMUTalk.org readers– lurkers, not commentators, obviously. So I guarantee you that if you post a comment in these discussions, it will be read by the majority of the folks on the Board.

Here’s the results of the poll Publius Crabgrass put together (sorry about the formatting issues– it was a little funky getting it to look right here):
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First off, let me say thanks to all the EMU Presidential candidates for enduring the process, even those candidates who I think would be bad for the job. It’s really easy for me to sit there and type away and make little comments; I appreciate the fact that it is not so easy to be grilled and scrutinized by literally hundreds of people on campus, not to mention many more in the media, on the web, etc.

Second, do vote and vote soon in the poll that I mentioned earlier that EMUTalk.org regular Publius Crabgrass set up.  It’s not scientific, but it is some kind of input, I suppose.  And while I’m at it, let me encourage you to vote very soon, like tonight or tomorrow:  the rumors/information that I’ve heard suggest that the BoR is going to meet to talk about this Saturday and possibly have a decision by next week.

Third, I do appreciate that my role (and, for that matter, the role of everyone else but members of the search committee and the Board of Regents) is pretty limited in this matter.  I don’t have a “vote,” and even if I did, it probably wouldn’t amount to much automatically.  All we (meaning EMU stakeholders like me, students, staff, alumni, etc., etc.) can do is voice and opinion and hope for the best.

So with that, I do encourage you to voice your opinions on this through the comments.  Who do you think should be EMU’s next president?

Without elaborating a lot on it right now (time is short, got plans this evening, etc.), I personally think the best choice would be Mike Flanagan.  I think he brings the best “package” of someone who has connections, can lead, can be a “healer,” etc.  But I also think that Don Shelton would work out pretty well too, and it surprises me that I’m saying that.  He’s a smart guy, he has a lot of integrity, I think he would delegate well, and I think he would do a lot to help calm things down at EMU.

In contrast, I don’t think either Ken Burnley or Susan Martin would be good choices.  Burnley’s rather controversial track record and performance overall during the interview process kind of speaks for itself.

As for Martin:  while I appreciate that she said a lot of smart things and she did a good presentation in the administrator and student sessions, I think she really missed the mark in the faculty session.  Especially when it comes to matters of the faculty union.  You know, I have really mixed feelings about the union (I’m not going to go into all that right now), but it’s a reality on our campus, and being kind of puzzled and confused at the questions faculty (and others earlier in the day, as I understand it) were asking about the union does not help your case.

But besides that, I don’t think she really has a good vision for turning things around at EMU.  I don’t think she really has a clear sense of just how horrifically damaging the last few years of things like the house, the strike, and the murder have been at EMU, both in terms of the institution’s reputation and in terms of the general morale on campus.  I think she would find herself over her head with this job very quickly.

But hey, like I said, that’s just me.  What do you think?

Last but not least, Susan Martin is going to speak. This should be interesting because I have heard several very different viewpoints on her from different folks. So we’ll see. As usual, excuse the typos, etc.

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Here’s a link to the AANews article about Shelton’s on-campus visit. 

By the way, while I will be at Martin’s talk this afternoon, I have to leave early.  So if anyone has any additional notes to share (for that matter, to share on any of the other candidates too), send them along via a comment or an email and I’ll post them.

Congratulations to EMU’s own Erik Reichenbach (who was usually described on the show as an “ice cream scooper” or some such thing) for making it as far as he did. Really. But dude, giving up immunity? That was not smart. Not even a little.

For those of you uninformed about the Survivor phenomenon, see “Eastern Michigan University’s Erik Reichenbach voted off “Survivor” after giving up immunity” in the AANews.

My Google news feed turned up this “heads up” on the blog “Our Michigan,” a protest that will add yet another performance ring to the EMU Presidential search circus:

Just when you were ready to put the dismal Supreme Court decision on same-sex partner benefits temporarily behind you, news that protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church will make an appearance at Eastern Michigan University today at noon. If you don’t know what to do for lunch, stop by and share in the counter protest!

From the Triangle Foundation press release:
“Known for his “God Hates Fags” websites and propaganda, Fred Phelps is coming to protest against a student organization that allegedly promotes ‘the sodomite agenda.’”

“If you would like to join Triangle Foundation and other LGBT and allied organizations on EMU’s campus, we would appreciate your support. Those of us who attend, please do not engage in violent ways or angry reactions. Be mindful he engages in spiritual abuse against LGBT people and our allies. After their protest we encourage our community to assist us in symbolically and physically washing the area of hate, bigotry, and exclusion with mops and brooms.”

My in-laws are visiting so my schedule/time is already booked, but I do hope a lot of EMUTalk.org regulars lend some support to the counter-protest.

There were a couple of letters to the editor in the AANews this evening– one in support of Burnley and one from from Eric Brown (who was on the search committee)- but they don’t appear to be online yet. Maybe tomorrow. But one thing that is there is “Shelton’s smart, effective service shows he’s right for EMU,” by Don Ferris and Heidi Salter-Ferris. They really “heart” Shelton. For example:

Right now what EMU needs is a brilliant, effective and well-liked administrator who can quickly turn the university around, and make it into the sparkling diamond we know it can be. Donald Shelton is that person.

Nope, no bias there at all….