Tag Archives: board of trustees

FEATURED
Divest Now: Wesleyan University’s Institutional Obligation to Address Climate Injustice

Written by Ben Silverstone ‘22 and Ernest Braun ‘22 on behalf of WesDivest, Climate Action Group, WesDems, Sunrise, and a coalition of other sustainability groups, this guest post addresses climate injustice and what Wesleyan must do now to ensure our planet’s future:

“12 years from now, in 2031, Wesleyan will celebrate its bicentennial anniversary. In 2030, the UN’s IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) warns that we will reach environmental tipping points that will speed up the pace of the climate crisis. The catastrophic warming resulting from the extraction and burning of fossil fuels which has already begun to ravage our planet will be irreversible for millennia. As the students, faculty, and administration reflect upon Wesleyan’s accomplishments over the past 200 years, perhaps they will wonder what Wesleyan may look like in another 200 years, or even in 50. Unless we take drastic actions to reduce our emissions now, we already know the answer to that question.

We are WesDivest. We formed to urge the administration to divest our endowment from the fossil fuel industry, to commit to renewable energy and reduced consumption, and to lead by example in the fight for the futures of our generation. We formed because all of human civilization is implicated in the same challenge for the next decade: to stop greenhouse gas emissions before we make the planet uninhabitable. With this challenge in mind, any institution that ignores the reality of climate change is contributing to its own demise and doing a moral disservice to humanity. Therefore, all people who are invested in Wesleyan’s enduring success – and that of its students – should seriously consider divestment from fossil fuels and begin building a more sustainable future.

Read the rest of this guest post after the jump:

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FEATURED
Tell the Trustees All the Things You Care About

Most of this is recycled from my old post

Guess who came to the good-ol’ M-Town right before Spring break? If you guessed your hallmate’s mom (because like, let’s be real, your hallmate needs an intervention), then you are very close. This weekend, a rather eclectic (lol) bunch of folks arrived on campus via sky dive (I wish).

The Board of Trustees is had the first of their meetings this year! If you ever forget when the meetings are, just think about the weekend before Wesleyan goes on break, and the Board of Trustees are likely meeting. Their next meeting will be in May around Reunion & Commencement.

Well, as this semester has already started off with some extremely valid frustration, I thought it would be appropriate that we reminded everyone who the Board of Trustees are, what their job titles are, and how you might be able to contact them. Turns out, their names and jobs are publicly available on the Wesleyan website, and their emails are too (on Wesconnect, via the ‘Networking’ tab). Thanks Zach for doing this first when students were frustrated about need blind being axed a couple years ago.

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FEATURED
BREAKING: Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees Extend President Roth’s Contract Through 2023

At around 1:45pm today, the Chair of the Board of Trustees Donna Morea ’76 sent out an all-campus email announcing the extension of President Michael Roth‘s contract. He will continue to remain President of the University through 2023.

Morea’s email highlighted the success of Roth’s “This Is Why” fundraising campaign; his launch of multiple academic programs during his nearly decade-long run as President; and his future plans for the “Beyond 2020” initiative (although the email doesn’t go into much detail on this front). It makes no mention of the fact that last October, over 200 students called for the removal of President Roth and Vice President of Equity & Inclusion Antonio Farias in a town hall.

Here is the full email text:

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FEATURED
The Trustees Are Coming!!!

Guess who’s coming to the good-ol’ M-Town right before Thanksgiving break? If you guessed your hallmate’s mom (because like, let’s be real, your hallmate needs an intervention), then you are very close. This weekend, there is a rather eclectic (lol) bunch of folks arriving to campus via sky dive (I wish).

The Board of Trustees is having the first of their three meetings this year! They will be on campus November 18-19, and then again March 3-4 and May 25-26. If you ever forget, just think about the weekend before Wesleyan goes on break, and the Board of Trustees are likely meeting.

Well, as it has been a particularly active semester, I thought it would be appropriate that we reminded everyone who the Board of Trustees are, what their job titles are, and how you might be able to contact them. Turns out, their names and jobs are publicly available on the Wesleyan website, and their emails are too (on Wesconnect, via the ‘Networking’ tab). Thanks Zach for doing this first when students were frustrated about need blind being axed a couple years ago.

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EVENT
Apply to be on the Committee for Investor Responsibility!

Are you interested in corporate, social, environmental, or governance issues? The balance of ethical values with fiscal responsibility? Apply to the Committee for Investor Responsibility to become involved as a student representative!

The CIR, a student, faculty, staff, and alumni committee, was created to consider social and ethical issues with regards to the Wesleyan Endowment. The CIR engages in shareholder advocacy on behalf of the University and offers oversight to the investment decisions of the Board of Trustees.

Our recent work and charter can be viewed on our website, http://cir.wsa.wesleyan.edu/. Members’ duties include attending bimonthly to weekly meetings, independent research on issues of concern, as well as drafting shareholder resolutions. Most recently, the CIR has developed and presented a proposal outlining procedural mechanisms for the Investment Office and Board of Trustees to thoroughly consider environmental, social, and governmental concerns in investment practices.

If you are interested in the CIR, please visit our website and familiarize yourself with what we do before applying. To apply, please submit one to two paragraphs explaining why you are interested in the committee and what relevant skills you would contribute to jholmes@wesleyan.edu by 5:00 pm on Wednesday, April 13.

Apply By: Wednesday, April 13 at 5:00 PM

FEATURED
Fossil Fuel Divest Forces Board of Trustees to Informally Vote on Divestment

Wesleyan Fossil Fuel Divest held an action directed at the board of trustees Friday evening. Students gathered in the UOC at 6pm to go over the details of the symbolic action, which would force the board of trustees to informally vote on divestment from fossil fuels.

