Only eight of Carleton’s 32-member Board of Governors were present at an open forum that gave the university community the opportunity to make presentations to the board Jan. 30.
The board, which is Carleton’s highest financial governing body and consists of a combination of students, faculty, staff, and representatives from the general public, heard 10 presentations at the annual open forum. Carleton president Roseann Runte was one attending member, along with board chair Ron Jackson.
There were only two other community members, along with two faculty members, one staff member, and one graduate student member.
“I was very concerned by the overall turnout,” said attendee and graduate student member of the board Nick Falvo via email. “While it’s true that board members are busy people, board members also have responsibilities to the university community.”
Falvo said he was concerned by the low turnout in the audience. Only a few dozen people showed up, and most of them were either speakers at the forum or their supporters.
Root Gorelick, a biology professor sitting on the board as a faculty member, runs a blog about his views on board issues. He suggested two open forums to allow better access.
“This was a great event, one that should be held twice per year: once per year during the evening (as we just did) and once per year during the regular workday (maybe at 2 pm, before a regular Board meeting) so that different constituency can attend and present,” he wrote on his blog.
The forum saw a range of presentations that raised concerns about the university, including a presentation on the Confucius Institute, which sees professors brought in from state-run universities in China to teach Chinese language and culture at Carleton.
Sandra Bauer, a registrar services employee, said a Chinese culture course taught by a professor from China and completely in English is being taught in the School of Linguistics and Language Studies.
Bauer said the course description showed that it explored topics in Chinese business and economy, yet the course was being taught through the language institute and not the business school.
Rebecca Schein, an assistant human rights professor, made a presentation about Campus United, a group of unions on campus that represent various staff.
She spoke about the importance of having unions on campus and collective agreements, while raising concerns about what she said were less than collegial relations between the administration and unions.
Three of the presentations were regarding campus services run by the university and did not raise concerns or ask for anything from the board.
The open forum heard presentations from employees at community service learning, co-op and career services, and the Learning Log (a blog about students’ extracurricular activities).
Falvo said he believed the open forum should be open to all, and he was happy to hear from management about any initiatives they may have. However, he added that “there may be a perception held by some that a deliberate attempt was made by senior management to ‘stack the deck’ with some Pollyanna ‘feel good’ messaging.”
He suggested that management could make these presentations at regular board meetings rather than an open forum.
