Shimer College and the Future

Dean Stone's 2011 State of Academic Affairs Address released

2011-12-06T18:04:00.003-06:00

The text of the State of Academic Affairs Address, delivered by Dean Barbara Stone at the Assembly of November 12th, has been placed online.

This year’s report comes at a very interesting time: We’ve now been in Chicago for five years and in May we will be graduating the first large entering class of students who were “recruited” in Chicago and have never known Shimer in any other home, though they may have of course made the trek to Mt. Carroll or Waukegan at some point in their time here. Waukegan now has really become a part of Shimer lore. Some faculty have retired, some are thinking about it, we have now hired 4 new members to the faculty in the last 3 years – which is a sizeable percentage of the current faculty - and the student body has been growing by about 15% in each of the last few years. This year also marks the 10 year period when the Shimer faculty completed a review of the entire curriculum, which will be a major focus of this talk and of a community-wide discussion this Tuesday. I should actually clarify the previous sentence. The curriculum review will be the major focus of Tuesday’s discussion; today I will focus more on a couple of other changes that the faculty made in conjunction with the review. Some of these changes will be implemented immediately, others within the next couple of years. There are a large number of other academic matters that are discussed in the curricular report, as well as the larger Self-Study, that I don’t have time to address here. So take a look at both of these documents. They have been emailed to everyone, there are some copies on the floor, and the curricular review is also the Appendix to the Self-Study Report. I want to publicly thank David Shiner for his work in leading the faculty through this curriculum review as well as through the other ones of recent decades

[Continue reading...]

If to be Shimer's president you're inclined, you must answer first these questions nine

2011-12-04T01:59:00.003-06:00

To ensure that the candidates in Shimer's ongoing presidential search were evaluated on a fair and uniform basis, the same 9 questions were asked in each videoconference interview:

1.What do you particularly enjoy about your present position or a past position that might have some similarities to being President of Shimer?

2. Tell us about one success you have had in your past work, and describe how you achieved it.

3. Based on your current understanding of Shimer, what do you consider the greatest challenge facing the college? (Followup) Have you had experience dealing with this sort of challenge? (If yes) Describe one such situation and tell us how you handled it.

4. What do you see the value of a Shimer-style "great books" education in today's world? (Followup) How would you make this case to a potential donor, a prospective parent or student, or the public at large? Do you think that making this case involves a change in Shimer’s “branding”?

5. Our next President will need to be a collaborative leader. How would you define “collaborative leadership?” (Followup) When thinking about collaborative leadership at Shimer, how would you undertake planning so as to include students, employees, and other stakeholders as partners (rather than simply advisors), and to also make sure that essential tasks are accomplished well and in a timely manner?

6. Have you had much experience working with a governing board(s) as a non-board member? (Followup) What do you view as the proper relationship between the President and the Board, and what sorts of expectations would you as President of Shimer have of the Board?

7. Please tell us about one situation in which you failed and what you learned from the experience.

8. Who have been your models, positive and negative, from among the leaders with whom you have worked? What were the main characteristics and achievements that they modeled?

9. What questions do you have for us?

(source)

Finalists are expected to visit the campus in late January.

Self Study Report Released

2011-11-17T20:47:00.005-06:00

In what I am fairly sure is an unprecedented move for the college, Shimer has released the full, unredacted self study report, including appendices. The report has been prepared as part of the ongoing process of accreditation review. The contents, which include all manner of in-depth information on school operations, will be of great interest to all friends of the college.

It has become common enough for large, well-established universities to publish their self-studies online -- after all, what do they have to lose? -- but it is much rarer for schools anywhere near Shimer's size to do so. A web search turns up nothing, for example, from Reed College, let alone St. John's. An abundance of praise, then, is due to the self-study committee and the College for taking this bold and significant step forward for transparency.

Frances Shimer -- who insisted on keeping public records well after the school had passed into her and Miss Gregory's sole control, and without whose unwavering commitment to unvarnished excellence we would have no school to defend -- would certainly approve of this move.

Well done, Shimer!

And now, a trip down memory lane

2011-11-17T02:26:00.008-06:00

This takes me back:

Shimer's lucky thirteenth president has been working pretty hard lately to rehabilitate his ~~incompetent, power-crazed, duplicitous, money-grubbing, incompetent~~ problematic image. He may still have some work to do; the above screenshot was taken today.

Agenda for Shimer College Assembly of November 12, 2011

2011-11-10T19:44:00.006-06:00

Source (PDF). See committee & Fireside reports on alumni.shimer.edu. Thanks are due once again to Aaron Garland for making this information available to the external community.

ASSEMBLY AGENDA
Sunday, November 12, 2011
I. Report on the Minutes of September 11
II. Committee Reports: Committee reports have been sent out through the Bulletin
Board and willnot be presented orally. Please read them prior to the meeting.
Questions for committees are welcome.
∙ APC
∙ Administrative Committee
∙ Admission Committee
∙ Financial Aid Policy Committee
∙ Grievance, Appeals, and Judicial Committee
∙ QLC
III. Administrative Reports: (Requested by the Agenda Committee)
∙ Mary Pat Barbarie (Development): 5 min
∙ B David Galt (Presidential Search): 5 min
∙ B David Galt (Student Life Reorganization): 15 min
IV. Tabled Item from 9/11: 15 min
∙ Motion: that Shimer College elect a student in the spring of each calendar year to
be designated as Student Representative to Outside Organizations. (Motivated by
Erik Boneff)
∙ Note: If this motion passes, the Assembly will promptly hold this election.
V. Elections: 15 min
∙ Financial Aid Policy Committee (3 day students, 1 weekend student, two faculty,
1 at-large)
∙ Student Replacement for the QLC
VI. Dean Barbara Stone’s Report on the Academic State of the College: 30 min
VII. Proposed Amendments to the Assembly Constitution:
∙ For discussion only to be voted on at the first Assembly of 2012. SEE BELOW.
∙ (1)Transparency (motivated by Eileen Buchanan); (2) Authority (Motivated by
Albert Fernandez); (3)Committee reports (motivated by Eileen Buchanan)
VIII. Adjournment

Assembly info posted on alumni.shimer.edu

2011-09-09T14:23:00.002-05:00

The next meeting of the Assembly of Shimer College will be held at 4 PM on Sunday, September 11, 2011, in the Cinderella Lounge at Shimer.