The board, among other university administrators, were gathered in Allbritton for a naming ceremony for Wesleyan’s Jewett Center for Community Partnerships. Just as the ceremony was ending, demonstrators formed a semi-circle around the front of Allbritton with two openings, one marking a “yes” vote and the other a “no” vote. Board members gradually filtered out of Allbritton. Almost every single board member, including chairman of the board Joshua Boger ’73, walked through the “no” gap. Boger can be seen looking smug as hell here:

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FEATURED
41 Wyllys to Be Renamed Booger—Er, Boger—Hall

For those of you who are confused (and don’t spend a ton of time on Twitter or email), here’s what’s up: For the past several years, we’ve been attending classes in 41 Wyllys, which older alumni reading this probably remember as the former squash courts building. For whatever reason, it took almost half a decade to name this piece of real estate, but as of May 2016, that’s about to change.

Today, President Michael Roth announced that 41 Wyllys is to be renamed Boger Hall after Joshua Boger ’73, who has served as the chair of Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees since 2009. Student and alumni reaction has already been mixed, with lots of comments about boogers, Boger’s interactions with students during the need-blind protests, Boger being a pharmaceutical magnate, and the fact that Boger chaired a fundraising event with Bill Cosby in 2010 (#womp).

Only time will tell if this re-naming will be as controversial as that of Bennet Hall (renamed after Douglas Bennet ’59, the dude who was in office before Roth and incredibly disliked, apparently), but for now, congrats to Bogus—I MEAN BOGER.

Anyways, you can read Roth’s email after the jump.

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FEATURED
BREAKING: Residential Fraternities Must Become Co-Ed

WesFrat

In an email sent to the Wesleyan community this morning, the Chair of the Board of Trustees Joshua Boger ’73 and President Michael Roth ’78 informed the campus of the Board’s decision that all residential greek organizations must become fully co-educational in not just housing but within the greek organizations themselves.

The Board of Trustees convened in their retreat this past weekend, with more than half of the schedule dedicated to the issue of greek life on campus as well as the future of residential fraternities. This comes on the heel of the administration’s decision to declare Beta’s house off-limits to all students just a few weeks ago, in light of the discussions last semester within and outside of meetings in the Wesleyan Student Assembly over the issue of coeducation and residential fraternities.

Update (9/22/14 5:00PM): We asked DKE president Terence Durkin ’16 if the coeducation decision would affect their national membership and how they might implement coeducation. His response:

It is my understanding that our National Charter does not allow co-education, so this unilateral decision by the administration is problematic for us. It seems to do away with freedom of association for a specific, carefully chosen segment of the so-called Wesleyan “community”. The University is telling us who our friends are going to be, and who we must choose as our leaders. This is just not right. This is just not Wesleyan. We are exploring all options with our Alumni and undergraduates, and we will have more to say in the near future.

Dean Mike Whaley similarly reiterated that the national charter of DKE (and Beta) does not recognize coeducation, while Psi U’s does. He also pointed out that Alpha Delta Phi had a similar conflict with their national charter when they decided to co-educate in 1972. His response below:

I’ve not yet had a chance to work with any of the organizations yet given that the announcement was just made today. As President Roth’s announcement indicates, “If the organizations are to continue to be recognized as offering housing and social spaces for Wesleyan students, women as well as men must be full members and well-represented in the body and leadership of the organization.” We’ve invited each of the all-male fraternities to develop their own plans for realizing this goal, and I will be working with them as they develop and implement their plans to make sure they are likely to reach our objectives.

Psi U, whose national permits coeducation, has asked to meet with me later this week to begin discussions and planning.

You probably already know that Psi Upsilon’s national permits coeducation, while Beta’s and DKE’s do not. My understanding is that Alpha Delta Phi had a similar challenge with their national when they co-educated many years ago – how they overcame that obstacle could be instructive for the organizations.

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FEATURED
[BREAKING] Beta Theta Pi Off Limits to Students for this Academic Year

beta

In an all campus email today, it was announced that Beta Theta Pi will be off limits to students for the full academic year starting on Monday, September 15. The administration’s decision was certainly amplified by this past weekend’s incident, in which a student was seriously injured after falling from a third story window. Along with this occurrence, Beta has been in the news in recent years for incidents of sexual assault. This is a definitive step for the administration, which has spent years refining housing policies to have more control over residential fraternities, in particular Beta Theta Pi.

The students who currently live in Beta will be given alternative university housing for the year. While the residence will be off limits for at least the full year, a final decision on the permanence of this resolution will be made by the Board of Trustees when they are on campus in two weeks.

Updated (9/15/14 5:29 PM): Beta is officially off limits to students for the year, starting today. An all-campus email today stated that any student found on the Beta property without permission from both the University and the alumni association that owns the house will be “charged with violating the Code of Non-Academic Conduct and sanctioned accordingly, up to and including immediate suspension. Students may also be subject to trespassing charges via Middletown Police, at the owners’ discretion.” The e-mail is reproduced below.

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Kennedy Odede Running for Board of Trustees Position

Kennedy Odede ’12, everyone’s favorite rapper and alum, is running for a Board of Trustees position. Current seniors can vote, and he’d like to get the word out! The election is from April 7-May 25. From Odede:

I am missing Wes! In fact, I miss it so much I am running for alumni elected trustee.

I believe so much in Wes, and want to give back somehow. I’d appreciate everyone knowing to vote!

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