While we at Muddy Williamson disagree with many of our president's recent actions, we heartily applaud Obama's decision to launch three judicial nominees at the Senate (dubbed "the nuclear option"). He said the ridiculous actions of Senate Repubs in postponing judicial appointments has moved far beyond "principled opposition and into political obstructionism."
How is this related to the JALC board? Easy. The recent decision to postpone discussion of the Strategic Plan until the June 25 meeting. Delay, delay, delay till no one is looking, then dismantle it, discarding the parts some members of the board will find disagreeable, specifically the ones dealing with hiring and promotion, and other ethical issues, and/or designed to improve morale by increasing participation.
Patient readers may have read the plan, or waded through graph after graph of survey results. In a nutshell, for the less-patient, here are some of the more striking findings:
· Asked to rate JALC's effectivenesss in the area of "fair & ethical hiring practices," 54% of full-time faculty and department chairs, 59% of full-time staff, and 63% of non-teaching professionals rated the college "ineffective" or "very ineffective."
· Asked to respond to the statement "I am a part of the decision-making process at JALC," only 20% of the full-time faculty, 29% of the non-teaching professional staff, and 9% of the staff selected "agree" or "strongly agree." NINE percent.
· Specifically addressing problems with the board itself, in response to the statement "the BOT displays behavior that reflects integrity and is ethical and honest," the survey results are displayed along with results from 2005 and 2009 (when the accreditation report itself reflected concerns about morale and required a rare follow-up visit). In 2012 66% of faculty, 67% of non-teaching professionals, and 74% of the staff responded with "neutral" (fear of recrimination) or "disagree/strongly disagree." These results were consistent with the 2005 results.
So, to Ms. Hancock (who deserves HUGE recognition for her role in eliminating the buyout clause from Dreith's contract at the April meeting), Mr. Sanders, Mr. Hopkins & Ms. Graff, time to stand up to shadowy back-room dealing, time to bring board actions out into the sunshine, time to exercise your nuclear option.
At the June 25 meeting, move immediately to adopt the entire Strategic Plan. It is comprehensive. Brewer or Kilquist will probably try to require that each individual part get separate board approval. This will only allow the board members bent on protecting their own turf and/or offspring to defeat those programs they don't like. Make those board members state, in open session, WHY they want to dismantle the plan.
The Strategic Plan can function as effectively as the strategic financial plan, which has protected most College operations despite the state funding crisis. But only if it is adopted in its entirety.
Go nuclear.
excellent job in above column by BRaitt.The only way to stop Rendleman,kilquist and Brewer antics is for the current FAB 4 board members to do what is right for the college. There is not one single thing that a new candidate in the next election can do to stop the BREW machine! Voters will not eliminate Rendleman and Brewer due to their political ties and name recognition. Frustration on their part by eliminating the BS they pull with the assistance of the present 4 board members will get them frustrated enough to drop off the board . KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK MUDDY WILLIAMSON but get the word out to the public more!
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to my post you defenders of free speech......Oh I guess it is only free speech you agree with.......You Idiots have lost your minds......Cannot wait for the essay blaming Brewer/Kilquist/Rendleman for the Kennedy assasination......and be honest about Your/Faculty true agenda...
ReplyDeleteNo one at Muddy Williamson has ever deleted any post, ever. We welcome all views, which is the point of allowing anonymous posts. We suspect the hysterical poster above simply forgot to hit "publish." It appears s/he also forgot how to use a period.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what Anonymous, from June 8, 2013 at 11:08am, is referring to. We have not deleted any comments from any posts. While we reserve the right to monitor for abuse such as hate speech, violent or crude content, spam or harassment, we have had no need to do so up to this point. Again, we haven't deleted any comments. If you think you made an unsuccessful attempt to put up a comment, feel free to try again.
ReplyDeleteAs to our true agenda, we've been up front about that from the beginning. We want to shine a light on the governance of the local community college. We want to see elected bodies, that we pay taxes to support, operating in the open and hiring without prejudice.
