Hello Concordians,
It has just been a few days since I last blogged to you from the President's Desk, but the past few days have been some eventful ones at Concord. I have heard some news that I am going to share with you--news that will probably be confirmed on Monday (It was confirmed to me from various conversations with various people). I'm also going to give you an update on various projects that I have been looking into.
The first thing I will discuss--Dining. Before I officially became President, an ad hoc commitee was formed with me, Marshall Campbell, and Rick Dillon in an attempt to renegotiate the contract with Aramark. In this attempt, we have gained quite a few incentives for students (I have to hand it to both Marshall and Rick over myself on this one--it seemed as if I was only a mere participant during our meetings because they did most of the talking.) Here is what you will receive, starting this fall:
1. The Dining Hall will be open for dinner until 7 PM this fall, from Sunday through Thursday night. This will allow many more students to eat, and it will also allow students more flexibility who have athletics and night classes.
2. The Dining Hall will create a new station that will serve "ready to order" rice/noodles, proteins, and veggies. In other words, a student will select a starch, the meat/poultry, seafood, and then be stirfried before serving.
3. Dining is going to add $7.50 in flex dollars for both semesters. So, you will have $7.50 more on both the 12 meal and 7 meal plan in the fall, and an additional $7.50 in the spring.
When I served on this committee, one point I attempted to make was that if board money increases, students should likewise see a service given to them in return. The extra hour of dining and the other incentives are certainly a good start. As I mentioned, I plan on being very hard on Dining this year. My SGA will come down on them hard on certain issues, and they will not get away with some of their asinine quirks. One thing that really ticked me off in the past was when they yelled at you for taking an apple out of the cafeteria. Well, I'm sorry--but when you pay $1800 for a meal plan, you should be able to roll in apples.
Speaking of meal plans, I have had a lively debate with Rick Dillon about this in the past week. He has brought out several interesting points as to why students "must" get a meal plan. For one, the dormitories are not equipped to prepare food. Another point Rick brought out is that if a great deal of food was allowed in the dormitories, cockroaches would invade. Cockroaches of course are an expensive, disgusting problem. It was hard for me to disagree with his points; however, they still did not persuade me as to why students must accept a plan with no choice. I told him that a student who wanted to save money could easily make a pop tart for breakfast, eat a ham sandwhich and a banana or something for lunch, and then go to the cafeteria or Subway for dinner if he/she chooses. I also told him that if the food preparation in the dormitories is so subpar, why not improve upon that? I feel that a student should have the option to fix a frozen pizza or fry a hamburger if that student so chooses. Basically, the college is arguing that because their facilities are so awful, you have to get this service. The only way a sick student can get out of the plan is if they practically waive all of their privacy by allowing a doctor to divulge this information to a group of people on a committee who are clearly not qualified to judge the severity of any medical condition. However, Rick does say that if the Dining Hall does not accomodate a student's needs, they want to know immediately (I.E. like the comment SGA Secretary Eric Lopez made as a comment to my last blog on facebook). This is going to be an interesting discussion over the next year, and even if I can't get them to change this policy, let's hope that we can at least build the way there by helping to improve dormitory food preparation facilities.
The second piece of news is that several administrators have transferred to new interim jobs. This hasn't been announced by Concord yet, but many people already know about it. Dr. John David Smith has been moved to Interim Vice President and Academic Dean. Marjie Flanigan from the Academic Success Office will take John David's role of Interim VP for Student Affairs, and Rick Dillon will be the interim Dean of Students (a job he has done at Concord in the past), as well as still be Housing Director. Based on what I have heard, Dr. Smith was promoted to Academic Dean without the consent of either the students or the faculty (this job really concerns the faculty more than the students. If the faculty was not consulted, then I am eager to see their reaction. However, I cannot verify for sure whether the faculty had no say). Flanigan and Dillon were also both promoted to heading over issues of John David's old job, and this definitely did not occur with the consent of the students by having a representative on a hiring committee. I am personally insulted by this--because it does not appear that the voice of the SGA truly matters to Dr. Aloia, and I am the President who has been seeking compromise. I am, however, not yet taking an official stance on this issue nor am I moving the SGA to do so either because I do not yet know all the details, and even when I do, I want to ask the SGA Executive Board to come up with a stance first. You will likely see a resolution about this in our first Senate meeting. Flanigan is a nice lady, and Rick, contrary to popular belief, does advocate for students. I cannot say that these were the right choices, nor can I say how could I be the judge of that when the administrators in charge of students did not allow any input from the SGA on these hires.