In a wonderful and unprecedented move, not only the agenda of the current Assembly and minutes of the previous Assembly, but also the committee reports, have been posted publicly on alumni.shimer.edu. Many thanks to Aaron Garland for making this significant step towards openness possible.

The agenda has been reproduced below, for convenience. Here are direct links to the committee reports: Academic Planning Committee, Administrative Committee, Admission Committee, Development Office, Grievance Committee, Quality of Life Committee.

Agenda for the Meeting of the Shimer College Assembly
September 11, 2011 – 4 PM

1) Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of April 10, 2011 (prepared by Secretary Neel Rana)

2) Questions and Responses to Committee and Departmental Reports

3) Progress Reports:
a. Accreditation Self-Study (Colleen McCarroll)
b. Presidential Search Committee (B David Galt)

4) Discussion of proposed amendment to the Assembly Constitution to expand the official membership of the Quality of Life Committee (QLC) from its current seven members to ten (motivated by B David Galt).

5) Elections for Assembly Officers and Committees (to begin September 12, 2011):
a. Admissions Committee (announcement of results of online election)
b. Grievance, Appeals, and Judicial Committee (“ “ “)
c. Quality of Life Committee (“ “ “)
d. Ombudsperson
e. Speaker of the Assembly
f. Agenda Committee
g. Secretary of the Assembly
h. Parliamentarian

6) Discussion of Student Representative to Outside Organizations (motivated by Erik Boneff)

7) Student Elections:
a. Board of Trustees (2 Weekday, 1 Weekend)
b. IIT Representative
c. Other representative(s) per result of discussion of Agenda Item #6

8) Announcements

9) Adjournment

Announcement of Shimer College Assembly of 9/11

2011-08-26T02:50:00.005-05:00

From an announcement circulated to the community by email.

Dear Shimerian,

I’d like to take this opportunity to cordially invite you to the first meeting of the 2011-12 Shimer College Assembly. The Assembly is the broadest governance structure of Shimer College and deliberates on matters that affect the integrity of the College as a community. It normally meets only four times a year, so it’s important to attend each meeting in order to be as involved and well informed as possible about various matters at the College.

Prior to that meeting, which will take place on September 11, you will be receiving reports by email from a number of departmental directors and chairpersons of committees of the Assembly. I recommend that you read those reports carefully and come to the Assembly meeting prepared with questions concerning them if you have any. In the interests of time, those reports will not be read at the Assembly meeting, but all questions will be welcomed and the appropriate persons are expected to be there to respond to them.

The September 11 meeting will consist primarily of elections to Assembly committees and offices. There will also be at least one additional report and at least one discussion item. The agenda will be posted and otherwise distributed at least 5 days in advance of the meeting.

If you have items you would like to be considered for discussion at the September 11 meeting, please send them to a member of the Agenda Committee (Albert Fernandez, Rebecca Noble, or me) no later than 8 PM Monday, September 5. Priority will be given to items submitted by 8 PM next Tuesday, August 30, but we will also consider those submitted between then and September 5. If you are interested in submitting an item for Assembly discussion that is not of immediate concern, you should consider submitting it before the next Assembly meeting, which will take place on November 13.

If you are new to Shimer and would like to know more about the Assembly prior to the first meeting of the current year, you should plan to attend an information session. It will take place at 2 PM on “Community Tuesday,” September 6, in the Cinderella Lounge.

The September 11 Assembly meeting will take place in the Cinderella Lounge beginning at 4 PM. I hope to see you there.

David Shiner
Speaker of the Assembly

Shimer on Wikipedia's front page right now

2011-05-10T20:47:00.003-05:00

Until midnight GMT (7 PM tomorrow), Shimer College will be featured on the main page of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, in honor of the 158th anniversary of Shimer's founding.

In the words of alum Chris Vaughan, without whose yeoman labors this achievement would have been impossible, "A very special honor for our very special school."

Board approves Assembly's mission statement

2011-05-10T15:21:00.004-05:00

Thanks to David Shiner, we learn today that on Friday May 6, the Board of Trustees adopted a slightly modified version of the mission statement that was approved by the Assembly last year. Here is Shimer's new mission statement:

Shimer College provides and preserves education centered on discussion of enduring questions and issues. Historically influential original sources are studied through Socratic questioning, in small seminar classes and following the kind of Great Books curriculum advocated by Robert Maynard Hutchins. The core values informing education at Shimer are free inquiry, dialog, critical open-mindedness, and integration of disciplines. The College offers all members of its community the opportunity to participate meaningfully in deciding the future of the institution. A Shimer education demands much of both the intellect and the character of students, and prepares them for responsible citizenship and the examined life.

Huzzah!

(And while I'm generally on the Assembly's side in these matters, I am depthlessly grateful to the Board for eliminating the unnecessary dashes in the Assembly version.)

158-word writing contest for students & alums

2011-05-02T20:57:00.003-05:00

Via Sara Devila on Facebook:

So,

I have an anonymous donor on the line who has decided to back me in a little writing contest. This writing contest is designed to do two things:

1) Talk about Shimer.

