September 22 Faculty Senate Meeting - USM Forum -- Message Board

Joe Olmi · Status: Offline

September 22 Faculty Senate Meeting

Joe Olmi · Status: Offline

P.S. The Executive Committees of the Faculty Senate and the AAUP are to be commended for making this happen. My hat is off to all.

LeftASAP · Status: Offline

Joe Olmi wrote:

I think it is imperative that there is a full house at this coming week's Faculty Senate meeting (September 22) which will feature Dr. Tom Meredith, IHL Commissioner. Let's get the word out regarding the importance of such an event. It is important that we let Dr. Meredith know of our critical importance to the future of this University. I'm hopeful that such an occasion will mark the beginning of a much different relationship between USM faculty and the IHL. I will anticipate a packed house, so get there early.

Joe, can you post the time and location of the meeting?

Joe Olmi · Status: Offline

LeftASAP wrote:

Joe Olmi wrote:

I think it is imperative that there is a full house at this coming week's Faculty Senate meeting (September 22) which will feature Dr. Tom Meredith, IHL Commissioner. Let's get the word out regarding the importance of such an event. It is important that we let Dr. Meredith know of our critical importance to the future of this University. I'm hopeful that such an occasion will mark the beginning of a much different relationship between USM faculty and the IHL. I will anticipate a packed house, so get there early.

Joe, can you post the time and location of the meeting?

Left and all others,

The meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. I think it is on the second floor of the Thad Cochran Center. Sorry I don't have the exact room number in front of me. Myron and others, can you post the exact room location. Again, hope to see EVERYONE there.

LeftASAP · Status: Offline

Joe Olmi wrote:

Left and all others,

The meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. I think it is on the second floor of the Thad Cochran Center. Sorry I don't have the exact room number in front of me. Myron and others, can you post the exact room location. Again, hope to see EVERYONE there.

Thanks, Joe. I hope there are enough chairs for a large meeting. At the last F.S. meeting there were only about 8 to 10 chairs for visitors.

Rod Sterling · Status: Offline

Room 216 Thad Cochran at 2pm.

stephen judd · Status: Offline

Folks -- in order to get this meeting we indicated to Dr. Meredith that it would be a private meeting with the senators only. The reason for this was because we wanted the commissioner to be able to be as candid as possible. I believe that only faculty will be allowed to join the meeting and that these requests should be made in advance to Myron Henry. Please understand that this is not an attempt to promote secrecy -- it is an attempt to have a frank discussion between the commissioner and represntatives of the faculty. We are aware that there is some possiblity that there may be those in the public who might have an agenda to embarrass the commissioner and that would not be helpful to our desire to work with the commissioner to get the best search possible.

stephen judd · Status: Offline

I want to clarify that I mean to say that there are people beyond the USM community who have no interest in our search but who have a vested interest in scoring points against the commissioner for reasons of their own . . .

We do not want to be a conduit for those people.

stinky cheese man · Status: Offline

stephen--will senators be able to discuss what is said at this meeting with colleagues, or is there some pledge of confidentiality on the part of those who attend?

Joe Olmi · Status: Offline

stephen judd wrote:

Folks -- in order to get this meeting we indicated to Dr. Meredith that it would be a private meeting with the senators only. The reason for this was because we wanted the commissioner to be able to be as candid as possible. I believe that only faculty will be allowed to join the meeting and that these requests should be made in advance to Myron Henry. Please understand that this is not an attempt to promote secrecy -- it is an attempt to have a frank discussion between the commissioner and represntatives of the faculty. We are aware that there is some possiblity that there may be those in the public who might have an agenda to embarrass the commissioner and that would not be helpful to our desire to work with the commissioner to get the best search possible.

Sorry about that Stephen; my bad. That was a detail I forgot/overlooked. You points are right on. Again, sorry about that. Are there plans to hold a public meeting in follow-up to share the information that will be discussed at the meeting?

stephen judd · Status: Offline

From Myron Henry, who asked me to post this on the board:

Good Afternoon Colleage Senators:

We are trying to assure an environment at the special Senate meeting
Friday at 2 pm that is similar to the one we had at the retreat with
Board member Robin Robinson. Thus, we indicated to Commissioner Thomas
Meredith that we would have a closed meeting that included senators but
no press or senior administrators or others. We fear an audience that
includes many more colleagues in addition to senators may compromise our
environment for a respectful, candid, and meaningful conversation with
the Commissioner. Further, including many colleagues who are not
senators would possibly make it difficult to exclude the press and
administrators.

In this context, a majority of your executive officers agreed that we
should keep the meeting to senators only and perhaps the past chair
(Michael Forster) and present chair (Jim McGuire) of the Council of
Chairs. If you cannot attend the special Senate meeting, you can, of
course, be represented by an official proxy. I will try to moderate the
conversation at the meeting as I did at the retreat. I will also try
to contact Dr. Meredith by phone tomorrow or Tuesday (he is tied up with
a meeting of the BOTs on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morning) to
discuss more thoroughly our arrangements.

I want to emphasize that Dr. Meredith did not request that our meeting
be closed. Rather, we included that provision when we invited him. So,
that was the understanding of our invitation. A closed meeting does not
mean faculty who are not attending have no voice. You are their elected
voices. A closed meeting does not mean we cannot discuss with our
colleagues what occurred at the meeting once it has included. As
elected representatives of faculty, you can and should certainly share
with colleagues a sense of our discussion with Dr. Meredith.

We have an opportunity here, and I am confident those we represent will
understand the need to confine our meeting to senators and possibly the
past chair and current chair of the Council of Chairs.

Please pass this message along to our colleagues, and ask them for their
understanding and patience, and for their confidence in their elected
representatives to represent them well.

Thanks.

Myron Henry