Furthermore, I have also received an update on the Student Center Director. I will not divulge a lot of personal details about the candidates--because I promised not to, but basically, both candidates are still in the running; however, certain issues exist for both of them as to why they might not be taking the job at this moment. The possibility may occur that the Hiring Committee might have to reconvene in order to find another candidate if it ends up that both Billy and Abe choose not to take the position. Either way, it's going to keep dragging on for a while.
The last update is that Dr. Aloia confirmed that the library opening longer will cost the students $2,000 in both the fall and spring semesters. I discussed this in Chris Slater's blog when the news first came out. I have my philosophy on this--I feel that it is one step back in order to make two steps forward. This is not a permanent fix; if it works and students show, the admin. is likely to keep it open permanently. Because the students are demanding, and because the admin. is looking to make a wise investment and not waste their money, it is a compromise between two opposing entities. The library will be open until midnight, Monday through Thursday, and it will be open from 12-6 on Saturday rather than 12-4. This is, of course, pending approval of the Student Senate the first meeting of the year, which I certainly hope to see.
I will be on campus for "University Point Press Day" on July 22. Greg Quick's Institutional Advancement Committee that I serve on will be in charge of this. The administration, President Boggess of the faculty, myself, and others will take a tour with the press of University Point that day. If anyone would like to see me that day and talk about issues, let me know. I will also go with Sean Noland that day probably to look at the Pavilion (the new name for the Gazebo) to check and see if the SGA could perhaps fit more tables for picnic room there.
Until next time,
President Yeager
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$7.50 a semester? I am pumped because that is another wrap from South of Sicily!!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAnd John--just think--it'll be 2 wraps in the spring!
ReplyDeleteThe 2004-2005 SGA made a big deal of trying to get Rick Dillon removed as Interim Dean of Students. They didn't like that he held the two positions, due to a perceived conflict of interest.
ReplyDeleteTo appeal a ruling by Housing, you have to go to the Dean of Students. They were upset b/c they felt Dillon wouldn't be likely to overturn a ruling he initially signed off on.
If I recall, I believe Jade Perez & Bryan Henderson were two of the biggest SGA officials against this. At the time, Jade was the Ombudsman & Bryan was a Justice.
I, and the Public Defender, Josh Lawson, as well as Jeff, have had some brief discussions about reforming our appeal system so at to avoid situations like this. While it is my FIRM opinion that no one person should occupy both roles (Director of Housing and Dean of Students) because it creates a terrible conflict of interest, the fact remains that our Administration obviously did not see it that way, so we must change our system to accomodate this unfortunate situation.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I hope that this Executive Board can sit down and create binding policies that mandate student input and representation in the hiring process of University officials...
I want to be very clear that there is no conflict of interest here. Rick has no judicial responsibilities that he did not have as director of housing. Dr. Flanigan is the supervising authority for the University judicial system. All functions previously performed by Dean Smith are now to be performed by her. If you have any questions, I'd be glad to address them.
ReplyDeleteSean Noland
Judicial Advisor
So, to overturn a ruling by Housing, you now go to Dr. Flanigan instead of the Dean of Students?
ReplyDeleteHousing does not nor has it ever issued rulings. That is the responsibility of the Student Hearing Board or the University Hearing Board (depending on how it is steered by the Steering Committee). If a student wishes to appeal the verdict, it goes to the University Appeals Board (An independently appointed board consisting of the chair, a faculty or staff member, and a student.) If the student wishes to appeal beyond that, it goes to the VP of Student Affairs (Dr. Flanigan) or her designee. As you see, Mr. Dillon is nowhere in the adjudication process. Trust me, there is no conflict of interest here. Rick has no judicial responsibilities that he did not already have. Every judicial function that Dean Smith performed will now be performed by Dr. Flanigan. I have received assurances of this from President Aloia, Dean Smith, and Dr. Flanigan.