2) Talk about why the Shimer learning experience was/is important to you and how.

To enter: write a note, post a blog, write a general entry, and either tag me, email me, forward me a link so I can find it. All entries must make it to my Inbox/Facebook/Blog Comment, etc by no later than Midnight May 9th, 2011.I will collect all the entries, read everything and select the winners.

In your entry please specify if you are an Alumni or a current student. (For the record Alumni covers anyone who has attended Shimer regardless of graduation status, and current students are currently attending).

Winners will be announce on May 11th, 2011, in celebration of the 158th anniversary of Shimer College. Winning entries will be re-posted as notes here, and also on the Shimer College and the Future blog (http://www.shimercollege.blogspot.com/).

Here is the challenge:

In 158 words (no more, and no less, it's a challenge) explain how the unique Shimer learning experience has benefited you in a real world way.

Creativity is encouraged, but every entry must be based on a true personal experience.

I would like to donate all the entries (winning or otherwise) to Shimer College to be shared with potential students, current students, and alumni as a way of further spreading the word about the value of a Shimer Education. Be aware of that if you decide to enter.

Prizes: For the record I love shopping in the Shimer Bookstore (http://store.shimer.edu/stores/1/) and think you should all do that too, but for the fun of this, the Anonymous Donor has given permission to offer the following prizes to encourage you to donate your entry.

Alumni Division:

Alumni of Shimer College

1st Place: $50 dollar Amazon books gift certificate

2nd/3rd places $25 dollar Amazon books gift certificate

Student Division:

Any currently enrolled student of Shimer College

1st Place: $50 dollar Amazon books gift certificate

2nd/3rd places: $25 dollar Amazon books gift certificate

I encourage everyone to spread the word and Post Facebook Notes, Blogs, and Emails of your entry. Emails can be sent to me at saradevil <at> gmail . com. Of course my facebook is right here. So share, link, repost, tweet, etc, and let's explain to the world what we value about our Shimer learning experience, and why 158 years is just the beginning.

New Shimer faculty

2011-04-29T23:29:00.003-05:00

Shimer has recently hired two new facilitators, Daniela Barberis and Adam Kotsko. They will begin teaching in the fall semester. Their respective CVs are quite impressive, and leave little room for doubt that they will be excellent additions to the community. Welcome, Daniela and Adam!

(Adam Kotsko is already known to some Shimerians in his capacity as a blogger, through outlets including An und für sich. It is perhaps unsurprising that a blogger of Shimerian interest would also be vocally skeptical of the value of blogging in higher education.)

Agenda for Shimer College Assembly of 4/10

2011-04-06T05:25:00.001-05:00

Agenda for the Meeting of the Shimer College Assembly

April 10, 2011 – 4 PM

1) Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of February 27, 2011 (prepared by Secretary Neel Rana)

2) Committee Report Updates and Questions

3) President Noonan’s “State of the College” Address

4) Elections for Assembly Committees (to begin August 2011):

a. Academic Planning Committee
b. Administrative Committee
c. Budget Committee

5) Discussion of Number of Members on upcoming Presidential Search Committee

6) Consideration of the following proposed Amendment to the Assembly Constitution, motivated by David Shiner on behalf of the Academic Planning Committee (APC): The description of the APC should be amended to include the clause, “the APC is responsible for setting salary policy for the faculty.”

7) Consideration of the following proposed Amendment to the Assembly Constitution, motivated by David Shiner: All instances of “committees of the College” should be amended to “committees of the Assembly.”

8) Discussion of the following proposal, forwarded to the Assembly by the Agenda Committee on behalf of its author, alum Sam Henderson (Class of ’98):

[That] the Assembly establishes a temporary ad-hoc committee on external relations. The committee is to consist of at least one student, at least one faculty or staff member, and at least one alum, and may expand its membership (to no more than 10) by unanimous consent of the members. The committee will seek suggestions and feedback from both the internal and external communities, and will report back to the Assembly with its proposals no later than the second meeting of the fall 2011 semester. The purpose of the committee will be to explore ways of establishing stronger ties between the Assembly and the external community, and particularly to find better ways of communicating the actions and significance of the Assembly and its committees to groups outside of the internal community, including alumni, friends of the college, and the general public.

9) Announcements

10) Adjournment

Shimer gets new Metra station

2011-04-05T11:38:00.003-05:00

As of April 3, Metra's Rock Island trains stop at the new 35th Street Station, 1 block from Shimer. The station is a flag stop, so it is necessary to alert the conductor if planning to disembark there. The Rock Island trains terminate at LaSalle Street Station downtown, and serve the southwest suburbs out to Joliet.

[Rock Island Line schedule as of 4/3/2011 (PDF)]

(Shimer is of course already very well-served by the CTA's Red and Green lines, and also advantageously situated within blocks of the Dan Ryan Expressway and Lake Shore Drive.)

Belated Month in Review: January 2011

2011-03-29T06:45:00.000-05:00

Still trying, and generally failing, to catch up. Sheesh. When did Shimer become so active online?

Adrian Nelson, participating in the Oxford study abroad program, recounted her visit to Poland over Christmas break:

While some of it was devoted to recovery time from the previous semester, as well as working on - le gasp - a thesis and other break projects, I finally got a chance to see some of the continent. I might not have, but a family invitation to spend Christmas in Poland gave me the perfect opportunity.

Alexandra Rosenberg, meanwhile, posted her memories of Montaigne scholarship competitions past:

I didn't win the Montaigne, but I earned something invaluable during the competition: the decision to go to Shimer. It is one of the best ideas I've ever had and cannot imagine being happy without receiving the education I am today.

