Sunday, May 13, 2007

Friends of Principia #11

May 13, 2007

Dear Friends of Principia #11,

It’s been a month since my last mailing. This “issue” will speak to three things:

  1. The 5/4/2007 issue of The Pilot.
  2. The stalling by Stuart and the Trustees.
  3. Ways YOU can make your voice heard.

The Pilot recently printed its 11th paper (by my count) for the 2006-2007 school year.. One more will be distributed before the end of the school year. Because of the pressure from Stuart and the Trustees to not report on controversial issues, the threat to close The Pilot down, efforts to undermine its faculty advisor and the graduation of key staffers it is hard to know what kind of Pilot we will read next fall. Hopefully it will remain a strong independent voice. The following relevant articles may be found at www.truthatprincipia.org/docs/pilotindex.html . [control + click to open].

  • The search is on: Faculty move to delay appointment of new president
  • Does Prin follow best practice? Former trustees have differing views on wisdom of recruitment policies
  • Update: Pilot receives 20 more faculty surveys that show similar trends
  • A Pilot interview with facilitator Jim Reeves
  • Educational consultants to look at Prin governance

In addition I have attached:

  • Mixed reactions to scholarship
  • Principia dominated by females?

When 92% of the college faculty voted “no confidence” in Stuart Jenkins in late January and asked him to resign they became the focus of dissatisfaction with both Stuart Jenkins and the Trustees. Various public levels of support for their discontentment followed from other elements on both campuses, as well as alumni and friends of Principia. This clamor and the resulting specific demands were either rebuffed or ignored by Stuart and the Trustees.

For the last six months the Trustees and Stuart have calculated that they could outlast their opposition. The Trustees have instituted a series of committees and studies which have tended to mute some of their critics or at least slow down what was at the time a growing crescendo of dissatisfaction from within and without the Principia community. The eventual impact of all this activity is impossible to guess. There were no announced timetables. We don’t know if the committees will continue to completion of their tasks and if their conclusions will be minded. The calls for George Moffett’s reinstatement will be moot once the school year had finished and his announced “resignation” became effective at the end of June.

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(1) They hurriedly mandated the Resolution Committee. It includes representatives from various constituencies on both campuses. However, it will only be effective if Jim Reeves the facilitator has the ability to get full source information from all elements of the Prin community and does in fact do so. [See attached explanation by Bobbi McAdoo about the fact-finding process]

(2) They appointed a Governance Study Committee while the Resolution Committee (Committee of 14) was in the midst of its task. It is unclear how much it overlaps the Resolution Committee. Its members have close personal ties to Stuart. A District of Columbia (D.C.) based educational consulting firm has been hired to develop a new model for Principia.

Various members of the Principia community have raised the following issues:

[a] How the Trustees are appointed,

[b] Possible separation between the CEO and the Trustees,

[c] The relationship between campus administrators and the Trustees and CEO

[d] How Stuart has repeatedly hired unqualified but loyal cohorts and then created

parallel positions for more qualified candidates to support them.

(3) They hired a public relations person to combat negative “press” and monitor The Pilot

.

(4) They changed the chain of command between the CEO/Chairman of Board of Trustees/College President. This was seen as a positive step until it was explained this was only temporary.

(5) They ignored the faculty and calls from alumni to remove Stuart Jenkins as CEO. He was replaced as Chairman of the Board but remains as a member. They also refused to accept his reported offer to resign as CEO.

(6) They moved ahead with the process of finding and hiring a new College President, ignoring pleas to postpone this process until potential changes in the relationship between and responsibilities of the top administrators are resolved.

(7) They have been feeding disinformation on the campuses: asserting that if the faculty were to revote today they would support Stuart Jenkins and claiming that they can’t wait for the truth to come out so they can be absolved.

What practical steps can we each take over the summer to force change at Principia?

(1) Add your name to the petition at www.petitionprincipia.org/home

[control + click to follow link]

This is the most visible way to speak out. There should be 1000 names, not 426.

Many of you expressed support for the petition but have not added your names.

If you do not join the signers some assume you support the status quo.

(2) When you are receive a solicitation for funds from Prin write a note on it

[Such as “I am not giving any more money to Prin until Stuart is gone”] and mail it back. Remember this is what several major financial supporters have publicly done. [Principia Pilot 2/16/07]

(3) When the Alumni office asks you to join your local Prin Club think twice. You can say “no , not while Stuart is still at Prin” Remember this was always a local Prin Club function until the Alumni office forcibly took that function away last fall. Now all funds reside at Prin. Some lubs have seen their memberships decline precipitously and don’t have the funds to do activities. A worthwhile temporary sacrifice if it influences Stuart’s departure.

