“EMU action for a better EMU”

Below “Read More” is an email I received recently from EMU alum and once in a while EMUTalk.org poster, Eric Brown. I’m not sure I agree with his particular recommendations about which Board of Regents members to endorse, but I do agree that this is the sort of thing that people who care about EMU ought to get involved in.

Dear Fellow Easternites, Friends, Associates, and Others:

There are a lot of good things going on at our alma mater and on the campus of Eastern Michigan University that is putting it in the limelight. One concern of mine is the flawed system in place that brings Board of Regents on board to govern over the university. The system ratified by the Michigan Constitution in 1964 (January 6, 1964 to be exact) is simply outdated and ridiculous. Additionally, the appointments are eight-year terms. However, it is the system in place that we have to work with until it is one day is changed. It bothers me to no end that community colleges and the the so-called “Big 3″……Wayne State University, Michigan State University and the University of Michigan gets to elect their governing body. Those places are no better than EMU and the other state run/supported public places of higher learning. Though there is a different funding system in place for the community colleges, the fact still remains that they get to elect the governing body for their institutions.

This is why I am proposing to you ladies and gentlemen, until the opportunity exists for us to play a role in the selection process of our owne Board of Regents, that we get involved in other ways. The most effective way is that we collectively write our state senators and representatives, as well as the governor and offer suggestions on people that we would like to see in those roles. Another point of emphasis that should be important to all of us is that we have some Regents that are EMU grads. It is my contention that we would be better served by those that understand the issues of the university. At present, there are three board members with ties to the university by way of the classroom: Floyd Clack, Philip Incarnati and Roy Wilbanks all received Master degrees from EMU, while Incarnati also got his BA from here. My preference would be to look at those that shared their undergraduate years on the campus for consideration as Regents. Not to diminish the affinity for the university of those that got their advanced degrees here, but the undergraduate experience is just so much more different.

Time is of the essence and there are two of the current board members whose terms expire at the end of next month; i.e., Mohamed Okdie and James Stapleton. Just to inform you all of a little something, the “Capital Outlay Project” that was approved for the modernization of Pray-Harrold Hall would not have been successful without the efforts of Freman Hendrix, visits to Lansing, and the massive letter-writing campaign taken on by faculty, staff, students, friends of the university and alumni. We can make a difference and I think that the time is ripe for us to play an active role with regard to who will fill the two open terms that begin on 1/1/09. Point of information, there are many factions over at the university and elsewhere, that are not happy with the possibe reappointment of maybe one or two of the current regents. I will be writing, as well as calling the governor’s office to express my concern about the regent in particular.

I would like to implore each of you to do likewise and let’s begin to show that our voices can and will make a difference in furthering the success of our alma mater and the place that many of us have come to love.

Regards,

Eric Brown