Sara Hall, back from Oxford, reflected on how to cure the dreariness of winter:

Little things like lime green pants to help cure the winter dreariness of Chicago, and bring a smile to a stranger's face, if even for a moment. These are just as important as getting that Kierkegaard reading done and successfully contributing an interesting idea to the class discussion.

And reflecting further on the Shimer-in-Oxford experience, Sara agreed with fellow student Jesus Aviña that "it was kinda like boot camp":

It was an experience I wouldn't trade for anything. As I told my family, I went to Hogwarts, and I came back a wizard. A very happy, much more confident, and much less anxious wizard, ready to face the future and see what adventures it holds.

Shimerian-in-Haiti Steven Werlin reported on Jackson at School and invited us Meet Eileen, and described the End Game:

As we look to further expansion in the coming year, we'll need to apply what our experience has taught us. We need to get more disciplined, more focused during the selection and enrollment process. We can't let our need to hurry push us to cut corners, miss steps, or spread ourselves too thin. Haitians say "two prese p ap fè jou a ouvri." That means that too much hurrying doesn't make the sun rise. It's wisdom worth bearing in mind.

Shimerians Always Stir it Up

2011-03-15T11:21:00.003-05:00

Found on Tumblr from a current Shimer student.

I recall when I was a student that T-shirts were certainly "choice".

"lovely-petunia:

Oh look at Shimer, causing a ruckus."

Big Thanks to Amy Pritts

2011-03-10T10:47:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago, Amy Pritts stepped down from her position as Director of Admissions at Shimer College. She has been replaced on an interim basis by Cassie Sherman.

Despite being placed in an incredibly difficult position by last year's difficulties, Amy did an absolutely awesome job for Shimer. Had Shimer's enrollment faltered during the recent crisis, no one could have blamed Amy. Had Amy herself decided it was simply not worth her time to run the Admissions department in the midst of raging internal strife and numerous unkind accusations against her, no one could have blamed her for stepping aside.

But she held the course, and despite the enormously trying circumstances that surrounded her, enrollment has not merely held steady but risen, currently standing at an eye-popping (by Shimer standards) 128 students. Amy also did important work behind the scenes to make sure Shimer has the tools to handle a changing and increasingly difficult college admissions landscape.

Amy's tenure has been a success by any measure. This blogger joins the rest of the Shimer community in wishing her well in all of her future endeavors.

Upcoming Shimer events

2011-03-07T08:11:00.003-06:00

1. This Wednesday, March 9, at 1 PM in the Cinderella Lounge at Shimer, there will be a Fireside on the mission statement of Shimer College. The text under consideration will be the mission statement which was approved by the Assembly last year, but has not yet been taken up by the Board:

Shimer College—the Great Books College of Chicago—provides and preserves education centered on discussion of enduring questions and issues. Historically influential original sources are studied through Socratic questioning, in small seminar classes and following the curriculum developed by Robert Maynard Hutchins. The core values informing education at Shimer are free inquiry, dialog, critical open-mindedness, and integration of disciplines. As a community, the College offers all its members the opportunity to participate meaningfully in deciding the future of the institution. A Shimer education demands much of both the intellect and the character of students, and prepares them for responsible citizenship and the examined life.

(Hopefully the topics discussed will include the distinction between appropriate and inappropriate use of the em dash. )

2. This Thursday, March 10, at 7 PM in the Welcome Room of the McCormick Tribune Campus Center, there will be a talk by Paul D'Amato on "The Meaning of Marxism."

3. Friday, April 1, at 7 PM in the Cinderella Lounge at Shimer, there will be a lecture by 1970 Shimer alum and Fortune 100 executive Michael Berry, on the subject "From Shimer to the Corner Office."

4. Thursday, April 9, at 7 PM at Benton House in the Bridgeport neighborhood, the Shimer-IIT group End Hate will have a Volunteer Benefit Show.

5. Thursday, April 14, at 7:30 PM, and through Sunday April 17th, at a location TBA, the Performance Studies class will be performing The Importance of Being Earnest.

6. The Spring 2011 Commencement will be held May 7. Location and time TBA.

Belated Month in Review: December 2010

2011-03-04T15:00:00.001-06:00

OK, I'm a day late (actually 60+ days late) and a dollar short, but here is a roundup of interesting Shimer-related things from the month of December 2010.

Postings on Blog.shimer

December saw two postings from Shimer's study abroad program at Oxford University. Shimer-in-Oxford's worthy guide, Stuart Patterson, reported on the End of Term:

I realize I haven’t said much yet about the range of subjects folks are studying here. So I want to pay tribute to everyone’s hard work this term with just a list of some of the tutorials that they’ve undertaken over the last few months - the list isn’t exhaustive, though it might exhaust you just reading it: “Christian Mysticism,” “Druidism and Paganism,” “History and Practice of Observational Astronomy,” “Early Writing Systems,” “Chinese Literature,” “Feminism,” Proust,” “Philosophy of Mind,” “French Lyric Poetry,” “Psychology of Religion” and “Classical Guitar” to name, literally, a few. Next term promises just as rich a harvest of ideas, with “Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit,” “Government and Politics of the U.S.,” and “History of Consciousness through Material Studies” a few of the courses we have planned.

Shimerian-in-Oxford Adrian Nelson reported on The Fine City of Bath and a Stone Henge:

Dinah Gumns presented the written portion of her writing week project, Moves & Mobiles, reflecting on the impact of the Shimer experience:

The decision to go back to school had more intense consequences than quitting a job or two and racking up more student loans; I was engulfed with creative energy. As this year pushed on, it has only become stronger. I have introverted greatly. I have found that I am in my head 80% of the time. As I bike to work I try to wrap my mind around the previous day's Sociology reading. I laugh at the similarity of drivers throwing temper tantrums to the tantrums of chimpanzees. My people-watching skills are now verging on creepy. I do math problems in my head for fun; this is the most surprising, really. I am astounding myself daily.

