A couple of days ago, the CSU San Bernardino academic senate was poised to consider a resolution expressing their lack of confidence the CSUSB President Tomas Morales.<\/p>\n
Here’s the resolution they eventually passed:<\/p>\n
CSUSB No confidence<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Shortly afterwards, Chancellor White responded:<\/p>\n
Open Letter to the CSUSB Community – Timothy P. White<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Definitely not good times at our sister campus. They have our sympathies as they work through these difficult issues.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten to the crazy part yet…..<\/p>\n
On the morning of the 8th, before the senate considered this resolution, the immediate past Chair of the Board of Trustees and an influential community member took to the local newspapers to help President Morales avoid bad PR in the community by smearing the academic senate in advance of the vote.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.sbsun.com\/opinion\/20170508\/academic-senates-need-more-transparency-guest-commentary<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Pretty much the same article also appeared on the 10th in the Press Enterprise, with the slightly more aggressive title “Time to expose academic senate for who they are” (presumably the editor’s choice).<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.pe.com\/2017\/05\/09\/time-to-expose-academic-senate-for-who-they-are\/<\/p>\n
In both cases, the title and link to the op-ed was circulated by the Chancellors’ Office in their ‘Daily Clips’ compendium of news items.<\/p>\n
Christine Miller, Chair of the statewide senate (ASCSU) and my personal role model, responded with professionalism and commitment to shared governance in this letter to the CSUSB campus senate<\/p>\n
May 9, 2017<\/p>\n
To My Senate Colleagues at CSU San Bernardino:<\/p>\n
As Chair of the Academic Senate of the California State University, I wish to express my sorrow regarding the aspersions cast on you specifically, and academic senates generally, by Paul Granillo and Lou Monville, alumni of your fine institution.<\/p>\n
Mr. Granillo, as a community member, might be forgiven his lack of knowledge about the ways a senate functions in the institutional enterprise; Mr. Monville, however, should know better: as former Chair of the CSU Board of Trustees, he should have a firm grasp on the notion of \u201cshared governance,\u201d as instantiated in law (the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act) and in the joint agreement expressed by the Association of Governing Boards and the American Association of University Professors in the \u201cStatement on Government of Colleges and Universities.\u201d\u00a0 Indeed, the CSU Board itself issued a report on \u201cGovernance, Collegiality and Responsibility\u201d which clearly states, \u201ccollegial governance allows the academic community to work together to find the best answers to issues facing the university.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sadly, there was nothing at all collegial in the vitriol jointly penned by Granillo and Monville in the San Bernardino Sun<\/em>, under the thinly veiled guise of support for a piece of legislation that has nothing whatsoever to do with the sweeping indictments they level against senates generally, and yours in particular.\u00a0 The editorial contained a shocking series of ad hominem attacks lacking any evidentiary support.\u00a0 Indeed, the tone and substance of their litany of unsupported claims has the same force of effect as the very bullying they decry.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just ironic, it\u2019s disturbing.<\/p>\n
Please note that I take no position on the gut-wrenching decision that you face on your campus regarding confidence in the leadership of your president.\u00a0 I\u2019m certain there are well-reasoned arguments on both sides of the question you are considering.\u00a0 I do take a position, however, on matters relating to how senates and faculty representatives function in the shared governance process. \u00a0To that end, I believe it is essential to point out that the \u201ctwo current CSUSB Academic Senate Executive Committee members,\u201d as well as the \u201cformer CSUSB provost, who also now serves on the Academic Senate Executive Committee,\u201d while not mentioned in the editorial by name, are clearly identifiable by the virtue of the transparent processes that Granillo and Monville allege are absent.\u00a0 Once again, it\u2019s not just ironic, it\u2019s disturbing.<\/p>\n
Most critically, it\u2019s important to acknowledge that the three individuals \u201couted\u201d by Granillo and Monville never publicly breached the confidentiality of the presidential search process, which constrained (until now) everyone on the search committee–including the editorialists.\u00a0 I find it unconscionable that Granillo and Monville, who agreed to the same terms and conditions of confidentiality as everyone else, now find it politically expedient to disregard those strictures and violate the confidentiality of an executive personnel process.\u00a0 It\u2019s doubly egregious coming from the former Board Chair, since it is the Board\u2019s own policy which establishes the process as confidential!\u00a0 This transcends irony, and isn\u2019t simply disturbing.\u00a0 It\u2019s shameful.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s regrettable that your deliberations are now clouded by the defamatory claims in this editorial.\u00a0 Nonetheless, deliberate you must.\u00a0 Publicly.\u00a0 Rationally.\u00a0 Transparently.\u00a0 I wish you the best in your deliberations, today and in the future.<\/p>\n
Best regards,<\/p>\n
Dr. Christine M. Miller<\/p>\n
Chair, Academic Senate of the California State University<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This has not escaped the notice of the American Association of University Professors:<\/p>\n
So Much for Confidential Searches!<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n