This message is being sent out to both on-campus and off-campus students who have e-mail and are concerned about what is going on with the school.

The nature of this message is to encourage participation in a direct action. As you may or may not know the Goddard Board of Trustees are meeting at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel in downtown boston this weekend from the afternoon of the 9th to around lunchtime on the 11th of February.

I was incorrect to say that this meeting was closed and that people should not come. You can come. From reading the board packet I just received there is one open session from 9:00 am to 11:00 am on Saturday morning. This I believe would be the time to shoot for to be presence at the board meeting. The other times slated for the board are designated as either retreat time or closed session.

Besides having a physical presence I have been suggesting that there be a faxes and/or phone messages left at the hotel for the entire board (they may have voice mail if so have it recorded specifically for me or Stu Bautz so that we can play the message at the meeting). To ensure that faxes will be effective the messages should be arranged in such a way that the hotel must give a copy to each board member. My guess is that a request be made for the receptionist at the hotel (at the top of the fax coversheet) that a copy be made for each board member.

In previous meetings the board does not know how to respond productively to community imput. One remedy for this ambiguity would be in making concrete and specific demands to the president and board based on the general principles of participatory democracy and progressive education.

** eg.. The board in honoring participatory democracy should hold all future meetings on-campus so that there is an opportunity for students to attend these meetings;

** eg.. The president in honoring the governance document would delegate authority: 1) to the facilities committee in order for them to decide by consent wether ISE should be evicted from the music building come June of this year and 2) to the College Executive Committee in order for them to decide by consent the changes made in this year's budget 95/96 and next year's budget;

** eg.. In honoring democracy at Goddard the board should immediately approve a budget (amount here) for trustees who are representatives to the board. The budget would be designated for communication (for xeroxing and mailing: use of Goddard's facilities etc.) so that the elected representatives can inform the community about what is going on and to answer any questions or concerns the community may have. This is what is currently being done for our national representatives to the house and senate of the United States.

** eg.. In honoring the Priorities Plan at Goddard the board should require that the president complete objective 10.3 of Priority 2, within the 1996 year, to conduct the annual social and environmental audits to evalutate campus goverance, morale, etc. through a democratic process which entails the use of an independent and neutral management consultant, systematic and confidential interviews of all parties (students, staff, faculty, admin.), and a compilation, analysis, and summary of the collected information, reported back to all parties.

** eg.. In honoring the Prorities Plan and Goddard's democratic philosophy the board should require that the president complete objective 39.2 of Priority 9, within the 1996 year, which is to conduct an annual evaluation of institutional leadership with input from faculty, staff, and campus and off-campus students which would be reported back to all parties.

Here is the address for the hotel...

Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers
64 Arlington Street
Boston, Mass
Tel (617) 426-2000
Fax (617) 423-1708

PS. I hope that this is useful and encouraging... your presence even in a mediated form (telephone message or fax) will have an impact. No matter how articulate I may be with advocating for our values my argument will only be as strong as the community that actively supports and fights for what is ours. So until there is a more proportional representation (or other system) of the student voice on the board we will have to ensure that the board knows that when it ignores the off and on campus representatives it is the same as ignoring the student community... (disperse this info. to anyone and everyone who is concerned about what is going on)

In Solidarity,
Andrew Dinkelaker