Trustees procedure disallowed fair debate
Column by Kimberly Hoffmeister
Tuesday after the “Boardroom Bash,â€
UK President Lee T. Todd, Jr. told the Lexington Herald-Leader, “They said a lot…they were heard.â€
No, President Todd, we did not say a lot because we were ignored. And, no, President Todd, we were not heard because, you and 11 other board members bolted from the room (all of whom voted for “Wildcat Coal Lodgeâ€).
How can you say we were heard under those conditions?
Furthermore, time was not granted to the board members to read our printed student statement (which was copied for every member on the board) before voting.
It is pure irony that a university, a system built for learning, involvement and expressing your voice, would not allow us to do so.
Todd expressed to the Kernel, “They did not follow the formal process to be placed on the meeting agenda.â€
Is it not important to hear your tuition-paying students, staff and faculty when such controversial events arise?
We are the foundation of the university— without us there is no university. Accountability does not loom over your heads, it was apparent in the days to come students were going to be present at the meeting. If Todd was concerned about our viewpoints, he would have been the responsible president and informed the student body of the “formal process.â€
Technically, as the Kernel reported, the Board of Trustees’ Web site does not provide the procedures or even state the existence of a “formal process†to speak at meetings.
After a discussion with a relative who holds a position of board member of a college, they agreed, the students, staff and faculty should have been given time to speak, especially if all three votes against the re-naming of the lodge were from the student, staff and faculty representative.
For instance, in the case of Lexington’s City Council, every individual is allotted three minutes to speak. If time runs out, the council schedules another meeting in order to hear those individuals.
Yet Tuesday, students were prevented from even reading a few paragraphs. The paragraphs explicitly elucidate how “Wildcat Coal Lodge†is a violation according to UK’s Administrative Regulations “Policy Statement and Advisory Committee on Naming University Property,†under Article III, General Guidelines, sections D, F and K.
So, who are the 16 individuals who voted for the name change (one member was not present)? The group consists of attorneys, former teachers, doctors, CEOs, the CFO of Ball homes, a retired NFL player, the President of Miles Farm Supply & Marathon Fuels, a partner in lobbying firm, a captain in the U.S. Army Reserves Judge Advocate General’s Corp., car dealership owners, a president of an allegedly going green university and our heroic faculty and staff representatives and SG President (Ernest Yanarella, Robynn Pease and Ryan Smith).
Since 1992, Board of Trustees members have been selected by the governor. Sandy Burgie Patterson, the alumni representative, ought to take initiative before escaping to the backroom and listen to not only the students, but the alumni of UK.
Currently, alums are receiving donation letters in the mail. If alums feel neglected, you can bet your $7 million Wildcat Coal Lodge donations will significantly decrease.
Maybe board member Carol Martin “Bill†Gatton (yes the “Bill†Gatton) would disagree with the name change if his current on campus building became the “Joe Camel†building; or perhaps board member James W. Stuckert would have second thoughts if his building changed to the “Wal-mart†Career Center.
“But in all fairness Mr. Stuckert, Wal-Mart donated $7 million dollars and demanded the name.â€
We, the students, want to be heard and we demand the vote be reconsidered. Naming a building after an industry or a lobbying group is selling out the university and President Todd, Big Blue can’t be bought.
The board’s excuse for not letting the students speak was that they did not follow the proper process for getting on the agenda. Since there is no urgency to this issue, it would have been simple for the board to stick to their process, AND give the students a voice, by simply tabling the action for consideration at a future meeting, at which the students could jump through the necessary hoops to be formally allowed to speak. Such an action could have preserved the orderly function of the board, given the students their voice, and provided a learning experience about the process for participation at board meetings.
Kimberly,
Congratulations for the well written expression of thoughts on the recent Board of Trustees meeting and the student’s inability to speak out re the naming of the new dormitory.
As a graduate I sm dedicated to UK becoming a Top 20 public research institution, I firmly believe Dr. Todd is an outstanding, competant President, I abhor in essence dragging his name thru the mud. He is a fellow Alum who has nothing but the best interests of UK in his every action.
I am sympathic to the student’s feelings over not being given the opportunity to speak at the recent Board meeting, in retrospect they should have been given free speech.
I am old enough to remember the sorry “student revolts” that after the Kent State affair resulted in a UK ROTC building being burned. In any group there is a radical element that wants “complete freedom” and is willing to initiate any action that fosters that thinking, such is detrimental for all.
There must be a happy balance of freedom and law and order, I hope you will remember this in future writings.
Sincerely,
Joseph J. Schmitt Jr.
If we truly want the student’s voices to be heard, then we must hear the voices of all students. There are many students on campus who do not support coal and plenty who do support coal, and I am one of them. I personally do not oppose the Board’s decision. We pay tuition to receive a degree, not to impact the Board’s decisions, if we did, it would be great if we could for once get tuition costs to stop rising! The fact is that the board members are the one who vote on a decision, and majority one. That is a democratic procedure. As far as naming something “Joe Camel†or “Wal-Martâ€, that would be against policy because both of these refer to an actual corporation. “Coal†is not the corporation that Joe Craft is part of, his corporation is Alliance. Coal is a word, simply put. Yes, there are many different corporations that mine coal (ICG, James River, Massey, Alliance, ect.) but they did not ask for these specific names to be in the title of the new building. This whole thing has turned into a big uproar, when really the whole topic is not because of a name, it’s because people do not support coal mining. I understand that, I don’t agree with it, but I do understand there is opposition to coal mining. In my opinion, this is a donation from a group of people, and is not a matter or student debate. If a debate need be held, then hold it on the use of energy on campus; not because a group of donors is asking to have “coal†in the title of a building. Regardless what the future holds for Kentucky as far as energy is concerned; coal was and still is a huge part of the state’s tradition, and it should be okay to have it in the name. It is not embarrassing to us, everyone in the nation knows that Kentucky, along with a few other states, are known for mining coal. If we stop tomorrow, that does not change the fact that we were known for that. I say be proud of heritage, and whether or not change comes, we should still be proud of our future!
I would change my name to Coal for 7 MILLION DOLLARS…
Well-said, Kim.
Are you kidding me, “I think”? I love that line of “We’re known for it, let’s be proud of it”. That’s like someone in Sudan saying “We’re known for genocide, let’s be proud of it”. Are you KIDDING me? Enough with this tradition. It’s like people are just throwing their arms up and saying “Hey, so what if we’re completely screwing up the earth for a cheap energy source that is in NO WAY renewable. It’s our heritage”.
I have got it!!!!! How about the next time the University needs a building, we get the final cost and make every student and employee pay an equal part and then have each person put in the hat to name the building. This way all those that felt like they were not heard will get a chance:)
Come on Megan……I’m sure the people of Sedan love the fact that your comparing their fight with the University putting the word coal in a name…….please you have a lot to learn about this huge place we call earth.
Does Sedan come in a 2 door coupe, Dave foundation?
Yes it does and Lexus also makes a model as well
But you cant get the sedan model in sudan only the machine gun model
Just because it has always been done doesn’t mean it should continue to be done. It’s the same old story in the same old accusatory tone. It’s the same premise every time.
Get out of this rut of claiming tradition as the best premise to draw a conclusion. It happens with every generation, and this generation is TIRED of hearing about how coal is “part of our heritage”. It’s just not a good enough reason. Traditions change from decade to decade.
Money, by the way, is not a good enough reason either. UK will regret this decision in years to come.