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Photo by Dan DuChene
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The 2007 EMU Board of regents, from left to right: Floyd Clack, Jim Stapleton, Gary Hawks, Philip Incarnati, Vice Chair Roy Wilbanks, Chair Thomas Sidlik and Francine Parker. Not pictured, Ismael Ahmed.
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The new board of regents for Eastern Michigan University convened for its first meeting Friday at Welch Hall.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm appointed the four Michigan residents to serve the remaining terms of seats vacated by regents who left late last year.
EMU announced the governor's choices two days before the regents met for the first time.
The board elected new officers at the meeting and former Vice Chairman Thomas Sidlik was unanimously elected chairman. Roy Wilbanks, who nominated Sidlik, was then unanimously elected as the board's vice chairman.
"There's a good feeling," said John Fallon, EMU president. "There's a good chemistry."
Fallon said the new board is interested in success, and he thinks positive about the future.
Fallon said he met Gary Hawks in 1988, while working as a lobbyist for Saginaw Valley State University. He said the two were both associated with state government.
The other regent Fallon said he knew was Ahmed, or "Ish, that's what I call him," he said.
Fallon said he and Ahmed, executive director of the Arab Community for Economic and Social Services, have been meeting to get the two organizations to work together. Fallon said he and his wife have met several times with Ahmed and his organization.
"I'm very interested in education," said Francine Parker, a newly appointed regent.
After the resignation of the previous regents, all female, Parker is the only woman on EMU's board.
Parker is the president and CEO of the Health Alliance Plan. She said she has worked in education at various levels, but never in her current facet. She decided to apply for the position after reading about the resignations and talking about applying with her colleagues.
"I've never been one to shy away from opportunity," she said.
James Stapleton, another new regent, said it was an honored to be considered for the position.
Stapleton, president and CEO of B&R Consultants, said he hopes he can offer new leadership to the board and fresh oversight.
"There's a willingness to tackle the issues here," Stapleton said. "I don't have my arms around this all yet, but I will. I guarantee that."
Hawks was born and raised in Ypsilanti. He said he lived in the city for more than 17 years. An alumnus, doing graduate work at EMU, Hawks was the vice president of University Relations at EMU from 1972-1981.
"It's a wonderful institution," Hawks said. "Hopefully we can get everybody working on the same page."
The change in the board comes at a time when the university is the middle of fact-finding with its faculty union. The union has been working under an expired contract since coming back to work after a strike last September.
Howard Bunsis, the president of EMU's faculty union, the American Association of University Professors, addressed the board during its meeting last week.
"It's a new year, that's all I'll say, and hopefully a new beginning," Bunsis said to the regents. "Let's go from there."
During his presentation, Bunsis invited the new board to meet with the faculty and attend some classes. He also suggested the regents visit the many student organizations on campus.
"EMU is a place that values teaching and learning," he said.
Bunsis then said the faculty had been working for 141 days without a contract, and the professional technical workers' union – the university's largest union – is also without a contract. He went on to say the department secretaries and Physical Plant workers are now negotiating their contract.
The EMU-AAUP had been pushing to make the results of the fact-finding binding for the university. This is not the case, but Bunsis told the regents the faculty would accept all the recommendations of the fact-finder if the administration would too.
Bunsis also asked for more input from faculty members in the discussions of renovating Pray-Harrold and Mark Jefferson.
"All we want is a voice in the process," Bunsis said.
Daniel Cicchini, EMU's student body president, addressed the board after Bunsis. Cicchini said EMU students came to school this year to find the faculty on strike.
"Students were flooded with messages," Cicchini said. "That was difficult to process."
Cicchini said that since the strike, the university has not been updating the students as often. While the EMU-AAUP's website is constantly updated, the university's strike page hasn't been updated since September 2006.
"Transparency is essential to restore trust to the bargaining process," Cicchini said. He said joint statements from the AAUP and the administration to update the community would "make great strides," in accomplishing this goal.
Floyd Clack, who was re-instated by Granholm this year, is the chair of the board's Student Affairs Committee. In his report to the board on Friday, Clack said the committee discussed the AAUP and the university issuing joint statements. He said the committee recommended such a measure.
When asked if the two sides could come together to issue joint statements, Fallon said, "It's possible."
"I'm going to have to figure out what they're actually looking for," Fallon said.
"They're my colleges, not my enemy," He said. "Civilized behavior is not unprecedented here."
Bunsis had no comment about issuing joint statements. He said he was happy to hear Cicchini's comments about the AAUP's website.
"We're going to continue to do what we do," Bunsis said.
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