Well, not this year for me and for more than 1 reason.
1. Board of Trustee (BOT) Chairman Rand still in power along with Executive Board
2. Today's speaker from JP Morgan
3. We need to Reform the Board not Applaud them.
4. HU's plan to downsize staff, an increase tuition without any discussion of a strategic plan is wrong!!
5. I have been on my back all week with the flu.
Today's speaker is Mr. Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase. I don't know much about the man at all, which is why some of you might say to go and listen to him.
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| Jamie Dimon - CEO of JPMorgan Chase |
But what does is represent????? Power, Money and it part of the system that put lots of folks out of their homes over the last 5 years because of the banking and housing collapse. I am sure that is salary is 20-100 times that of the typical employee at Howard University and if he is fired he gets a golden parachute like some of our administrators at HU receive---not escorted out of the building by police. I am pretty sure that his kids are not worried about getting dismissed from college because they can't pay tuition like so many Howard University students. I'm pretty sure that he would shrug off the 6% increase in proposed tuition for undergraduate students next year and say "chump change."
For me the question is why would our leaders invite him to speak on Charter day???? Has JPMorgan Chase worked out some money deal for HU? Is HU planning to borrow more money through bond sales or some other mechanism that holds the rest of the campus hostage, because they have to keep money in the bank? Is JPMorgan Chase gonna save the hospital?? Is Mr. Dimon a candidate for the BOT???
I will have to ask my colleagues who went to listen if he had anything to say. I am not marching like some drone to support the group that has failed us as a community. That does not mean that I will disengage them. In fact ......
I have thrown my hat in to run for the graduate faculty trustee of BOT. I want to bring the heat. Of course there was resistance all week telling me that I could not run because I needed to be from a professional school like medicine or law. The bylaws of the Faculty Senate and the BOT say that the graduate trustee must come from a graduate/professional school. Somehow that was taken to mean professional school only. The General Counsel of Howard University stepped in and told me that I was eligible to run for the position. So there it is, and here I come.
My Campaign Slogan is: Restoring Confidence
Why, because there is no confidence in leadership or promises at all on this campus. Everyone bends to the will of the BOT but who are they accountable to?? Normally it would be the stakeholders but they are not worried about that unless they are BOT alumni where reputation should matter. It was only less than 2 weeks ago that it became obvious on the web who the committees were -- many of these were new standing committees that were never announced to the university community.
The only way to restore confidence is to push for reform.
Reform: the behavioral tendencies of the BOT,
- The level of transparency that they have (basically zero)
- Accountability - for the decision that they make which impact the HU community
- Their communication and contact with the community
- Their level of respect to members of the university community (students, staff, faculty, alumni, friends)
- Their strategic plan (short-medium and long term) of where are the current policies are taking us as a university
Well enough for now. Gotta get dressed and get down to Charter day..... To stand in solidarity with those of us who do not wish to sit in Cramton and get hot air blown at us, but would rather stand in the cold outside of Cramton on Charter day.
