Post date: May 28, 2011 4:50:29 PM
For the first time since we arrived on campus, we have hope.
The committee had initially structured a meeting that was designed to not drive too deeply into the internal gunk of this institution. The first half of the meeting was supposed to be with the trustee, the second was with the President and CEO (agenda below). We knew that having both of them in the room the whole time could lead to a devolution into some darker topics. Unfortunately, we were unable to secure that arrangement, and in some sense, while we were productive overall, we know that it could have been done better to assure all participants were heard.
However, in this meeting these points were covered:
Introductions and reasons each person came to be here
Talked about the actions for the committee
Expressed concerns for the student body's morale and education
discussed the perceived opinions held of and by both students and the board
came to an understanding that:
The board and Adam do support the Graduate Institute.
The casually stated opinions by members of board about students or their activities do get back to us and affect our morale, willingness to see value in the education we receive, and impact our ability to build community in the area.
Adam noted that communication is something that he knows that he/the institution could have done better in this area.
He is making an effort to improve by:
having coffees with students
inviting students to lunch at his home
sent an email explaining more about what is happening
expressed an interest in teaching a class/ holding a seminar
We touched on issues of communication from the board, to faculty and students
There is none, and wasn't much in regards, which left a massive hole that could be easily filled with thoughts related to fear of change.
It was asked that "Why do we want to communicate with the board?"
Pointed to issues of misconceptions that we received as feedback
Lack of understanding that could be resolved through communication
We touched on issues of student governance
The role of the student trustees was clarified:
They are not part of traditional governance, and weren't designed to be this
Their role is to be considered more of a "board-level internship" than "governance"
Like any board member, they are not allowed to advocate for any one program
This role is unlikely to change, and the influence of the student trustees will remain indirect and non-voting.
The meeting ended on a positive note and that we want to be excellent contributors to the SIT Graduate experience and to the World Learning Network.
Discussed how to contact the board in the future.
The request for this meeting was sent on a lovely greeting card with some french poetry and a picture of a phoenix. We gave the card to the president's secretary and designated one person to be the scheduling liaison and contact. Click here to download the file of the letters and the 2010 bios (there is turnover expected in 2011-13).