Board Meeting Notes

Tues. July 31, 5 pm.

Over 50 people attended this meeting in the Cultural Center. 7 or 8
board members were in attendance. The microphone wasn’t working and I
couldn’t get most of their names. Peter Gabel and Jane Swan were
there. Martin Hamilton was notable by his absence. Martina Ayala, the
hired consultant on the WASC response team officiated. Martina told us
the ground rules: no fighting, be respectful, appropriate behavior and
language. Greg Tanaka, the other paid consultant on the team, passed
out and collected index cards for those who wanted to speak. Just like
a Gavin Newsom town meeting, we had to write our names, affiliations,
contact info. and questions on a card before being called to speak.
The questions weren’t answered at the time. They will be answered by
phone or email later this week. The minutes of the meeting will be
posted near the meeting room door on Thurs. afternoon. Greg Tanaka
wrote wascresponseteam@… on the blackboard in the meeting
room. Email sent to this address goes to members of New College’s WASC
response team, not WASC itself.

Kathy Voutyras, director of Alumni Relations and special assistant to
Pres. Martin Hamilton, spoke first. She said she was speaking for
herself, although she mentioned her co-workers. She said New College
shouldn’t throw out the good in the Old Order. It’s not worth it to be
accredited, that New College maintained accreditation only so that
needy students could attend. She said she was standing up for the
historic community. Don’t take the path of least resistance.

Rod Holt, a self-identified major donor and Kathy Voutyras’ domestic
partner, said the institution has its own logic and we should respect
the institution.

Adam Cornford spoke for the Faculty Council. He said the faculty
agrees that the problems outlined by WASC are accurate. All the
systems at New College are broken. The Faculty Council demands:

1. Martin Hamilton resign immediately.
2. All board members who have been on the board for more than 3 years
resign.
3. investigation into criminal wrongdoings by the administration/board

At this point Greg Tanaka interrupted because Adam’s time was up.
Another faculty member gave up his time. Greg didn’t want to accept
this, but the community demanded it.

4 Amend the bylaws in alignment with professional standards–he
mentioned a professional association for university and college
professors.

5. Give faculty and others seats on the board.

There were other points, which I was unable to write down. Adam said
he would email the full statement to all faculty and the board. When
he finished there was thunderous applause, an ovation.

Francisco Herrera, community liaison for Martin Hamilton, said Martin
is being disrespected. He said everyone comes to the President’s
office with every little problem, even leaky faucets. He wants Martin
to stay on as President. He said Martin’s job should be primarily fund
raising.

Holly Harwood, alumna (this writer). I said I came on behalf of the
New College Independent Alumni/ae Association. I said alumni and
alumnae want a voice on the Board. I said alumni wanted to know which
current or former board members had relatives and/or spouses who
received financial compensation of any kind from New College now or in
the past. (Collective gasp from the room.) We wanted to know what
their positions at New College were and what they were paid. [Thank
you alumnus Jay Taber for this question.] I said alumni support the
Faculty Council and the Student Council. I said alumni want the
Student Council to be able to put up posters announcing their meetings
and to be able to send emails to all New College students informing
them of their existence. I would like to clarify now that this was not
an official statement by the Independent Alumni Association, however
there is general agreement on the above points. I identified myself as
the webmistress of Stop Systems of Silence and invited everyone in the
room to submit articles and comments to stopsilence.net.

Agar Jaicks (Peter Gabel’s father in law) said he left the board in
April after 4 years. He said he was Martin Hamilton’s biggest critic
on the board. He said New College is tuition driven, so we should
recruit students.

A student read a statement from the Interim Independent Student
Council, which will be posted on
their blog. The IISC supports the Faculty Council’s statement.

Dianne Jennet, core faculty Women’s Spirituality, wanted to emphasize
that no one bears any personal animosity. She has concerns about the
Casa Loma Hotel and the school’s cash flow.

Glen, a staff member who works with Martin, offered a prayer for healing.

Debbie, a student from Africa who works with Martin, wants to bring
more students so our degrees will be more valuable. She wants to keep
accreditation so she can go back to Africa and bring more students to
New College. She said she likes Martin. She said she was upset that
Leslie Fulbright from the Chronicle didn’t get back to her. She said
Leslie got back to everybody else because they are all white. She
knows everybody in the office and her feelings are hurt. She is going
to call Leslie Fulbright back and tell her about it.

Karen, an alumna, wanted to know when the interim turnaround President
would be hired.

A PHLUTE student spoke about racism at New College and at WASC. [She
was repeatedly interrupted by applause and I had trouble hearing her.
I am sorry I did not get her name. No disrespect intended.]

Beth, a law student, said everyone is dedicated to changing the world.
The mission statement doesn’t conflict with structure. She talked
about difficulty with getting basic things like class schedules, that
any college should be able to do.

Pam Gilmore, the director of the PHLUTE program, said she was
devastated by WASC. She said PHLUTE students were attacked by WASC.
She said PHLUTE students were victims of hate crimes on campus. She
said the adjunct faculty in PHLUTE were not invited to the Adjunct
Faculty Council and PHLUTE students were not invited to the Student
Council. She said WASC was called because people didn’t like having a
black woman as academic vice president. She said WASC didn’t even
visit the PHLUTE program or talk to their students.

Zack Barnett, Core Faculty EPI, thanked the Board. He said the
passionate voices in the room should “ground you in the necessity to
do your job and not unsettle you.” He said EPI has lost 20 students
because of problems with accreditation. He said the problems with EPI
weren’t the program’s fault but administrative. He’s worried the new
president will lay off faculty and staff who have dedicated years to
EPI because of mistakes someone else made. He said EPI has to rebuild.
3 years and they’ll be back on track.

A Grad Psych student asked what would happen if the school lost
accreditation. He wondered if he would be able to get his MFT and
practice. [Again, I’m sorry I didn’t get your name.]

Board member Jane Swan briefly addressed some questions. She clarified
that the PHLUTE program isn’t allowed to accept new students and the
EPI BA program may not accept new students. However, the EPI masters
program may accept new students. She said that the board has always
had an informal relationship with alumni and they would formalize it.
Follow Up

At the Aug. 1 Ad Hoc Coalition meeting, student Sarah Zesmer said that
she personally informed a friend in the PHLUTE program about the new
Student Council and asked her friend to pass the information on to her
classmates. At a previous IISC meeting, I witnessed Student Council
members discussing ways to reach out to PHLUTE students and students
at other campuses. They stated that they want representatives from
every program and campus. I believe they are trying to be as inclusive
as possible. If you are interested in joining the Interim Independent
Student Council, please visit their links in the right hand sidebar of
this page.

My thanks to alumna Mildred Dubitzky for her help with these notes.
Any mistakes are mine alone. Please email any corrections or addenda
to the Webmistress.