Shimer also held a chess tournament.

Fearless first-year Shimer video blogger Dorian Electra posted on "Euclidean Aerobics":

Montaigne scholarship winners announced

2011-03-01T19:04:00.004-06:00

Announced today (PDF):

Shimer College, the Great Books College of Chicago, is pleased to announce the three winners of its Montaigne Scholar’s Competition. Mark Surya, of Morganville, New Jersey, won a full-tuition scholarship; Kelsey Crick, of Louisville, Kentucky, and Edward Vlcek, of Chicago, won half-tuition scholarships. All scholarships are renewable for four years, with a full-tuition prize worth over $100,000.

Congratulations and welcome to all!

Those who aren't familiar with Shimer's annual Montaigne scholarship competition can learn more here:

The Michel de Montaigne Scholarship will be awarded to students new to Shimer on the basis of students' merit in writing and discussion--the kind that Shimer students undertake every day. The scholarship honors Michel de Montaigne, the French Renaissance author and essayist.

This seems like a good time to mention that the Montaigne scholarship is currently unfunded, due to Shimer's lack of endowment or other funds to support scholarships. If that seems less than ideal, there's no better day than today to Support the Great Books!

2/27 Assembly webcast info

2011-02-27T07:40:00.002-06:00

Courtesy of the indefatigable Steven Parker:

To join the meeting:
http://shimer.na5.acrobat.com/assembly227/
----------------
If you have never attended a Connect Pro meeting before:
Test your connection: http://shimer.na5.acrobat.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm
Get a quick overview: http://www.adobe.com/go/connectpro_overview
Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat and Acrobat Connect are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.

As noted previously, the livetweet will go forward on @shimerians with overflow to @samuelhenderson if needed.

Promoting Shimer's weekend program

2011-02-26T19:20:00.001-06:00

If you live in Chicago and listen to WBEZ, you may have heard Shimer's sponsorship announcements promoting the weekend college program, running chiefly during the commuting and lunchtime hours. In your humble blogger's opinion, this is an excellent investment of Shimer's resources, as it helps to build the school's information endowment while at the same time hopefully breathing fresh life into an extremely important program that has recently suffered from troublingly low enrollment.

These ads are nothing new, of course. Similar campaigns have helped to draw students to the weekend program in decades past as well. As 1988 graduate Jim Tudor recalled in his graduation address, these announcements can be particularly helpful in reaching potential students who have some awareness of Shimer but do not realize that it has a program tailored specifically to them:

I met a graduate of Shimer who told me that he never had a lecture in his four years of college. All his classes worked as a group discussion with the professor acting as a co-investigator. I felt sad about not knowing of this school earlier, but continued with my self-education program.

One day, while driving on the Kennedy expressway, I heard an advertisement on the radio about weekend classes at Shimer College geared toward working people. I became very excited. Many of the people driving near me became very excited also, but not about Shimer.

Not only is the Chicago area the most logical recruiting area for the weekend program, it is also especially rich in students with precisely this exposure profile. This fact makes this kind of advertising particularly appropriate and -- with any luck -- effective.

If, like me, you feel that Shimer is using its limited resources wisely in promoting this valuable program, why not take this opportunity to support the Great Books and take home a set? More than $2700 has been raised so far.

Agenda for Shimer College Assembly of 2/27

2011-02-23T06:24:00.004-06:00

The Shimer College Assembly, the self-governing body of Shimer College, will assemble on Sunday, February 27, 2011, at 4 PM in the Cinderella Lounge at Shimer. Alumni are non-voting members of the Assembly, and are welcomed and encouraged to attend.

The Assembly will be webcast, in part for the benefit of students in the Oxford study abroad program. It will also be livetweeted -- I mean it this time!! -- commencing at @shimerians and continuing to @samuelhenderson if necessary.

Agenda for the Meeting of the Shimer College Assembly

February 27, 2011 – 4 PM

1) Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of November 14, 2010 (prepared by Secretary Neel Rana)

2) Committee Report Updates and Questions

3) Proposal for an addition to the section on “Powers of the Assembly” in the Constitution of the Assembly (amended by the Agenda Committee from the proposal from Jonathan Timm that was discussed at the November 2010 Assembly meeting):

Election of members of the Assembly to any Assembly committee or office, as well as nominations of Assembly members as representatives to the Board of Trustees, may occur remotely. Participation in Assembly meetings, including voting, may only occur in person except for Assembly members who are participating in a remotely located, official Shimer College program.

4) Two proposals and a motion from the Ad Hoc Committee to Study the Agenda Committee:

a) The Ad Hoc Committee recommends to the Assembly that the Agenda Committee take measures, whenever possible and advisable, to avoid on-the-floor editing and word-smithing of motions and resolutions. We recommend that, to this end, the Agenda Committee continue or increase the use of methods for which there is precedent: A) Committee editorial feedback to the writers of motions and resolutions prior to dissemination, B) editing by the Committee itself with the consent of the author, and C) dissemination of motions and resolutions well in advance of their formal publication in the agenda, with an invitation to community members that they convey suggestions and proposed edits directly to the authors before publication of the agenda.

b) In addition, and to the same end, the Ad Hoc Committee recommends that from now on the Agenda Committee first bring motions and resolutions to the Assembly for discussion and suggestions, including friendly amendment, and then bring them to the Assembly for voting at the following or a later meeting, unless, in the judgment of the Agenda Committee, urgency or other considerations, including the use of method “C” above, prevent, or eliminate the need for, a two-stage process. Friendly amendments would be in order when proposals are introduced, formal ("unfriendly") amendments would be in order when proposals are to be voted on, and debate would be in order at both first- and second-stage meetings.

