What happened? - from the eyes of Rev. Edward Glynn, S.J. (a series of emails)

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Mon, Aug 3, 2009 10:49 am
Subject: Fwd: special meeting of WJU Trustees

Since the Boards of Directors and Trustees have scheduled special meetings this coming Wednesday, August 5, 2009, I am sending with this email the content of my email to the Directors this past Saturday, August 1, 2009.

Ed Glynn


My brother Jim is dying.  He would be 82 years old  this coming September 30th but will not make it since he was declared brain dead yesterday and according to his wishes he is not being kept alive by extraordinary means.  Such means were withdrawn yesterday, July 31st.

Since I presume I will be in Clark’s Summit, Pennsylvania,  for  my brother Jim’s  wake,  Mass and burial sometime next week,  it is highly possible that I will not be able to be,  present for the  Wednesday, August 5, 2009   special  meeting of the Wheeling Jesuit University board of directors.

I regret that I may not be  present for the meeting because I was looking eagerly forward to participate.  In case I am not present I am now sending all of you some comments, observations and judgments regarding this meeting.

On July 13, 2009, I send an email to our Board Chair, Bill Fisher, to ask the following questions:

Bill, what else is on the agenda for the special August meeting of th e board of directors?  If it is only the assessment of the president, how can we do an accurate assessment and one helpful to the institution if we don't  have input from the faculty, administration, staff, students and alumni/ae?

Bill responded by email on July 13th :  “ This is the only agenda item.  I copy Mr. Scheye as he is contracted to all of what you mentioned ,  the time table I am not sure.”

Thus I emailed this message to Tom Scheye on July 13th :  “Bill  without answering my question  sent you a copy of my question to him.  Do you have an answer to my question?”

Bill emailed me this comment on July 13th:  “I was hoping Tom Scheye would answer your question.  We are going to discuss what is complete at that time.”



Tom Scheye on  July 14th by email responded:

My assessment will not be complete until I have had the chance to interview members of the faculty, staff and student body, and those interviews will wait for the beginning of the new semester.  However, I wil l send the Directors an edited version of their own comments in time for the August meeting, and I have suggested to Julio that he complete his self-assessment so that might be available to provide context for the Directors’ comments.  In short, the Directors will not have my assessment in August, but they will be able to see what their fellow Directors’ comments are.  Hope that helps.

Consequently on July 14th I sent the following email to Bill: CBill, here is Tom's reply.  I still have my question.  Why are we having a special board meeting that has only one agenda item and this agenda item will only be half prepared? It seems weird to me.”


On July 16th I emailed the following to Bill:  “Bill, in case you have not recei ved my July 14th email containing my questioning to you, I am sending it again.


Bill responded on July 16th:

Serious decisions need to be made about the direction of the University. You will receive a packet of information that might clarify things.

I exercise my right as Board Chair t o call the meeting a majority of the board has told me they want one.

         If you feel strongly it is a waste of time, you may ask to be excused.

I have now received the packet of information  and this packet of “information” makes clear what Bill’s agenda was and is.

I judge Bill’s sending out a second set  of directors’ comments indicating in red and blue unfavorable and favorable comments respectively to be highly manipulative and insulting.  Each director can read and can make his or her own interpretation.  We do not need the chair to do each director’s interpretation.  Otherwise WJU might as well have a board of one director.

Since this was supposed to be the evaluation of the directors I find the lengthy comments of the university’s lawyer to be very inappropriate. Legal counsel is not a member of board of directors.

As you can read in  the evaluating comments of directors that you received this past  Friday, I have clearly stated my  own judgment regarding the university attorney:

If I were the WJU president, I could never in the future trust the board’s legal counsel personally nor professionally.  His phone call to the administrative assistant to the president to ask her whether in his phone call with the president that had just concluded there had been anyone else in the president’s office was politically crude and personally dumb.

I have no idea what Bill’s inclusion of his resume in the packet of “information” was an attempt to prove.

During the last four decades at a dozen and a half  institutions of higher education located all over the United States I have been working as a faculty member and administrator  or  serving on their boards.  All these institutions are larger and more complicated than Wheeling Jesuit University.  During these nearly forty years I have not experienced such a  similarly inappropriate  presidential evaluation and   calling  of a special  board meeting to consider the  half completed presidential evaluation.

I have no idea what Bill’s inclusion of his resume in the packet of “information” was an attempt to prove.

This special board meeting that is being called to consider the   not yet  completed evaluation of the president  (Only the directors’ evaluations have been received  and none from other major constituents of the university, such as students, faculty members, administration, staff and alumni/ae.) is a continuation and an institutionalization of the dysfunctionality  of the WJU board of directors and is a grave disservice to Wheeling Jesuit University by the board of directors.

I have not shared any of the above email correspondence with the WJU president.  As far as I know, he knows nothing about them.

Ed Glynn



-----Original Message-----
Sent: Mon, Aug 3, 2009 9:35 am
To: Ed Glynn, sj (WJU Board); Tom Gleeson, sj; Brian O'Donnell, sj (Jesuit Community, WJU)
Subject: FW: special meeting of WJU Trustees

Here is the call-in info for the Trustees meeting at 1:45 EDT on Wednesday.

1-877-834-5364
Pass code: *******


Gerard L. Stockhausen, S.J.
President
University of Detroit Mercy


From: Gerard Stockhausen
Sent: Saturday, July 25, 2009 10:20 AM
To: Ed Glynn, sj (WJU Board); Tom Gleeson, sj; Brian O'Donnell, sj (Jesuit Community, WJU)
Subject: special meeting of WJU Trustees

Ed, Tom, Brian,

Should the WJU Board of Directors take any action regarding the WJU president during its August 5 meeting, we, the trustees (not including the president), may have to take some action as well.

I am therefore calling a special meeting of the WJU Board of Trustees by conference call at 1:45 PM EDT on August 5.  The only agenda item will be to discuss any action(s) taken by the Board of Directors at its August 5 meeting, and to take whatever action the Board of Trustees needs to as a result of action(s) taken by the Board of Directors.

I hope this time works for all of you.  If not, please let me know immediately.

My assistant, Emmy Yousey, will follow up with conference call information.

The good news in all of this is that my new hip is doing quite well, and that I will be taking part in all of this from Waupaca!

Thanks,

Gerard Stockhausen, S.J., Ph.D.
President
University of Detroit Mercy