(4) Show your support for The Pilot. Subscribe now for the 2007-2008 school year.

You’ll start receiving your copies in the fall, you will show your support for its independent voice and you may help influence the new college president to insure that it is allowed to continue to publish and speak independently.

You can e-mail Craig Savoye [ www.cfs@prin.edu ] the faculty advisor or the Pilot directly at [ www.principia.pilot@gmail.com ].

(5) Write the trustees directly and express your concerns.

["Bill Hays" , "Bob Schwentker" , "Catherine Raffles" , "Charles 'Tuck' Spaulding, Jr." , "Chris Towle" , "Helen Ostenberg Elswit" , "Katharine Bullock" , "Maggi Foerster CSB" , "Michael Sharples" , "Scott Shivers" , "Stuart Jenkins" , "Willard Hanzlik" ]

(6) Talk to your Prin classmates, friends and acquaintances. Express your concerns.

Encourage them to become informed and proactive.

(7) Send a contribution to “The Advocacy Fund, Dr John Near, Treasurer at

P O Box 153, Grafton, IL 62037 to support the College faculty and their legal representation as they try to counterbalance attorney Phil Riley who represents Stuart and the Trustees.

(8) Send the Moffetts a thank you for their 11 years at Principia.

George Moffett pres@prin.edu.




With gratitude,

Paul Schmidt JD GRI

College ‘71


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Mixed reactions to scholarship

Faculty, admissions, students weigh in on new, non-academic award

T

he recent creation of the Whole Man Leadership scholarship, which is aimed at attracting students who have excelled in areas other than academics, has attracted mixed responses from Principia faculty, staff, and students. Several faculty members expressed concern that the scholarship could attract low-performing students, contributing to a devaluation of academic excellence at Principia.

“I feel that scholarships should be for students who are academically strong,” said music professor John Near. “It’s all about balance … Whole Man doesn’t mean your life can be at 100% in one area and a mess in another.”

The scholarship was created last quarter by the college’s Scholarship Committee, and is focused on “students who really embody the qualities of the whole man, as defined by Mary Kimball Morgan,” said committee member Becky Barthelmess. Its requirements do not include a minimum grade point average or SAT score, although the requirements state that a 3.0 GPA is “preferred.”

“We wanted to show that whole man characteristics and leadership are really valued at Principia,” said Scholarship Committee chair Faith Paul.

But the Whole Man Leadership scholarship has also raised concerns among faculty that academics at Principia are being devalued. “The primary focus [of Principia] should be academics … we can’t let the lower end get too low,” said Geology Department Chair Janis Treworgy. “I’m not sure we need to offer a scholarship like this at the college level.”

Some students, however, said they disagreed. “We’re not lowering the lower end, [although] we may be broadening it,” said freshman Will Buchanan. “There’s nothing wrong with bringing in leaders and problem-solvers … I think Prin could use a little more community engagement from its student body.”

“I think the students who come here [as recipients of the Whole Man Leadership scholarship] will be wonderful assets for service and leadership,” agreed Paul.

In creating the Whole Man scholarship, the committee has also opened the possibility of reevaluating the requirements for existing academic merit scholarships, leading to concerns that they will become more difficult for students to acquire. “Right now, the Scholarship Committee has been charged with reevaluating the entire scholarship structure,” Barthelmess said. “Everything is open to revision.”

Paul said the Scholarship Committee has no current plans to make existing academic scholarships more difficult for students to attain, though she said that the requirements for any of the scholarships may be revised.

If the Trustee Scholarship, which pays for the full cost of a student’s tuition, becomes more difficult to obtain, faculty members worried, Principia may find itself distanced from its top-performing students. “It’s unfortunate … [that] we might be moving in the opposite direction from the rest of academia,” said Art History professor Amy Trevelyan.

“I would like the school to assess the quality of the student body before and after the [Whole Man Leadership] scholarship,” said Treworgy. “The Trustee Scholarship has certainly had a positive effect on the student body … I don’t know whether the new [scholarship] will have the same effect.”