c) The Ad Hoc Committee moves that: The Assembly accepts and endorses the February 2011 recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee to Study the Agenda Committee, and directs the Agenda Committee to put them into practice. (Motivated by Harold Stone for the Ad Hoc Committee)

5) Proposal for the creation of an ad hoc committee whose responsibility would be to organize Assembly volunteers to assist the College, especially with respect to enrollment and advancement efforts. The Committee would gather lists of volunteers and a way of contacting them, and would then consult with the Admission and Advancement offices abut their needs and how the volunteers might be used. This committee would consist of at least 2 Weekday students, a Weekend student, and member(s) of the staff, with composition otherwise determined by the Assembly. (Motivated by Harold Stone)

6) Announcements

7) Adjournment

Support the Great Books and Take Home a Set

2011-02-20T23:09:00.003-06:00

Long-suffering Trustee Dan Shiner is sponsoring a fundraiser for Shimer College that will run through March 7. Over $2000 has been raised in the first days of the fundraiser.

Here is the fine print:

All donations to Shimer College must be made no later than March 7th (Dan Shiner’s birthday) for this cause. Anonymous donations are appreciated, but we will not be able to award any gifts to those who choose to donate without providing a name.

*Make a donation of $100+ and you will receive a signed first edition book (one per donor). It may not be Hemingway, but Dan says it will be something like a signed Sue Grafton or a signed Capitalist Manifesto by Adler and Kelso.

*Make a donation of $10+ and your name will be put into a drawing for a complete used set of the Great Books (one entry per donor).

*Be the largest individual donor ($1000 min) and you will also receive a complete used set of the Great Books.

DONATE DONATE DONATE!!! That is all.

Barre Seid updates

2010-11-22T15:27:00.002-06:00

Anyone with a lingering interest in Barre Seid's shenanigans will want to check out these articles regarding his funding of distribution of the anti-Muslim Obsession DVD in 2008.
1. The breakthrough article by Justin Elliott on Salon.com
2. Expert dissection by Richard Silverstein of the lies and dissemblings involved
3. Little bit o' Shimer-focused analysis by yours truly

Personally, what really ticks me off about this is how little Seid was willing to put into Shimer by comparison. Apparently education comes a distant second to wingnut demagoguery for him.

But then, given the people he chose to be his stooges on the Board of Trustees, I suppose that shouldn't come as a great surprise.

Shimer is hiring

2010-11-17T19:00:00.001-06:00

Shimer alums tend to run in fairly erudite circles. Which means that if you're a Shimer alum, there's a good chance that you know some brilliant, thoughtful, well-read, under-appreciated Ph.D.'d person who would be a fantastic Shimer facilitator.

From shimer.edu:

Shimer College, the Great Books College of Chicago, is seeking to fill fulltime faculty positions beginning in August 2011.

Shimer’s academic program features an interdisciplinary core curriculum consisting of courses in the Humanities, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences. Classes average ten students and are conducted in a seminar format. Shimer faculty members are generalists who are expected to teach in more than one area of the curriculum. The faculty participates extensively in the life of the College outside of the classroom. Shimer is very small (currently 120 students) but growing: enrollment has risen by 65% over the past three years and is expected to continue to increase over the next few years.

Applicants will be considered in any area of the liberal arts.

The announcement is also posted on the Chronicle website.

Academic Affairs Address by David Shiner, Dean of the College

2010-11-16T18:04:00.005-06:00

Academic Affairs Address

November 14, 2010

The Constitution of the Shimer College Assembly mandates that the Dean of the College is to deliver a State of Academic Affairs Address to the Assembly at this time each year. This address offers an opportunity for the Dean to reflect on, and for members of the Shimer community to learn about, aspects of the academic life of the College that don’t impact most of us on a day-to-day basis, and about which some of us might not even be aware. In preparing this address, one of the challenges is to try to speak about matters in a way that’s equally informative for those who have been at Shimer for three months and those who have been here for thirty years. I hope to strike that balance in my remarks this afternoon.

I’d like to begin by discussing course offerings. Last month the Academic Planning Committee of the Assembly, or APC, asked all Shimer students to indicate their interest in a wide range of proposed elective courses by means of an online survey. That survey provided the basis for the committee’s decisions about which electives to offer. The 7 non-core courses we will be hosting in the Weekday Program next term are the most in any semester since our move to Chicago in 2006. That’s especially impressive given that this is an “Oxford year,” meaning that a number of students who need electives are taking them in Oxford, England, under the auspices of the Shimer-in-Oxford Program. Granted, 7 courses is not very many, but it’s the direct consequence of two regrettable but undeniable facts – one, we don’t have all that many students; and two, we don’t have all that many faculty members. The fact that the number of electives has been increasing is the result of the recent increase in the size of the student body. I’ll have more to say about both that increase and the elective situation later on in this address.

First, though, I’d like to focus on an important event that will take place fairly soon. Visitors representing Shimer’s accrediting agency, the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Schools and Colleges, will be visiting us a year from now – in fact, a year to this very day. That might well be the single most important event that will take place at Shimer in 2011, so it’s well worth taking some time to reflect on it this afternoon.

Before discussing what accreditation entails, I’d like to briefly explain what it is. Accreditation is a process by which an external organization evaluates the services and operations of an institution to determine if applicable standards in various areas of concern are being met. In most countries the accreditation process for academic institutions is overseen by a government agency; here in the US it’s handled by private membership organizations such as the aforementioned North Central Association. A key step in the accreditation process takes place when the accrediting agency sends visitors – in our case, mostly faculty and staff members from other small colleges – to inspect the school’s academic program, its enrollment, its finances, its mission, and its processes of internal assessment. Before they do all this, we must do it ourselves. That is, we are required to undertake a self-study that critically examines Shimer. This self-study results in the composition of a detailed narrative that we present to our accrediting guests. They in turn decide, in part, whether that narrative tells the truth about Shimer, and to what extent it meets the standards to which the accrediting agency is expected to hold us.

