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n approximately 9 days, Howard celebrates Charter day. This is the day that Howard University celebrates it beginning when on March 2, 1867 the founders of the university provided the 1 page document on how to run Howard University. The 1 page charter is a legal document giving the instruction to future power players (Trustees) on how to run Howard University.
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| Charter of Howard University - Written March 2, 1867 |
This charter was prepared two years after a bloody civil war, that decided the freedom of millions of black people in the United States.
147 Years later, Howard University at the brink of another struggle: The rule of the Board of Trustee (BOT) and the freedom of the university. How did it ever get to this point?? The lack of checks and balances has been largely responsible as the original 1 page Charter has given rise to a current 35 page BOT document that was last changed exactly 1 months ago, without the knowledge of the campus.
The charter, unlike the constitution of the United States (and approved by the house of representatives and Senate) gave all of the power to the Trustees (who at the time were all white), while providing little or no protection to the faculty (who were also white) and the students. I suggest that all stakeholders at Howard (Students, Staff, Faculty, Alumni and Friends of HU) read both the Charter and BOT bylaws to understand how HU arrived to
its current struggles.
The problem, is that even though the majority of trustees are of African descent, they are not in touch with the reality or challenges that underserved/underrepresented people face each day. They are the rich and powerful, who move in circles with like-minded folks. They talk about millions like the rest of talk about dollars and Howard is a place of only perceived feelings and website pages. It is a place where statistics are thrown around to justify its existence rather than investing properly in its people and infrastructure. If Howard is the Titanic, then the BOT represent the group that is not even on the boat. They watching from an airplane. But people who got inside tracks to the BOT do have lifeboats. The rest of us .... Well you know the story (That's gonna be some cold water, hope u can tread water cause there aren't enough life jackets).
Is there evidence to support any of your assertions and are their solutions???? Read on.
There is long been a perception that there are too many staff and faculty. Yet the administrative budgets for Howard University of more than $100,000,000 dollars per year. How many people are supported by that money.
So two weeks ago, HU said that they would slash 4% of its workforce.
Of course they cut people last summer and had a buyout of staff several years ago. Sadly, many staff members make very low salaries and have committed many years of service to the university and POOF you are gone. Maybe you get 6 months pay but can that make up for everything that you have given and done to support generations of students that come to the university with hopes and dreams?
They are also planning to increase the outsourcing of jobs
Next, HU said that have to raise the undergraduate tuition by 6% next year. Sure there words about trying to help students stay at HU, but what about the many students who are currently struggling to stay at HU.
So where am I going with all of this.... Back to the origin--The BOT and the abuse of power. How is it that they can make sweeping changes to the university but remain opaque and unaccountable. It is only in the last week that the website became functional showing the committees and membership of these committees after asking the Interim President to request to the BOT to fix their website.
The bylaws which is the BOT governing document derives all its power from the Charter. However, the Charter did not provide fixed terms for BOT member, it did not say that the BOT minutes should be keep from all eyes for 50 years, it did not say that it could change its own bylaws without any discussion or review. It is time for things to change. So next week instead of dressing up and going to the Charter day events like a drone, I want to be an agent for change. What does that mean???
Don't know.. Could mean standing outside of Cramton Auditorium with a protest sign..... could mean summarizing a possible charter day faculty forum that discusses the mess that the BOT has made, it could be talking to folks about how Boards of Trustees elsewhere share governance with their university members, it could be researching how BOTs work at other universities. BUT I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT I WON'T BE LISTENING TO THE BOT CHAIR RAND OR ANYONE ELSE.
In order to address the BOT, we cannot be scared or afraid of making our university work better. The problem is that HU acts like a close knit family but with extremely dysfunctional parents (BOT) and older siblings (Administration) that abuse the younger family members. It doesn't want to discuss its dirty laundry because somehow it feels that the family will be punished....yet the most vulnerable are being punished every day.
There are several possible outcomes to what is happening on campus: (1) unpredictable disruptions are likely when BOT and administration decisions are pressed onto the students, staff and faculty; (2) The charter is changed; (3) the BOT bylaws are changed to reflect transparency, accountability and respect with the university community.
I like the third point, because after a internet bubble, banking bubble and housing bubble leading to the loss of trillions of dollars, destruction of lives and livelihoods --- Behavioral change, monitoring and regulation to protect the vulnerable are the hard learned lessons.
So, lets focus on Reform at Howard with the BOT. Here are some possible starting places for REFORM OF THE BOT:
1.) Require that when the BOT meets, a summary of the BOT meeting that include actions will be made available to the university stakeholders by the president of the university (within 2 weeks of the meeting (MONITOR).
2.) Form an outside advisory committee, with no ties to the university, in concert with other university organizations (Faculty Senate, Howard University Student Association, Howard University Staff Association, Faculty Senate) should periodically review and evaluate the actions and performance of the BOT and its committees and make these reports known to the university community (MONITOR and REGULATE).
3.) Make minutes of voteable items will be available upon request and to the outside advisory committee for review. Not 50 years -- This term should be removed immediately (BEHAVIORAL CHANGE).
4.) Require that changes to the bylaws by the BOT should be made known to the community through the president, faculty senate or other university organizations prior to final approval by the BOT (They can't approve large scale changes without some review) (MONITOR and BEHAVIORAL CHANGE).
5.) Require that trustees (Student, faculty, alumni) that are currently excluded from the executive committee shall be briefed by the Executive committee on the discussions and actions that have been undertaken before the end of the BOT meeting (MONITOR and BEHAVIORAL CHANGE).
6.) Require Term limits for Board members should be distinct and limited to an acceptable period of time (2-4 terms) (REGULATE and MONITOR).
7.) Require that the executive committee and Chair of the BOT must demonstrate transparency/accountability as it relates to their responsibilities to Howard University. This would include a letter to community from the Chair of the Board/Executive Committee or the President for actions that are expected to have a significant impact on the university (MONITOR, REGULATE and BEHAVIORAL CHANGE) .
8.) Put in procedures for choosing at-large executive committee members in the BOT bylaws (currently no procedures) (REGULATE and BEHAVIORAL CHANGE).
This is just a start. You ask why the Executive committee? Well every action that is approved at Howard University must be approved by this powerful committee of trustees. They will choose the next president.. period (the rest of us don't matter at present).
This is the group that the faculty has a vote of no-confidence against. Yet the just ignored us as if we did not even exist. Plus there was some inside sabotage by folks who don't want change.
Everyone wants HU to survive, but cannot be compromise on the principles of education.
If people want to preserve what is currently in place at HU, either (1) they don't care about the institution; (2) have been weakened so that mediocre is OK; (3) they are robbing the university for their own benefit.
The true wealth of HU is its people. The federal appropriation which was enacted in 1928 has not been responsible for raising generations of scholars. That fire comes from within and is priceless. With or without the appropriations, the passion for the advancement of a people and the world at large will not cease.
