[Alumni-chat] Re: freedom from responsibility

[J. Greg Williams]

There is no greater learning experience (the point of being a student)  
than participating in that which you wish to learn.  Indeed the entire  
co-op program is built on that premise.  To glibly state that students  
should be free of responsibility eschews that which most  
differentiates Antioch students from the rest.  Antioch has  
historically tried to engage students at every level of the decision  
making process, often to the incredulity of other institutions.  It is  
the role of the student to participate and it is the role of the  
College to provide as much opportunity as possible for them to do so.

Not all students should be Antioch students.   And not all Antioch  
students should be trustees.  But there are a few who would benefit  
and contribute greatly to such a thing and those students will  
gravitate to such an opportunity, regardless of the work involved.   
For most Antiochians, it's not about getting the degree and moving on,  
it's about making a difference (and learning how to).

So I must respectfully disagree with you Sistersara.

-
J. Greg Williams


On Jan 10, 2008, at 3:53 AM, Sistersara at aol.com wrote:

>
> In a message dated 1/9/2008 4:22:50 P.M. Central Standard Time,
> alexandrakesman at gmail.com writes:
>
> I would  personally like to stand up for those students that are  
> under the
> radar and  who will make differences in this world and will sit on
> significantly more  important BoT's of the future.
>
> It was mentioned earlier, but I would  like to elaborate. A current  
> 4th year
> student currently sits (an is the  youngest member in their history)  
> on the
> Board of Trustees of the Unitarian  Universalists.
>
> Now, tell me you don't think that is  amazing!?!?
>
> I rest my case.
>
> Alex
>
>
>
> Alex, I think you need to look at Boards of many organizations, in  
> many
> fields, and ask whether they are normally populated by people who  
> run under the
> radar?
>
> As part of the effort to create a student seat on the Board of  
> Regents of
> the University of Minnesota -- which we accomplished in the early  
> 1970's. I
> really can't think of a more meaningless cause that I ever got  
> engaged  with.  It
> is still a seat, and I suppose will remain so for years, but it  is
> unfortunately without much value.
>
> Why? -- First, the role of students is to be students.  The time   
> demands for
> Trustees and/or Regents is huge, and students should be spending   
> that time
> enjoying and profiting from that opportunity for freedom from   
> responsibility
> for all but their own intellectual development.   Trustees/Regents  
> spend their
> time developing support and raising money for  institutions (at  
> least they
> should), and looking at institutional planning in  large picture  
> frameworks.
> They are expected to be able to think and plan  in terms of decades  
> of effort
> toward goals, largely because they have done that  themselves in  
> whatever niche
> of various systems they emerged from as  leaders.  In Minnesota,  
> University
> Regents have to represent the  Congressional Districts.  (we have  
> eight).  The
> Charter provides for  Regents who represent Agriculture, Natural  
> Science, Labor,
> Medicine, Humanities,  Commerce and Trade.  The University is older  
> than the
> state, is, like Ohio  State, a Land Grant institution, and thus is  
> subject to
> many relevant  laws.  But in the end, the Trustees/Regents are not  
> really
> "management" --  rather they are the advocates for growth and  
> development that
> requires  resources, and they are sufficiently influential so as to  
> acquire those
> resources, and oversee how they are used.  I simply do not believe  
> Students
> have much of a role here.  Where Antioch has gone wrong over the  
> years is
> not in having no Trustees seat for Students, rather is is about   
> communications.
> You know, when the President can't talk to the Trustees,  and I  
> suspect the
> Faculty cannot either, I rather doubt if the students even  know who  
> they are,
> or have ever met them.
>
> So Second, rather than putting a student on the board of Trustees,  
> why not
> reverse the idea, and look at the whole reorganization that is  
> likely to happen
> as needing a Trustee to be a non-voting but attending member of  
> Comcil, and
> another on Adcil.  If that were set up, I suspect you would get good
> communication between Students and Trustees, without having to take  
> someone who
> should be progressing toward a BS or AB Degree away from what is  
> their primary
> objective.  Students, after all may be depending on grants and loans  
> for  that
> BS or AB, but in Theory a Trustee should be able to pay their own   
> way.
>
> Third -- most Trustees are expected to serve at least one term, and  
> perhaps
> several.  It is just as important that older Trustees be  honorably  
> rolled off
> as it is to carefully bring in new blood that can  carry on, yet  
> improve
> things.  The Student/Regent/Trustee thing imagines  that things are  
> done short
> term -- that is in one or, at most,  two  years.  That is not how a  
> BoT or a
> Regents Board works.  Many things  take a decade or a generation to  
> accomplish,
> and that is not where you put short  term students.
>
>
>
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