July 24, 2007
For the Love of Principia #15
Dear Friends of Principia,
There are a lot of topics and documents referenced herein or attached:
(1) July 16 “Letter to the Family” from the Board of Trustees
(2) Analysis of Trustees’ letter http://www.truthatprincipia.org
(3) “Some Thoughts on Resolution: A Stocktaking by Elizabeth Pond
http://www.truthatprincipia.org
(4) The Majority Report of the Resolution Committee
http://www.truthatprincipia.org
(5) July 18 letter to the Trustees by Joy Truitt Turnbaugh [attached]
(6) Notes on the July 19 Meeting of the Town & Country Task Force—Principia Development [attached]
(7) E-mail addresses of the 8 majority members of the Resolution
Committee [included]
(8) E-mail addresses of the Board of Trustees [included]
(9) Explanation of the new automatic e-mail notification option of
new postings now offered by truthatprincipia.[attached]
As you may already know “the other shoe has dropped”. The Trustees announced their conclusions about Stuart Jenkin’s actions during his tenure as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Trustees and other concerns raised by the representative members of the Resolution Committee. They based their findings on Jim Reeve’s report http://www.truthatprincipia.org without waiting for the complete report from the Resolution Committee. In their July 16 “Letter to the Family” http://www.prin.edu/trustees they:
· ignored the majority recommendation to remove Stuart as CEO, “During his term as CEO his leadership style and treatment of employees and people in the community have fostered an atmosphere of intimidation and fear. …concluded that for many in the community it would too difficult to rebuild confidence in Stuart or to move on to broader institutional healing under his leadership.”
· ignored the minority recommendation to place him on probation and concluded that “Stuart Jenkins has fulfilled the duties of his office with great courage and directness and has contributed to necessary changes at Principia….Stuart has acted with integrity.”
· disbanded the Resolution Committee without waiting for their follow up majority and minority reports nor allowing them to pursue areas of their charge to Jim Reeves that were ignored in his 1st report.
· ignored the January 31st faculty vote of no confidence in Stuart Jenkins and request that he be removed as CEO and Board chair.
· ignored call for Stuart’s removal by alumni and friends of Principia [see http://petitionprincipia.org]
· told those who disagree with them to leave Principia “Some members of our community may not agree with the choices represented by the Trustee’s decisions and will turn to growth opportunities elsewhere.”
· announced plans to control the content of student communica-tion media (i.e. The Pilot) “set up a Commission on Communications Standards charged with upholding the standards articulated in the Purpose and Policies of Principia”. During the 2006-2007 school year the Pilot was the principle tool for campus discussions about Stuart Jenkins, the Trustees and governance issues.
In one 9 page epistle the Trustees ran roughshod over customary Principia etiquette, and months of promises and commitments they had made to individuals, organizations and the Principia Community.
The Trustees conclusions and edicts contained in their letter are so extreme and indefensible that the focus should shift to them. They hired Stuart Jenkins. They have not only defended him but they lauded him for his actions and methodology after the faculty, many alumni and staff spoke out repeatedly against his tactics and untruthfulness
At the website http://www.truthatprincipia.org, in the entry titled “Trustees: We have asked Stuart Jenkins to remain in his post as CEO” dated July 17, 2007 the contributors have written an excellent analysis of the history of the Resolution Committee and the major elements of the Trustees’ letter.
Also, Elizabeth Pond, the respected Christian Science Monitor writer who wrote the story “Three Weeks in Autumn” in the June 1st Pilot detailing Stuart’s orchestrated removal of George Moffett as College President has penned a new thoughtful analysis “Some Thoughts on Resolution: A Stocktaking”. http://www.truthatprincipia.org . In it she reports on:
· the Trustees mandate that created the Resolution Committee
· the bias and inaccuracy of the Reeves report
· Stuart Jenkins’ version of events
· George Moffett’s version of events
· the Trustees’ dictatorial response to the Committee’s
She navigates the many available source documents, the Reeve’s report and the Trustees’ July 16th letter with clarity, helps us understand the complex and often contradictory accounts and presents a clear picture of what has actually occurred. A very valuable read!