Barthelmess and Paul said the Whole Man Leadership scholarship will not have a negative effect on Principia’s academics. “We believe deeply that these students [recipients of the Whole Man Leadership scholarship] will be a benefit to Prin,” said Barthelmess. “I get heart-breaking stories of kids that are really bright but are at tough private schools, and we couldn’t give them anything [until the creation of the new scholarship].” She also pointed out that Principia is not alone in offering a leadership- and service-based scholarship. Many other local and nonlocal colleges offer similar scholarships, including Blackburn College, Concordia University, Crown College, and Illinois College.

Barthelmess said that there is concern among members of the college administration that the current Trustee Scholarship is putting a financial strain on Principia’s funding. “There’s a delicate balance between the financial burden the institution can handle and the academic balance we can bring to the table,” she said, adding that the scholarship committee, as well as some of Principia’s top leaders, had been worried for several years about the monetary strain of awarding a large number of Trustee scholarships.

Several faculty members said they were aware of financial constraints at Principia as well, although most expressed concern that Principia’s financial situation has manifested itself more severely in academics than in other areas. “It is academics that have suffered as a result [of financial woes],” Trevelyan said.

“Every department should get what it needs,” said Near. “I’m concerned that there might be an imbalance … the theater department, for example, probably needs new equipment right now, [and] a new place to perform, and I’m concerned that balance may not be in people’s sights.”

At the Upper School, where a similar Whole Man scholarship program has been in place since last year, no such financial concerns were voiced. “Prin has money to put towards recruiting students,” said Margie Savoye, the Director of Admissions for the Upper School. “What would be a real financial drain would be if we didn’t have any students.” In its current form, the Upper School’s Whole Man Scholarship awards students the full cost of tuition, as well as room and board. Students are nominated for the scholarship via a confidential process by nominators who are “out in the field and know lots of young people,” Savoye said.

Savoye said there was no truth in rumors that the Whole Man scholarship had been awarded only to children of friends of the administration, although she conceded, “Because it’s been a confidential process and award, it’s not very transparent, so I can see where that perception would have come from.”

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Principia dominated by females?

Women excel at campus life, including

academics, leadership, and multi-tasking

Staff writer

T

here is an apparent lack of male leadership in many areas in the Principia community. Women fill most of the leadership positions on campus, while more men participate in college athletics. Women also excel in academics.

The current Principia College student body consists of 498 students. 224 are men and 274 are women, which amounts to a divide of 45 percent versus 55 percent.

The areas where women tend to take the majority of leadership positions include the Christian Science Organization (CSO), the Political Affairs Conference (PAC), and the all-campus offices.

“It’s a concern amongst facuty. It seems like men are really undergoing lack of leadership and accomplishment right now,” said Dr. Julie Blase, Assistant Professor of Political Science.

Currently in the CSO there are 14 leadership roles for members to fill. Men occupy four of these positions, or 29 percent. This is not unusual; over the past two years, men have filled no more than 43 percent of these roles at any given time. Over the past four years, and possibly more, a male has not held the position of President of CSO.

The annual PAC requires between nine and 10 student board members to run it each spring. For the last two years, two males chose to be a part of this board.

“There does need to be a balance, but there will be times when there is stronger leadership from one gender. It does not seem to be a problem, unless the program is suffering,” said Casey Reynolds, Resident Counselor of Ferguson Dormitory.

The all-campus positions are traditionally offices that are held by about an equal number of males and females. This quarter, however, only 43 percent of these titles were earned by the men on campus.

“I think it is terrific that the women are so great, but [I think] the males are really under represented … I think it is a bigger problem than just at Prin,” said Blase.

While women fill leadership positions in many aspects of the community, men tend to focus on their leadership skills in the area of sports. About half of the College population is involved in one or more sports, and 60 percent of these 223 sports team members are men. By the time these men are seniors in their specified sports, many are team captains. Also, about 28 percent of the men involved in athletics participate on more than one team.

Justin Wayne, football and baseball team member, said, “I got a chance last year to be captain of the football team and it was a big leadership commitment.”

For many men, sports are a priority above other opportunities. This has led to shortages in other areas. For example, men have found themselves under-represented in both the Peru and India abroad groups for next quarter. On the Peru abroad, four of the 19 members are men, and the India abroad, five of the 18 participants are men.

“Overall, in the Office of Student Life, we have very specifically tried to find ways to reach out and interest our males students in our program,” said Chestnut Booth, Dean of Students. “We try to choose locations and activities that appeal to men including adventure and outdoors elements.”

