Friday evening, FP and Sonny attended an emergency board of trustees meeting at Burlington College to which the public was invited. It began with an extraordinarily well-written statement read by one of the student representatives followed by a short board discussion. The discussion confirmed that the statement accurately reflected the overall sentiments of the student population but never directly addressed the concerns of the students. It ended up being a very short meeting which was cut off before the faculty representative, Sandy Baird was allowed to speak. They then excused non-board members to have an “executive session.”
Executive Session Conclusion:
Draft Statement:
1. The board will have drafted a grievance policy by March.
2. The board will bring in an outside person to conduc an unbiased climate study of staff and faculty.
3. The board will “look at” the governance of the institution.
4. Everyone on the board voted to confirm the presidency of Jane Sanders except for Sandy Baird, the faculty representative, who abstained because Sanders has the power to fire her.
“Who would trust those people to write a good grievance policy when they are the same people who gave Jane Sanders a vote of confidence?”
-Genese Grill
