I was going to make this a comment on the Fallon on CNN post, but then I thought that maybe this deserves to be a new topic on its own.
So, what’s with the BoR, anyway?
Here’s the thing: no doubt it’s been a problematic group over the years, with various ups and downs. I remember that there was a lot of criticism of the BoR and then chair Incarnati during the house debacle and relations with the faculty and such. Sometimes it’s a mixed bag. For example, I personally think that the current BoR did the right thing when it came to the recent personnel decisions and exactly the wrong thing when it comes to increasing the budget for sports when the rest of the campus is experiencing such horrible budget cuts.
Maybe a smart thing to do– and something that might actually be more feasible than a ballot initiative– would be to lobby the governor on this and get her to ask for the resignation of everyone on the BoR and start fresh after some input from the academic community. It doesn’t seem to me that the BoR is really taking into account what I hear most people who work and attend EMU want done. I mean, I have yet to find anyone on campus who thinks it’s a good idea to spend more on sports and less on academics.
On the other hand, I think there’s something we’re missing here. After all, all of the other universities in Michigan (other than U of M, MSU, and Wayne) have appointed boards. These other schools haven’t been showing up in the media because of contentious labor relations. They haven’t had mis-management scandals like the house. These BoR at other places have not had to spend millions of dollars to deal with murder cover-ups. And so forth.
So, why is that? What is it about EMU that makes our Board of Regents so problematic?
I guess I have four hypotheses, none of which are mutually exclusive.
A) The long-term culture of the board of regents is really hard to escape. New members are always coming on as members terms expire, but the new members follow the patterns of the old members, and thus nothing really changes.
B) Long-term suits and long-term faculty perpetuate bad practices. I don’t want to name any particular names, nor do I want to suggest that someone who has been involved at EMU for 30 or so years is inherently causing trouble. But it’s worth noting that lots and lots of people at EMU have been in positions of power for a long time, either as long-term suits or as long-term faculty leaders. Certainly the BoR must follow these folks’ lead, and if the BoR is getting bad info from University leaders, then the BoR is liable to make bad decisions.
C) There’s something about the way our BoR and upper-administration are set up that lend itself to bad practices. I don’t know enough about the mechanics of this to know– I’m just speculating. But as an example: perhaps the governance system gives too much power to non-academic wings of EMU and/or too much governance power to the Board, which should be mainly advisory.
D) Just a run of bad luck, compounded by a bad economy and a decreasing demand in elementary and secondary ed, EMU’s bread-n-butter majors.
Any other hypotheses? Any other ideas?
E) A fractious faculty whose union leadership finds it politically advantageous to perpetuate the “them” and “us” culture no matter what the issue.
F) A pervasive attitude of entitlement without balancing responsibility.
Who, in their right mind, would want to serve on the Board? Or come to EMU as an administrator?
Want good leadership? Ask what could be done to attract good leaders or enjoy more years with the dregs!
In the context of the Regents, it doesn’t make sense to blame the ‘fractious faculty’ or the ‘union leadership.’ The past board refused to have contact with faculty leaders. Some on the new Board have made overtures, but for the most part, only very recently. Making huge decisions (like cutting Academic Affairs to the bone) without consulting faculty is bound to cause friction, however compliant or submissive the faculty as a whole could or should be. If we had leaders who did what good leaders do–i.e. consult, collaborate, and generate consensus–the supposed fractiousness of the faculty would quickly be history.
There is another letter to the editor in the AA News today, one that specifically addresses the regents:
“To the Eastern Michigan University Board of Regents I say: Shame on you! You have got to be kidding! There’s absolutely no way that John Fallon, Jim Vick or Cindy Hall should receive a severance package totaling $542,000 … and leave the university holding the bag for another potential $412,000 plus the cost of the investigation. It’s a million-dollar mess and it sends out a bad message: If you screw up at EMU, you will get rewarded generously! …”
The budget for athletics was increased only $129,000. 5% of the operating budget. And – if you screw up anywhere they send you off with golden parachute to avoid lawsuits.
“E) A fractious faculty whose union leadership finds it politically advantageous to perpetuate the “them” and “us” culture no matter what the issue.”
And you would call the union-busting tactics employed by the administration (along with avowed union-busters) what?
Fighting back against jack-booted thuggery (something I wish my union would become more familiar with) isn’t being fractious. Or uncooperative.
“F) A pervasive attitude of entitlement without balancing responsibility.”
Why should the administration be responsible when it behooves them to screw up big time and get the Golden Parachute? Look back to the Starter Mansion fiasco. And Dave Diles. And some coaches.
