Letter: Glassman displays leadership

Bailey K. Young

I would like to commend your reporter for the article in yesterday’s DEN, which attempted to convey the complexity of the discussion in Faculty Senate regarding Senator Ludlow’s resolution, which transmitted the results of the confidence/no confidence vote to President Glassman.

The article correctly noted that some Senators thought the resolution did not go far enough, citing Senator Waller’s opinion that the Senate ought to advise the President more particularly on actions to be taken in the light of the preponderance of “no confidence” votes.

Senator Rosenstein, on the other hand, proposed that the resolution should specify that this preponderance did not reflect the unambiguous opinion of the Faculty since a substantial number did not vote, but her amendment was not adopted.

I was quoted (correctly) as reporting that I had heard some Faculty regret the timing of this petition as unfortunate.

I wish to further clarify my own position.

I strongly endorse Senator Ludlow’s language affirming that Faculty Senate has properly fulfilled its constitutional obligation to its constituency by holding the referendum deriving from a petition originated by Faculty and will “continue to serve its constituency by maintaining open communication with President Glassman about this matter, inviting faculty feedback and responses…”.

It would be, in my view, overstepping our proper role to seek to constrain the President in regard to taking specific actions.

Faculty Senate did not originate the petition, and we never discussed its merits.

I also said, and reaffirm here, that we all ought to take pride in the way this process has worked (timely or not), demonstrating that shared governance is alive and well at Eastern Illinois University.

I urged my fellow Senators, and I urge my faculty colleagues and the university community as a whole to vote confidence in ourselves and in our new president.

This is a time of crisis for institutions of higher learning in this state and even the nation, and all of our problems are not of our own making.

We are a strong and vibrant institution, and I believe that with strong leadership and vision we can bring our ship safely through the storm.

I have been impressed, this past semester, by President Glassman’s energy, commitment and willingness to listen to, and communicate with, the constituencies he was hired to serve.

As he put it when he visited with the History Department: “We are all in the boat together.”  Let us do our best to row together.

 

Bailey K. Young, 

Professor of history and Faculty Senate member