A review of the April 12 BOT meeting should make clear an example of the “forked-tongue” messages we continue to receive.
During the President’s report, Dr. Dolan announced the Middle States report is forthcoming and will be available on the portal. He also discussed the receptivity of the Board members to a BOT “action plan” initiative as specified by Middle States. This initiative, one would think, includes an honest, open dialogue with the College community so that we can begin the process of fixing the problems that have plagued the campus. Meanwhile, prior to this announcement, at the Board’s Academic Affairs committee meeting, the curriculum change resolution resulted in a 2-2 tie vote. At that time, Dr. Gardyn unsuccessfully attempted to bypass Roberts Rules and appoint a Board member to the committee as an ad-hoc tie-breaker in an effort to pass the resolution. This, once again, demonstrates the Board’s arrogance and abuse of authority by further eroding shared-governance. This is the same shared-governance the recent Middle States report found the college to be seriously out of compliance with.
As troubling as this appears, the actual Board meeting continued in a seemingly manipulative fashion. Most of those in attendance were anticipating the Board to announce a decision with respect to the Presidential Search as the BOT agenda included interviews with the two remaining finalists, Dr. Schoonmaker and Dr. Lee. However, instead of making an announcement, Dr. Gardyn interrupted the Board meeting and moved to the speakers list. Needless to say, those of us in attendance were stunned and, therefore, most declined to speak since we did not have any information regarding the search.
After the speakers, Co-chair of the Search Committee, Mr. Arnold Drucker, announced the Board had not reached a decision in the selection of a President.
Meeting adjourned. So much for the “action plan” to include an open, honest dialogue.