ReplyDeleteSean Noland
Judicial Advisor
Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteWas there ever a conflict of interest? What was the 04-05 SGA spending so much time talking about?
There was a conflict of interest back then because Rick was both the VP of Student Affairs AND the Dean of Students while serving as director of housing. Now he serves as Dean of Students and Director of Housing. Under this new configuration the roles of VP of Student Affairs and Dean of Students are performed by two people instead of on person serving as both. This allows Dr. Flanigan to assume the judicial responsibilities, not Rick.
ReplyDeleteThe Student Hearing Board does not issue rulings per se, it issues recommendations. These recommendations do not become rulings until the VPSA signs off on them. In very rare circumstances in the past, the VPSA has substantially disagreed with the hearing board ruling and has exercised his/her right to either send it back to the hearing board for further consideration or unilaterally modify the ruling.
This was the conflict with Rick. Under the old system, Rick was issuing the write ups and signing off on the rulings. He could potentially modify a ruing based on his direct knowledge of the incident and not whether the hearing board reccomendation was valid. This is why he could have been consdiered the police and the judge.
The VPSA is also the final appeal but can appoint a designee to hear the appeal if he/she chooses. If desired, he could hear an appeal and it would once again place him in a judge position.
As I understand it, the responsibilities that Rick and Dr. Flanigan will perform have not been fully delineated yet. What I know now is that Rick will oversee dining (which kind of makes sense since board impacts housing directly) and Dr. Flanigan will oversee the judiciary. There are many other responsibilities of the VPSA and Dean of Students to be divvied up. It will be interesting to see how they are.
On a final note, I will say that this configuration is not uncommon at other universities. The Dean of Students is typically lower on the hierarchy than the VPSA and answers to the VPSA. I am not sure that is the case here, but it would make sense.
My fear is that Dr. Flanigan will feel uncomfortable challenging a ruling when let's say the Student Hearing Board disagrees with Housing on the merits of an issue because the person she is splitting her duties with (Rick Dillon) will want one thing and the Hearing Board will want another entirely. I am eager to see what her philosophy toward students will be on these issues, and whether or not she will respect the rulings of the Student Hearing Board. Because this might bring up a conflict of interest, one still exists but to a lesser extent than if Rick still had VP of Student Affairs and Housing Director. Rick might do well handling Dining issues (as I said, he is most directly responsible for getting us the changes for the fall we already have) and other things, but as Dean of Students he definitely should never influence Dr. Flanigan on the ruling of the Hearing Board.
ReplyDeleteThis still does not change the fact either that students were never consulted on who their dean will be, whereas members of the faculty were in fact consulted about who their Academic Dean would be(and we had no say in that either--although I'm sure John David will do a fine job). I will be eager to discuss this issue with my cabinet to say the least.
-Jeff
I trust Dr. Flanigan to reach her decisions competently and independently. I think it is highly unlikely Rick will recommend that Marjie overturn a Hearing Board decision. If Dr. Flanigan is torn about a case and chooses to consult Rick, it is her right to do so. I do not think that Rick's new title adds any persuasive power when it comes to Dr. Flanigan. It should also be considered that there was only one ruling that was questioned in this past year. I do not think that you will see any conflicts of interest here, but I promise that I will do everything in my somewhat limited power to make sure that none occur. In short, worrying about a possible conflict of interest here is making a mountain out of a molehill.
ReplyDeleteOh, okay. I didn't understand that some of the duties had been removed. Rick's not exactly holding the same position he did in the past. That makes sense now.
ReplyDeleteI made a mistake on my post--it's $15.00 per semester, not $7.50. So, you will receive an extra $30.00 this year.
ReplyDelete