We don't blame Brewer, Kilquist or Rendleman for the Kennedy assassination. We don't believe there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq or in the Easter bunny either. We do, on the other hand, suspect that some current JALC staff could not have obtained the positions they now hold without the benefit of cronyism.
the only defenders of the Rendleman,Kilquist,Brewer board members are individuals who have received benefits from their positions,a family member , relative, good friends of theirs or the individuals themselves. Anyone who knows anything about the antics done in the past are the critical ones towards these individuals being on an important Board at the college.
ReplyDeleteThen why are these people elected? Name recognition and people not aware of what is going on with this board and politicians.Simply put in the past no one has ever spoken up to awake the citizens but the Southern Illinoisan is on top of it now and the watchful eye is on these particular 3 board members and their actions. So far it is paying off for the 4 dedicated board members-Hancock,Sanders,Hopkins,Graff and putting pressure on Chairman Rendleman to quit playing patsy to Don Brewer and stop being a lap dog politician. Telling everyone what they want to hear and talking out of 2 sides of his mouth has to stop and the Kilquist intimidation needs to be considered minor. Brewer will always stay in the background ; he always has and let the lap dogs do the dirty work out front.
Stay strong and the job will be completed soon.
How pious of you to believe that the voters are not aware of what is going on and that you are the only one(s) with a corner of the market on righteousness. You sell the voters so very short and believe they are so very stupid. It is more than evident that they didn't want you by an astounding number of votes. I in turn, feel the voters exercised great intelligence and awarenes in not electing..........you. Not bad, finishing 6th out of 7 people running and spending the most amount of money foolishly. They easily recognize(d) the "fool(s) on the hill."
ReplyDeleteHey Kilquist--anonymous June 14th at 6:53pm..This is Vanhorn. I gained more respect from this community on the stand I took and spoke for the faculty,citizens and staff on issues which were important to the benefit of JOHN A LOGAN COLLEGE. I had the intestinal fortitude to speak the facts about what was going on with no intimidating individuals to FIRE ME... You were elected based on NAME RECOGNITION and democratic help not based on your record as a GOOD BOARD MEMBER and everyone knows that. You are in for 6 years and I congratulate you but every time you shoot off your mouth like you do; The citzens and staff who know what is going on IS WATCHING YOU. You can either switch your attitude or the criticism will continue. One board member is beginning to change his attitude.. Can you?
ReplyDeleteAs far as selling the voters short-you tell me how many of those voters actually know what is going on with the community college school district? Compare that total vote in the general election to the number of registered voters..SAD.
so you can continue patting yourself on the shoulder for your fantastic following and election..not reelection as you advertised but my money spent was not foolish at all..it was well spent to get the word out and for a good cause..How much money have you ever donated to JOHN A LOGAN COLLEGE? I am very generous to the college and the main thing is that it is for the benefit of the college. Money spent on campaign was for the academic side
I remember your quote at the drawing for positioning on the ballot.."It doesn't matter where I am on the ballot; I always win." Arrogance, cockiness..intimidating.. Confidence is one thing but above qualities doesn't make you a good Board Member. You won..ok..give it a break..I am doing things positive for the college and not a politician ..never was and never will be. You think you can start thinking positive for a change?
By the way-community college faculty,citizens stated that they had never seen Logan candidates work as hard as they did this past election..Signs, advertising, etc.. GREAT FOR THE ECONOMY WASN'T IT?
I just wish Mr. Kilquist would list the positive things he has done as a board member, employee and citizen in the John Logan School district the past 20 years. I am anxious for him to begin a positive attitude toward the college,faculty,staff,administration and students he represents since he was elected by the voters in our community.
ReplyDeleteWhen he does that on this blog maybe everyone will get off his back. Serving on the board is not an accomplishment-it is what an individual does when he is on the board that matters. Everyone should watch the voting records of him on every issue at the college the next 6 years.It is the "history" of the voting that will tell you what kind of board member he is. This applies to Brewer,Rendleman and the balance of the board also but since Kilquist seems to be the outspoken one on the board and the great intimidator, lets just keep our close eye on him and his comments on this blog for the next 6 years and all of his great recommendations to improve John Logan College. Should be a very interesting ride!
This comment posted by the FOOL ON THE HILL..a righteousness one too! LOL..
Interesting discussion on this Blog. It is important to democracy (no matter how small the forum or elected position) that there is a free flow of discussion. Please keep this cite civil and be leery of rumors.
ReplyDelete