As everyone here knows, many of the most important aspects of the Shimer story are unequivocally positive. The PhD rate of Shimer graduates is among the top 1% in the entire country, as it has been for many years. That achievement is particularly noteworthy given that all the other top schools have stricter admission criteria than we do. In addition, an increasing number of our graduates are attending, and excelling in, law school, a statistic that is not reflected in the PhD rate. The Graduate Record Examination, or GRE, scores of Shimerians are well above national averages in most categories. In short, Shimer graduates achieve the sorts of results in testing, and in graduate and law schools, that indicate academic success by conventional standards. Furthermore, it takes very little investigation to discover why this is the case. One need only attend our classes to realize that the level of intellectual activity at Shimer is clearly and significantly higher than in the vast majority of classes in most other colleges and universities. Past accreditation visitors have visited those classes, and have been unanimous in their praise of both our academic program and the achievements of our graduates.

If that were the whole story concerning our preparation for the accreditation visit, I’d stop talking about it right now. But merely having a great academic program, laudable though that is, does not ensure soundness of operations or solid prospects for sustainability. On those fronts, much remains to be done over the next year, and that work will be a college-wide endeavor. Since this address is intended to emphasize matters concerning the academic life here at Shimer, I would like here to focus on the portions of that endeavor that directly involve the faculty.

Many of you are aware that the faculty is currently undertaking a comprehensive review of the entire core curriculum. That’s vitally important, since the core is the foundation of our academic program. Our review involves extensive research and many meetings during which the faculty prepares for decisions concerning what to keep and what to change, based on its expertise and experience at Shimer. It’s a lot of work, but it’s work that must be done, both for the affirmation and renewal of the curriculum itself and for the message it sends to accreditors concerning our ongoing attention to, and concern on behalf of, the academic program.

In addition, other types of assessment are increasingly becoming regarded as vital components of any school’s case for accreditation. The Higher Learning Commission doesn’t only want to know that Shimer has an outstanding academic program; they also want to be assured that our processes are such that that program can be expected to continue to achieve excellent results for the foreseeable future. This means that the faculty needs to qualify and quantify its assessment procedures now as never before. That involves additional work of various sorts. For example, multiple faculty members have been assessing every writing diagnostic taken by every entering Weekday Program student for the past four years according to eight separate categories, after which those evaluations are compared with the similarly detailed assessments of student writing later in those same students’ tenure at Shimer. The faculty will be reviewing all that data in an attempt to reach valid conclusions concerning the overall quality of student writing, the improvement of students at various stages of the academic program, the level of similarity or dissimilarity of assessment of student writing by each individual faculty member, and a number of other factors. That task is daunting, but it must be completed in the next eight months or so, before our self-study is due to be sent to the accreditors.

All of this is undertaken in what might euphemistically be called the faculty’s “copious spare time.” The Shimer faculty is far from underworked. In fact, the faculty teaches more each year on a credit basis than our counterparts at any other college or university I know. That teaching does not include tutorials, which make the overall teaching load even greater. And that leads us back to the issue of electives.

It’s no secret that many Shimer students cherish tutorials. And well they should. Tutorials – that is, elective courses of three or fewer students that normally meet once a week – are a wonderful learning opportunity for students. Nevertheless, as I have already announced, we will be offering few if any tutorials next semester. The reasons for that are regrettable but undeniable. Even when we are not undertaking a self-study, a core curriculum review, and additional assessment of student writing, we are in no position to offer more than a handful of tutorials in any given semester. We strive to strike a balance between student aspirations and desires and faculty expertise and availability, all within the context of the overall state of the College at any given time. This semester every fulltime faculty member without exception is hosting a tutorial. That’s unprecedented; it has never before occurred in the entire 25 years since tutorials were introduced at Shimer. Given all that the faculty has to accomplish over the next few months for the benefit of future Shimerians, particularly with respect to preparing for the accreditation visit, we simply do not have the luxury to do that, or anything remotely like it, next term.

None of this should be taken to imply that I’m unappreciative of tutorials, which can be a great opportunity for faculty members as well as for students. I’ve been happily reminded of that this semester, in the weekly sessions in which Erik Boneff, Kieran Kelley, and I pore over and attempt to puzzle out the complex writings of Gregory Bateson. All of my faculty colleagues have similar tales to tell. But the general well-being of the College entails our offering tutorials more judiciously, particularly next semester. I therefore encourage students who need electives to consider enrolling in the excellent ones that we will be offering, and also to consider courses at IIT and, for those interested in music and art, VanderCook College of Music and Harold Washington College respectively.

Of course, the hiring of additional faculty members will make more elective and tutorial opportunities possible in the future. Concerning that point, I’m pleased to announce that the APC has undertaken a search for new faculty members for next year. This is most welcome. We need new blood on the faculty, and we especially need young new blood on the faculty. We are, of course, looking for skilled seminar leaders – “facilitators,” as some Shimerians like to call them – who are well grounded in the Great Books. Finding them will be one of the keys in helping to secure Shimer’s academic future.

The APC would like to be able to hire at least two new faculty members for next year. Whether we will be in a position to do that is largely dependent on two factors: the departure of current faculty members, and an increase in student enrollment. The former is sadly but inevitably occurring, as our longtime faculty stalwarts begin to retire. As far as higher student enrollment is concerned, I’m optimistic. Shimer’s enrollment has already been rising at an impressive rate, an increase averaging 18% over the past three years, and the report that Amy Pritts sent the Assembly a couple of days ago indicates that that upward trend is likely to continue in the coming year.

