I don’t have time right now to give this subject the attention that it deserves, but I wanted to pass along this breaking news item from Ypsilanti, where Eastern Michigan University’s Board of Regents have voted 6-2 to continue the charade of legitimizing Rick Snyder’s controversial Education Achievement Authority (EAA). Here’s video from the Regents’ meeting followed by a clip from the Detroit Free Press.
The Eastern Michigan University Board of Regents voted this afternoon to continue – for at least a year – its controversial relationship with the Education Achievement Authority, drawing jeers, shouts and a demonstration that nearly shut down the meeting.
“Shame on you,” many people in the audience shouted as Regent Mike Morris proposed continuing the relationship, but working to create a stronger relationship with the EAA, as well as demand more transparency and accountability.
A majority of the board agreed with him, though Regent Jim Stapleton said his vote to continue the relationship with the EAA, the state’s reform district for the lowest-performing schools, was with reservation.
“I am disappointed promises were made to our school about our level of participation that to date have not been kept,” Stapleton said…
Speaking of Stapleton, who was appointed to the Board of Regents by Jennifer Granholm, audio recently surfaced of him explaining to EMU faculty how the EAA came about, and what EMU had been led to believe at the outset. If you haven’t listened to it yet, I’d recommend it. It’s enlightening. Here’s a clip from the transcript.
“We thought this would be an enrollment play for us, because 68% of our students come from within 20 miles. We were told this was going to be a statewide school district, not just an urban school district, not just Detroit. So we thought that if we could have a presence… And fundraising dollars, foundation dollars that they promised us would be going through our foundation. And we thought, quite frankly, that since we were going to help the Governor with this, that we’d have some sort of benefit in terms of State appropriations. Well, guess what? None of those things happened…” –Jim Stapleton, September 22, 2014
And, about nine weeks after that was recorded, Regent Stapleton, along with five of his fellow Regents, voted to renew the relationship between EMU and the EAA.
Does that seem odd to anyone? He admits that the University got nothing out of the deal, and that they’d been misled by Snyder, but then he went ahead and agreed to keep the deal in place. One wonders what kind of interest Stapleton may have in helping the Governor when he’s already made it clear that the deal isn’t in the best interests of EMU, or, for that matter, the children of Michigan.
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This vote really surprised me, given what I’ve been hearing about EMU College of Education students not being able to find placements in Michigan schools as a result of the University’s association with the EAA.
BACKGROUND: Michigan’s public schools have very little power to fight back against Snyder and the EAA, and, unfortunately for EMU students, one of the things they have been able to do, as I understand it, is essentially blacklist young teachers coming out of Eastern. As I’ve heard this from several sources, I’m inclined to believe there may be some truth to it. Assuming it is, I can’t believe that EMU would re-up with the EAA.
I think it surprised everyone. The faculty person at EMU who has kind of taken on the lead role as organizer to get us out of the EAA, Steve Wellinski, was quoted in one of the metro area newspapers just the other day as saying he fully expected the board to vote to get EMU out of the EAA. But I guess not.
It’s a political hack-job, pure and simple. What you have going on here is Snyder’s appointed board members voting for this because if EMU actually does get out of the EAA, the EAA has even less footing and it might go away entirely. Stapleton, besides being just kind of generally confused, is one of these guys who has all kinds of mysterious consulting and related contracts. So he might have ended up voting for this because even though he says he’s against it and it’s bad for the students and all that, he may very well be personally making money off of all this.
No doubt that there will be a lot more about all of this at EMUTalk.org in the coming year.
How do we change the law so that EMU Regents are elected, and not appointed? This is a mess. We should not have unaccountable political appointees making these decisions.
As I understand it, the only way to really change this is to change the state’s constitution. There’s something in there about how the regents of universities (other than U of M, MSU, and Wayne State) are appointed– or maybe it’s the other way around, that the regents at U of M, MSU, and Wayne State are elected. Regardless, it would be more than just changing a law, unfortunately.
From Eagle Totem.
Read more:
http://eagletotem.net/blog/2014/12/08/eaa-battle-fight-soul-emu/9053/
During the roll call vote Stapleton tried to explain his vote but was shouted down by protesters. He was the only one of the three Granholm appointees to vote yes, and the only one of the three whose term is not expiring.
From the EMU Board of Regents code of ethics:
“In carrying out their duties, however, Regents must keep the welfare of the entire University paramount over any parochial interests. Regents should refrain from actions and involvements that might prove embarrassing to the institution.”
http://www.emich.edu/policies/policy.php?id=169
Mr. Y: That’s all well and good, but the Regents are accountable only to the governor (and perhaps to courts). You could have a petition signed by every single student, instructor, and alumnus/a, and the Regents could ignore it with impunity if they have the governor’s support.
The fact that a code of conduct exists tells me that there’s likely a process in place for dealing with instances when people violate it. I haven’t looked into it enough, however, to know how it works. I suspect that you’re right, and that the Governor could stop it if he wanted to, but that doesn’t mean that a complaint shouldn’t be filed.
What I find curious about Stapleton’s comments is that, when justifying the decision to join the EAA, he never mentions the kids of Michigan who were to be served by the EAA, or EMU students and how this might impact them. He says that he thought state money would follow, and that it could lead to greater enrollment, but he never says that the regents felt they could help turn things around in Detroit public schools. He never said, “The system at the time was failing these kids, and we felt that we could help.” The impression I got, having listened to him talking with faculty, is that this was nothing but a business deal. They had no intention of helping the kids of Detroit. The state just needed a signature and they signed. I think that’s unconscionable.
To EMU students, faculty and staff:
Governor Snyder this afternoon announced the appointment of two new members to the Eastern Michigan University Board of Regents. They are EMU Emeritus Professor of Communication Dennis Beagen and Michelle Crumm, CEO of Present Value.
The news release from the Governor’s office is below:
https://www.michigan.gov/snyder/0,4668,7-277-57577_57657_59871-343145–,00.html
I posted this to a comment thread about the EMU-sponsored Digital Inclusion program, but then it occurred to me that the Carnegie Foundation, when assessing EMU’s impact, may not have considered the EAA and what its doing to Michigan schools.
Read more:
http://www.emich.edu/univcomm/releases/release.php?id=1420648337
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[…] about this time, the Republican political appointees who control Eastern Michigan University (EMU) chose to continue their sponsorship of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s controversial Education… despite the urging of EMU President Susan Martin, the faculty, and the students. Saying that […]