But let me guess, alumntoo, that victory in Iraq is just around the corner…
I wish you guys would get off this athletic thing. I have spent many years as a volunteer at the Ath. Dept. One thing I can tell you is that it’s a Dept. that does an incredible job with the smallest budget in the MAC and the most sports. When the average team budget is around $500,000 and other schools spend an average of $750,000 – $1,000,000. per sport and have the NCAA minimum of 16 sports EMU has done a great job with 8 conference championships this year. One thing I don’t understand is how Eastern attracts the coaches it has. For year (decades) head football and basketball coaches have been told to do what they can. Several years ago I was a member of a group that raised $30,000 so that the football team would have a spring recruiting budget. I’m not advocating sports over academics but at times it gotten to the point of rediculous – at one point the team did not have the proper equipment for kickoffs (some type of special shoe). Most of you probably don’t know that during the Diles Administration if you raised money for your team the amount raised was deducted from your general team budget – that’s some great incentive. Things have changed under Craig and things are better. Give football and basketball a chance and all University giving will go up.
alumtoo, I actually agree with at least part of what you’re saying here, I really do. But it is much more complicated than what you’re describing here. After all, it is the BoR (presumably) who hires the union-buster negotiators they hire, it was the BoR and Fallon who tried the “take it or leave it” strategy with the last strike, and it was the BoR (presumably) that authorized the administration’s dramatic walk-out of the negotiations this year.
However, I also think that the tone from the union has often been far too shrill and confrontational over the years, and I think it was particularly pointed this time around. During the 2006 strike, I wrote this letter, which, while highlighting the failings of the administration, also described my skepticism about the union, about the information rank and file faculty members were getting (or not getting), etc., etc.
The trick is to figure out a way to “escape” this loop of administration versus faculty, when the reality is that most of the folks in these different camps actually want to work and negotiate together. Maybe part of that trick is for the BoR to get a bit more out of the way?
As for sports: Alum, let me put some other numbers out there for you, just to put the academic budget cuts in perspective, especially as it relates to the athletic budget increase of “only” $129,000. My department is being asked to cut $121,000. Just my department. Not Academic Affairs, not the entire college, but ONLY MY DEPARTMENT! And obviously, all of the departments at EMU are being asked to take similar cuts. The bottom line is there is no way to make these kinds of cuts without canceling classes and doing other things that directly and indirectly hurt students.
Furthermore, do not forget that much of the “safety and strategic planning” spending in the budget is window-dressing for trying to pump even more money into the athletic programs. I don’t have solid numbers/information on this yet, but I am sure we will all find out soon enough.
So when academic departments are being asked to make cuts of this magnitude, you should realize that to say that any unit is “only” getting $129,000 INCREASE is a problem. To me, it is tantamount to asking students coming to EMU not for the sports programs but to get an education to eat cake.
The “us” versus “them” thing stinks. Athletics deserves the increase. At least they have several groups of volunteers that raise money for them. You could do the same thing for your department. CAS has a staff to help. Any ideas?
Gosh you folks get distracted easily from the issue at hand! Let’s get back to the Board. What’s going on here? Which members have been around the longest? What is their record on issues? Who has “past history” with EMU? Reread the remarks of one of the newest Board members. Why the dysfunction? How open are communications? Who speaks for the Board?
As tempting as it is to argue faculty against administration, academics versus athletics, “we” versus “them” this endless arguing obscures some of the underlying problems.
Got it?
The City and the citizens of Ypsilanti want EMU to regain its luster and to once again be a strong university. We have as a civic culture in this town, benefitted from the qualities of your students, your superior faculty and the many leaders your university has provided to help Ypsilanti be the great town that it is.
These are hard times for us all. We don’t mourn for those who the BoR have fired or released. We mourn for an apparent lack of direction somehwere deep in the souul of your campus. These posts and comments iindicate such.
Thee question isn’t about Fallonm, et. al., or sports budgets, or what’s up with the BoR … the question is: Is the State of Michigan certainn that it wants Eastern Michigan University to be a truly excellent university … in eveery sense of the words excellence and university.
If the State does NOT … then let the BoR continue to run it like a business. Jack up tuition, promote sports, be tough on salaries, insist on a PR lockdown, and avoid any and all contact with Ypsialnti City Hall’s problems.
If the State DOES want nothing other than to make EMU (actually regain EMU’s pre-eminence in the arts, education and the earth sciences), then every step, every sacrifice imaginable, must be made to do so … and without delay. If the current BoR members cannot articulate “excellence” or “university,” they must step aside. (My opinion is that a BoR is not needed … it’s anacronistic … it’s a habit one can always break, and yet!