I have also included a letter written to the Trustees on July 18th by an alumnus. She has said “feel free to forward this message to any other Alumni that you know”. It clearly states her opinions on what has transpired and her resolve to see that Stuart is replaced. I believe that if all who are similarly incensed at what continues to transpire at Prin were similarly vocal it would an effective tool. It would help the Trustees understand that their heavy handedness and intransigence do not change the fact that for Prin’s very survival, with any modicum of the integrity upon which Mary Kimball Morgan founded it, Stuart must leave today.
I encourage you to:
(1) read the Trustees’ letter
(2) read the Majority Report from the Resolution Commitee
(3) read the truthatprincipia article
(4) read Elizabeth Pond’s skillful analysis
(5) think prayerfully about Principia, its mission and ideals
Recognizing that doing nothing is enabling the Trustees to recreate Prin in their limited image please consider:
(1) writing the 8 courageous members of the Resolution Committee who courageously concluded that: “For this institution to heal and move forward we all agreed change in the top leadership is needed. [e-mail addresses below]
(2) writing the Trustees to express your concerns with their actions, your desire that they resign so a whole new cast can restore integrity and harmony to Principia’s leadership and your commitment to fight until this happens.[e-mail addresses below]
(3) if you have not done so already, signing the petition on the internet at www.petitionprincipia.org . Some aspects of it are outdated but it the visible way to publicly show your opposition to Stuart remaining at Prin.
(4) talking to your Prin classmates and Christian Science friends and encouraging them to be equally committed.
(5) thinking creatively of other actions that will help move the Trustees in this direction.
(6) Signing up for truthatprincipia’s new automatic e-mail notification option so that you automatically receive by e-mail a copy of the new posting.
Thank you for your love of Principia!
With gratitude,
College ‘71
E-mail addresses of the 8 majority Resolution Committee members:
"Alice Stanley"
E-mail addresses of the Board of Trustees:
"Bill Hays"
*************************************************************************************************************************
From: Turnbaugh, Joy [
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2007 10:33 AM
To: trustees@principia.edu
Subject: RE: P01043196] Letter from Principia Board of Trustees
Trustees,
It is a sad day when adults act like children and insist that they have not
made a mistake. Your decision to keep Stuart on as the CEO is a bad
decision. I will not donate money to Principia until a change has been made
and will encourage every classmate and Alumni that I come into contact with
to do the same.
Classmates,
Please read the report from the Resolution Committee written by Jim Reeves.
While it still does not express the complete picture of the events that have
taken place, it will provide a glimpse of what has been happening.
The President of the College, George Moffett was asked to resign. He did
not want to resign. He was asked to sign a Confidentiality agreement or
else he would loose income. His secretary released a string of e-mails
between George and Stuart (she was then fired) which demonstrate Stuart's
lack of professionalism, integrity and Christianity.
While I understand the importance of running a business and turning a
profit, Principia is not a business. It is an educational institution and
should be held to a higher standard. What we teach our children in our
attitudes and relationships is far more important than the ABCs. Children
will learn despite the teacher. What they learn about loving, sharing,
cooperation, teamwork, communication skills and Christianity is more
important. The friendly atmosphere, positive attitude and loving feeling
that existed at Principia when we attended cannot exist with a CEO who does
not instill these same feelings from the top down.
It is my opinion that a class or mentor will not teach Stuart to change his
top down, fear driven, management style. And certainly not in the quick
timeframe that he himself expects out of his faculty and staff. The best
resolution to this problem is to replace Stuart with someone who understands
Education and who acts in a Christianly manor.
