Dissent is Valuable

A healthy community embraces the dissent that emerges when members share the same goal, even if they have disparate understandings of how to achieve it. Such a community recognizes that dissent encourages new ideas, keeps leadership in touch with reality and challenges government persuasively to demonstrate how its proposals best meet community needs. Diversity of opinion might not always make for smooth sailing, but communities that embrace and gently manage dissent are richly rewarded. Pearson College could reap such rewards, too.

As we keep hearing, this is the 30th anniversary of the College’s life. We’ve been asked to donate money to the College. Some of us have been invited to an August reunion. The unusual aspects of the invitation (a large group, Years 1-5, invited to a short reunion, 4 days instead of 8) have not received public explanation. The on-going lack of candour and honest dialogue (of which this is only a small example) exacerbates the serious disaffection caused by recent administrative and board actions.

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR HEALING

On the occasion of amending the by-laws, the College is in a great position to turn a corner. It could reach out to alumni in the spirit of reconciliation and friendship to include 3 elected graduates on the board, to include distance voting at annual meetings and to make more transparent its opaque practices.

These three initiatives would signal a sincere attempt to embrace all alumni and patrons. And elected alumni representation, in particular, would be a great advantage to the College. It would permit alumni to believe that their views count and it would, through the elected representatives, give the board and administration a credible voice to explain controversial developments such as, for example, the decision to renew the Director’s contract despite five tumultuous years. If you had some people on the board whom you chose who could tell it to you straight (no “blah, blah, blah”) and without being afraid of being sued, real communication could begin and with it, healing.

Even though there are some alumni on the board, these people do not have a mandate to represent you; only patrons are allowed to vote for them and remarkably few patrons are alumni. So the current graduate trustees are there in their own right, not to address your concerns or to report to you. (After the November 5 meeting, the alumni trustees will be: Abu Bakar Bah, Patrice Brodeur, Michael deCarle, Ken Dunham, Kate (Bate) Freeman, Meera Gandhi, Michael Gordon and Robert Villeneuve. – a group, by the way, with an impressive list of qualifications.)

This proposal does not need to be viewed as threatening to the powers that be. If three alumni were elected (one per year, each for a three year term), they would still represent only 10% of the proposed Board - so they wouldn’t challenge the current balance of power.

JUST TRYING TO INFORM THE GRADS

My past service to Pearson College and I have been roundly discredited so please permit me to make clear that I’m trying merely to give the alumni important information in the absence of any elected representative. I’ve already served Pearson for six years as a trustee and UWC for three years in London as an International Board member. Whilst I admit to having mourned the loss of Pearson College, I have moved on to other things, not least having given birth and continuing to help Yale University as an elected alumni officer (which I’m glad and proud to do). Organizations need to renew themselves; the Pearson Board needs new elected alumni blood - yours.

CONCLUSION

In sum, perhaps you agree that three things seem self-evident:
1. Democracy is a good thing. (As Winston Churchill wrote, “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those others that have been tried”.)
2. Elected graduate representation; distance voting for patrons and trustees; and transparent membership criteria would enhance democracy at Pearson.
3. The expression of affectionate candour by alumni to their alma mater should be welcomed by a healthy educational institution as evidence that its alumni still care.

If you are pained to watch a formerly excellent UWC flail in its attempts to right itself, please express your opinions about elected graduate representation, distance voting and transparent membership criteria. The trustees might not have time to think much about these issues. Some of the trustees will be new and won’t know much about the College and, in my experience at meetings where technical information is presented, there is great pressure to accept a committee’s recommendation - an unspoken suggestion to "be a good chap and let us move on with our full agenda”.

Lest some people should start beating the well-trod and expensive path to lawyers, please be assured that I don’t intend to spend more time trying to help Pearson College. In fact, more than one person has tried to discourage me from doing this much asking, “Why bother? It’s useless.”

But you never know. Miracles can happen. Please don’t be dissuaded by past College actions from expressing your opinion. The Board might be glad to hear from you!

The vote to change Pearson's constitution is November 5. The Board’s address is: board@pearsoncollege.ca

With best wishes,
Juliet Guichon
Year 2, Pearson Patron

NOTE posted after the November Annual General meeting: Needless to say, the result of the November 2004 meeting was to reject elected alumni representation. No elected graduates are welcome to sit as trustees. The six men and two women who are currently graduate trustees are handpicked by and, in effect, appointed by those who control the board.

Not having elected graduate representatives would be considered a significant handicap in almost every private post-secondary educational institution I know of, even without the obvious strains that this insitution is experiencing. I don't know what the College's alumni plan is or where it can go from here.