Who will get EMU on back on track? May I suggest (1) emeritus
staff, (2) alumni, (3) faculty, (4) students … and us local folks who will stand behind you 1000%.
Has anyone in the Ypsilanti Community given any thought to helping out the Dickenson’s during the trial in October? How about a few free nights at the Mariott.
An editorial cartoon from Grand Rapids. I agree with Alum that the university should host the Dickinsons somewhere during the trial.
Info about the Regents can be found online.
The big test for the new board is running the presidential search responsibly and making sure that everyone on or around campus is involved in getting the best candidates possible.
If they appoint an inside candidate with connections to members of the board, they will lose credibility and seriously damage the reputation of the university and the morale of its employees. We have had much too much of that already.
Agreed there is a great deal wrong with the BoR. In my opinion the BoR allows the destructive culture that lives in the Administration and upper ranks of Faculty at EMU. We hire new presidents but keep the same cabinent. We fire deans, but appoint interims who have been at EMU for 30 years. Most of our senior leadership has been recycled through countless interim appointments. Gee.. they know how to play the game.
The problems at EMU are systemic. The very culture and processes continue to breed this type of apathy and destruction. Every single person at EMU holds responsibility for what happened to Laura Dickenson, and the shameful way in which is was handled. I am disgusted by what we have put that family through.
Every employee and faculty member who has looked the other way, when an administrator has embezzeled or misappropriated funds. Everyone who feels they can’t and won’t speak out when supervisors discriminate and harass their employees to create hostile conditions. Every time EMU settles a lawsuit to cover up and minimize these issues, no one speaks out to hold anyone accountable. Just ask Continuing Education where that administrator was actually promoted after a EEOC lawsuit!
We all created the culture that allowed this tragedy to happen. It’s time EMU looked inside to itself, to see where the responsibility lies. EMU will never improve while it is content to point the finger at everyone outside of themselves.
The BoR, Administration, Faculty and Staff- how do you contribute to the toxic and destructive culture at EMU?
egpenet: Your words “Who will get EMU on back on track? May I suggest (1) emeritus staff, (2) alumni, (3) faculty, (4) students … and us local folks …” are golden. But how does one channel their voices to the powers-that-be. In my many years as a faculty member here, the upper administration, the president and the BoR have been very successful at the tunnel-vision thing.
I wouldn’t have any problem with money from the budget ie. my tuition going towards sports if the football team would win every once in awhile, and not just on homecoming either. Instead of increasing sports that should be the first thing to go. Sorry but my education is slightly more important than football. With classes being cut EMU is causing many students to have a deferred graduation, thankfully I am not one of them, even though the class selectiions that I have are limited, especially for my IS 247 class. As for the BoR they need to be more frugal with how they spend the buget. If they know that there isn’t much money, which they do, then they should be planning out ahead of time what is important and at the top of that list should be academics.
It would be nice if the folks in Athletics Dept that want an anatomy course that uses cadavers could take one as part of their Sport Medicine or similar degree program.
Except, the dept. that was offering that had to whack that expense (a while back), due to budget cuts. Let alone now. That essential course expense had to be considered an “extra”. Does the community college offer that “extra”? I’ll leave that as an exercise for the reader.
oh well. At least there are lots of seats in the coliseum, as it were.
Wouldn’t it be nice if, before making a regent appointment, the governor would accept nominations for regents from campus constituencies: an alumni nominated regent, a faculty nominated regent, a community (Ypsi/Washtenaw county) nominated regent, a student nominated regent, an EMU employee nominated …
Actually, I could really go for just three nominees from the alumni constituency. If the governor were to regularly select one or more of those nominated for appointment, it could move the BoR away from the political pay-off game to something more EMU-centric.
I agree with most of the comments made here about the Regents. But I would also say that I personally have some genuine hope that the current Board of Regents, which basically just took over in January of this year, will be effective and principled in overseeing the University. Prior Boards have not been, in the years I’ve been at EMU, but now it’s a new board. And I think these people realize both that EMU has real and systemic problems that need fixing; and that a university’s quality is measured by what the faculty and students achieve together. As the new Regents get familiar with EMU, I think they will prove to be problem solvers.
It is good to see that someone understands that in order for this university to get back on its feet (though this will not be an overnight process), it is incumbent upon the faculty, staff, alumni and students to play a vital role. The BOR has their own agenda and that can be seen based on the lack of participation that they have not shown in supporting EMU as it relates to non-BOR related events. If you regularly attend an a BOR meeting, ask yourself where else within the university community have you seen these people. Ponder that!