Of the abroad and field programs taken in the past year, 37 percent of participants have been males.

In the area of academics, women often surpass men. According to the 2005 CSS Institutional Profile, which is filled out each spring by graduating seniors, 23.1 men fail one or more class during their enrollment at Principia. 10.9 women admitted to the same. 4 percent of the men on campus made the Dean’s List last quarter, as well as 24 percent of men were on the Honor Roll. The Dean List included 13.5 percent of women on campus in the Winter, and the Honor Roll consisted of 34 percent of the women.

“I am concerned about the fact that men seem to be lagging,” said Blase.

Men have also been difficult to retain at the college over the past few years. Retention rates are based on those students who enroll their freshmen year at Principia and fail to return the following fall quarter. In fall of 2005, 65 percent of those students who did not enroll for their sophomore year were male. The men’s rate improved for fall of 2006 to 59 percent.

In the past school year, seven students who were found responsible for a violation of the Blue Pages chose to use the new Restorative Justice system. Of those students, four students were male and three were female. Also this year, three students were sent to Community Board, all of whom were men. Last year, prior to Restorative Justice, six students were sent to Community Board. All six were male.

There are, however, male students who are active in both athletics and other areas of leadership. There are also male students who do not participate in sports at all, but still choose to excel in other subjects.

“I think that leadership positions educate,” said senior Eric Olsen. Olsen is the captain of the men’s tennis and soccer teams and has participated in rugby. He was also the president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee and a Resident Assistant in Anderson. “One of my greatest goals in leadership is seeing how I can be a servant and student to those that I am leading.”

Reynolds said, “There is an answer. We need to pray about the situation and heal it.”

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May 10, 2007

Dear friends,

I have had many questions put to me about the current dispute resolution process and whether it is likely to result in anything; so many that I have decided to write something out to save time and to ensure that I say the same thing to each one who asks.

First, it is not a mediation process that is going on right now. It is a fact finding process.

I am not privy to exactly what the charge to the fact finder was, but the process is exactly what its name suggests. A fact-finder is charged to dig for and decipher the “facts” about a dispute. Usually this is because an accepted version of the truth needs to be shared in order for disputants to be able to resolve a dispute. The assumption is being made that if the “facts” are known, these will provide the basis for action that will be accepted by all and end the dispute. Of course the “facts” as reported will be as reliable and legitimate as the sources made available to the fact finder. This is why it is so important for people with knowledge to speak to the fact finder.

Second, many have asked me about the transparency of a fact finding process, and what kind of report should come out of the process. Again, I don’t know what has been contracted for in the current Principia fact-finding process, but I do know the “norm” for this kind of process.

The report is usually made available to “everybody” who is interested and involved in the issue(s); otherwise credibility and legitimacy could be huge problems. Often there is a meeting where/when it is presented by the fact finder. The report might only be about

10-20 pages depending on the issue(s) and the expectations of the stakeholders (not counting the list of documents and list of people interviewed).

The “usual” form of a fact finding report includes:

  1. The mission of the fact finding

What was the charge to the fact finder? What was the “frame” he was given? What was the fact finder looking for? This is crucial when personnel issues are involved, less important for the structural issues.

  1. What questions were asked?

This ensures that the fact finder was asking for the information the client wanted; it ensures that the right data were collected; it ensures credibility of the fact finder’s conclusions and, therefore, the legitimacy of his report in the community. It should be clear that the “same” questions were asked of different categories of stakeholders.

  1. A summary of responses/conclusions.

Usually presented anonymously(depending on #1 above), the summary must be specific enough to show that the fact finder understood the key issues and behaviors that led him to the conclusions and/or recommendations that have evolved. A brief reference to the methodology used for resolving discrepancies in data (interviewees’ disagreement about facts) is also appropriate in the summary.

  1. A summary of documents examined (not every single one, but the ones principally relied on for any conclusions reached, inferences drawn, etc.)

  1. A list of people interviewed to ensure the full perspective of stakeholders was heard.

It is of course possible that the Principia process has been set up in a different way from that described, but I have not heard anything that would inform me about this. The Resolution Committee should be able to confirm or deny the accuracy of what I have written.

I hope this is helpful.

Bobbi McAdoo Gahlon C’70

Professor and Senior Fellow

Dispute Resolution Institute

Hamline University School of Law