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Speaking of trustees
Earlier this month, a group of Illinois State University students submitted a petition to Governor Rod Blagojevich asking him not to reappoint ISU alumnus and prominent businessman Jay D. Bergman to the Board of Trustees. Bergman runs Petco Petroleum Company; The ISU Student Environmental Action Coalition disapproves of the company's checkered environmental record, and specifically objects to how Petco Petroleum has handled recent conflicts with state regulators--currently, Petco is fighting an environmental lawsuit filed against the company by the Illinois attorney general. Bergman's term as trustee expired in January.
When Bergman learned of the petition, he dismissed it as the product of the group's "radical, leftist agenda," observing that "From what I understand, they are so far to the left they make Jane Fonda look like Ronald Reagan." That's when the real trouble started. ISU president Al Bowman publicly criticized Bergman for his remarks, stating that Bergman's comments showed disrespect for ISU's goal of encouraging student civic engagement; the ISU Academic Senate has decided first to study Bergman's remarks and then to issue a statement in response. According to a piece in the local Pantagraph, Bergman's comments have launched a debate about whether trustees have an obligation to encourage and preserve the free expression of students; the paper quotes foreign language professor and faculty senator Jim Reid as saying, "We need to ask whether a trustee has a responsibility to encourage academic freedom." Other critics of Bergman's remark have understood him as disrespecting the First Amendment rights of students, and, more basically, of showing a lamentable lack of civility. Bergman has not apologized for his remarks, and has noted that while he respects the rights of students to express their opinions, he also has the right to express himself freely.
At issue in this case is not merely whether trustees may criticize the actions of politicized student groups--who are speaking for themselves and not for the school they attend--but whether, too, trustees are expected to align their own beliefs, or at least their public portrayal of them, with the institution's own political agendas. ISU formally espouses as one of its core values the goal of instilling in its students a sense of environmental stewardship; in this instance, that mission is clashing with the professional pursuits of one of its exceptionally well-heeled trustees (Bergman has pledged nearly half a million dollars to ISU for a VIP visitors' center). One might also say that both ISU's environmental mission and its goal of encouraging student activism clash with the university's ethical obligation, as a federally funded institution, not to impose political stances or activist agendas on its student body. While Bergman could certainly have been more civil, perhaps the most troubling aspect of this situation thus far is the apparent inability of ISU administrators, faculty, and students to see the issues clearly.
Posted by acta online at April 17, 2005 05:54 AM
Comments
I am a member of the Student Environmental Action Coalition at ISU. I would like to clarify a couple of things. First, "environmental stewardship is a core value of Educating Illinois, the guiding document for where ISU wants to be in the future. Goals are broken down into "Action Items" and one of those action items (No. 10) is environmental stewardship. Our organization is afraid that Trustee Bergman would not support environmental policy, according to Educating Illinois, in his decision making on the highest governing board of ISU.
Second, the ISU mission statement states, "A commitment to serving the citizens of Illinois and beyond." SEAC argues that having a trustee on the board that is not negligent to the people of Illinois, is clearly opposed to the ISU mission statement. Petco's spills have contaminated drinking water and destroyed the natural environment. Plus tax-payers are left with the cleanup bill, which is probably why it is cheaper to spill than to prevent spills. According to case documents, Mr. Bergman himself is negligent because he told subordinates not to report spills to the proper authorities. Since you Blogged this entry, there have been three new spills over the summer because Mr. Bergman refuses to fix faulty equipment.
Thus, you were right to say that Mr. Bergman clashes with ISU's mission, but ISU's mission is not environmental stewardship, per se. ISU's mission speaks to serving the people of Illinois and beyond. (Please feel free to read our petition at seac.pabn.org/petition)
The next item is that our organization never took the issue to the Academic Senate, when the media asked us about Bergman's comments and Academic Freedom we didn't know how to answer it because well, at the time we didn't think it had anything to do with it. It was not until Mr. Bergman submitted a letter to Academic Senate apologizing to SEAC for "the harshness of his statements," that we got involved. SEAC had to respond because we wanted to see the apology and how the Senate would respond.
Let me make clear that the University has not imposed activist agendas or political stances on its student body. The University does encourage students to become active participants in our democracy. Actually, the University was having its big "Kick-off to Civic Engagement" that was part of the American Democracy project, when Trustee Bergman chose to make his absurd comments. Never mind that SEAC has been anything but radical, Trustees should not attack students' freedom of speech and association. So, when President Bowman issued his statement, he wanted people to know that he supported politicized student groups, not necessarily for their agendas, but because they were "putting their beliefs into action". I mean seriously, how can we expect students to become active members of democracy, if they are to expect ad hominem attacks and condemnation by Trustees for going through the proper channels our democracy affords us?
It’s very interesting stuff! Thanks for Blogging.
Posted by: Amy Butterworth at October 18, 2005 07:46 AM