*Below is a letter sent out to the College of Humanities listserv. After this went out, a second email corrected it to say that COH students and staff are also encouraged to attend. Arizona for Education could show support for the College of Humanities, which contains several of the hardest hit departments at the UA, by attending the meeting. Details below.
Colleagues:
Many you have asked the Dean’s Advisory Committee (DAC) to convene a general meeting of COH faculty. I am therefore calling a College-wide Faculty meeting for Friday, October 9th, 2:00-4:00 p.m. in the Modern Languages Auditorium, Room 350.
There is no set agenda for the meeting. DAC will try to answer questions about the current transformation process; when we don’t have answers, we’ll investigate. We are also eager to receive suggestions about how the DAC can
help the College move forward in these difficult times.
Since it is a public meeting, there might be reporters present, but I have no intention of advertising the meeting beyond sending out this general notice. The Dean is aware of, and fully supports, our meeting but she will not be
present. Minutes will be taken, but no one will be identified by name as the source of particular complaints or suggestions. It’s difficult to keep secrets in what I hope will be a very large gathering, but we can agree to respect each
other’s privacy. What matters is what gets said, not who says it.
The ground rules are simple:
(1) Because the current atmosphere is redolent with paranoia and other toxins, it is especially important that all of us be on our best behavior. It is quite possible-and generally most constructive-to identify problems without casting
blame.
(2) Anyone who is not able to be present, or who wishes to preserve anonymity, may submit complaints/suggestions/questions to me in advance of the meeting. I will not divulge the identify of anyone who communicates to me by phone (621-5424) or email: jcu@email.arizona.edu.
(3) Everyone who wants to gets to speak once, as briefly as possible, before anyone speaks a second time. Once an issue (e.g., morale, cuts, etc.) has been identified, it should be pursued to some sort of conclusion before a new issue is raised.
I hope to see a great many of you a week from this Friday.
Sincerely,
John Ulreich, Chair
COH Dean’s Advisory Committee