As two of our classmates are now Trustees I hope that they will be
supportive of this note. While they were not trustees when Stuart was
hired, they may have been influenced by his management style. Please
remember when you were attending Principia and the positive atmosphere that
existed. I would encourage any and all classmates to talk to the faculty to
get their feelings on how the school is managed today. Keep an open thought
to the Truth. Please express your thoughts and opinions to the Trustees to
help them with their very important job of the continuation of Principia.
Thanks for your time.
Joy Truitt Turnbaugh
Please feel free to forward this message to any other Alumni that you know.
MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD July 19, 2007
Subject: Town & Country Task Force – Principia Development
07:30 AM, July 19, 2007 City of
Attendees:
Jon Dalton, Mayor, ex-officio Task Force Member
Steve Garrett, City Attorney
John Copeland, City Administrator
Sharon Rothmel, City Planner
Fred Meyland-Smith, Alderman Ward 3, Task Force Chair
Phil Behnam, Alderman Ward 4, Member (absent)
Aja Stokes,
Honorable Baca, Administrative Law Judge, Ward 1, Member
Debbie Pyzyk, Wheatfield Ward 3, Member (absent)
Stuart Jenkins, CEO Principia
Skip Mange, Project Officer Principia
John Diehl, Legal Advisor Principia
Bob Brinkman, Development Advisor, Principia
Richard Ward, Brinkman Associate, Principia (absent)
Observers:
Jim Haven, former Alderman Ward 3
Steve Donaldson, former Alderman Ward 2
Kathy Fienup, Trustee Wheatfield Ward 3
Members of the First
Members of the Community
Mayor Dalton – The Mayor welcomed all to the Task Force meeting noting the excitement that is growing with Principia’s ideas. He stressed the need for close communications, a timetable responsive to Principia, a link on the Principia website to the City documentation on the project, his plans for a town hall forum, and the appointment of a citizen’s committee to channel ideas to the Task Force and City. He then introduced the members of the Task Force, cited who was absent, noted Fred Meyland-Smith would chair the Task Force, and proceeded to introduce the City staff attending the meeting.
Stuart Jenkins – Stuart thanked the Mayor for the Task Force and stated that community input is important to the project. He explained the environment of the client citing history, budget figures, number of staff/faculty/students; no federal funds were received at Principia (only one of three colleges in that category). Of note, he cited that 20-30 families move to the area each year to attend Principia. He went on to say, that Principia had never opposed any development in the City since 1945.
Stuart asked the rhetorical question, “why now?” concerning the development. He answered that the Board of Trustees have a fiduciary responsibility to consider the use of all capital assets; a percentage of the assets are allocated to the budget annually and this property currently returns no revenue. He cited the $20M borrowed to build athletic facilities at
Bob Brinkman – Stuart introduced Bob who showed a series of slides starting with the area under consideration for development. The area included 128 acres west of the power lines, additional acreage for the large lake east of the power lines that met MSD storm water requirements (total of 25 acres of lakes – 3 small west of the power lines and one large east of the power lines). The area also included (for the first time) 8 acres south of
Bob felt that there would be little traffic impact on Clayton and Mason Roads. He would envision entrances on both roads across from the entrances into Wheatfield and some entrances on Clayton.
A 10-minute documentary on
Bob showed a vision of the “Morgan Grove” project (items viewable at www.principia.edu/trustees/). He proposed a French Cottage architecture using the same materials the renowned architect Maybeck used in constructing the
The flavor of the development would be on a par with
Stuart Jenkins – He acknowledged with the Principia staff that they will get back to the City with 4 or 5 points. Right now there is no timetable, no plan, no architect, and no village to copy.
Chairman – What is the objective of the development?
Stuart Jenkins – Principia would maintain ownership of the property to ensure the quality of the development. Control, he stated, is the key. “We cannot sell one acre lots”, but will have ground lease lots. He expects to develop this area on a measured pace; no pressure or a mad rush – currently giving away hay bales. Alcohol services in any
No additional meetings were announced.
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