Still, not all the enrollment news is favorable. In particular, I have expressed varying levels of concern about the Weekend Program in each of my State of Academic Affairs addresses over the past four years. I remain concerned about that program, in fact more concerned now than a year ago. For nearly two decades, the Weekend Program accounted for about one-third of Shimer’s total student enrollment, a proportion reflected in the fact that several Assembly committees and the Board of Trustees include designated positions for two Weekday students and one Weekend student each. This semester, Weekenders represent significantly less than 20% of the student body. As things stand, only a dozen current Weekend students are candidates to still be enrolled at Shimer a year from now. We will certainly enroll new Weekend Program students by then, but we will also inevitably lose some of those who are enrolled now, aside from those who are expected to graduate this coming May. This is a serious issue. I say this not to denigrate the quality of the Weekend Program or to make light of my care for the students it serves, nor to imply that there is any danger that the program will be terminated in the immediate future. But it’s important, although sobering, to realize that the Weekend Program is probably not sustainable indefinitely at current enrollment levels, and that our sincere attempts to increase Weekend enrollment in recent years have not borne sufficient fruit.

Let’s now turn from the cautionary to the encouraging. Aside from overseeing the academic program, a Dean at Shimer tries to provide some measure of connection between past and present; and hopefully between past, present, and future. Last year I had the opportunity to meet with Professor John Hirschfield, a well-respected and much-loved faculty member of half a century ago, when the Great Books Program was in its infancy at Shimer. John taught here for only ten years, but he regards them as the most educationally fulfilling years of his long and successful teaching career. As we lunched together he told me that, in his view, Shimer’s educational system was successful because classes were small, the faculty was gifted and committed, and students sat around tables discussing original texts and important ideas with genuine interest and intelligence. I assured him that that’s still the case at Shimer today.

And there’s lots of evidence to back that up. Early last month, for example, I sent an email to Weekday students asking for volunteers to participate in a seminar on Plato’s Crito for the purpose of showing interested members of the Board of Trustees what Shimer discussion classes are like these days. That seminar took place at the end of a long week, at a time when two other classes were meeting. Nevertheless, ten students signed up, attended, and participated. There was no particular incentive for them to do that – no academic credit, no free stuff from the Bookstore, nothing but the joy of learning together. The discussion went well, and the Board members who attended were suitably impressed. One of them, a distinguished professor at a noted East Coast university, subsequently sent me a highly complimentary note in which he stated that the seminar compared favorably with the classes in which he participated as a Shimer student back in the 1960s – some of them under the tutelage of John Hirschfield. In my response, I wrote simply, “That’s Shimer.”

And so it is. For most of the intellectual work we do here, there are tangible payoffs: grades, diplomas, and the like. And yet, it’s striking that we do what we do primarily for the love of learning. If that wasn’t true, each student here would have chosen to attend a college that’s less expensive, or more career oriented, or just plain easier. But you didn’t. That’s to your credit, and to Shimer’s.

The academic life here at Shimer is shared by all of us, but the Dean of the College has special responsibilities and reaps special rewards. I have now served in that position on three separate occasions, each of them lasting 4-5 years. My first stint as Dean ended in 1991. The second came to a close in 2001 – 10 years after the first. It therefore seems appropriate that this one will end in 2011 – that is, at the conclusion of the current academic year. That will involve a transition for Shimer, but it’s unlikely to be a major one. I’m well aware that most of you who are attending today’s Assembly meeting have never known Shimer when I wasn’t the Dean, and it might seem to you as though I have the position by divine right. If so, you can rest assured that that’s far from the case, and that Shimer functions perfectly well when someone else serves in that role.

The Deanship at Shimer is, and should be, shared among qualified and interested members of the senior faculty. A subcommittee of the APC has begun the process of discerning who will inherit that role next year, and their recommendations will be taken up by the faculty a few months from now. All Shimerians will be informed of the results of that process once it is known. You’ll also be invited to become involved in various aspects of the self-study process for accreditation, as well as in assessing prospective future members of the Shimer faculty who will be interviewing with us here next semester. That’s always an exciting process for all of us, as those who have participated in such interviews in the past will attest. For now, I close my final State of Academic Affairs Address by thanking you for your kind attention, and for affording me the privilege of serving you as Dean of Shimer College.

David Shiner

Links added; text otherwise unaltered. -- Ed.

Lawsuit settled &c.

2010-11-15T19:01:00.005-06:00

Update: You can find a fuller explanation of the terms of the settlement on the Shimer Alumni Alliance blog.

According to an announcement made by Interim President Ed Noonan at the close of the Shimer College Assembly on Sunday, the Lindsay v. Shimer lawsuit has been settled by circulation of signatures among the parties. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed, but the terms of the settlement are said to include permanent bans on either Thomas Lindsay or Patrick Parker ever again holding office at Shimer College.

So much for the past.

Looking to the future, in his State of Academic Affairs address, Dean David Shiner mentioned that the next NCA visit will occur in 364 days. The faculty are working overtime (even more thean usual) to make sure that all aspects of Shimer academics, including assessment procedures, are in shape to once again pass muster with the accreditors. Of course, academics are only one part of the accreditation process, and are generally the part that Shimer passes with flying colors. More critical is that Shimer be on a demonstrably sound and sustainable footing, financially and administratively.

If, like some alumni, you have held off on making a recurring donation to Shimer because of the lingering uncertainty caused by the frivolous Lindsay-Parker lawsuit ... it's probably about time to make that donation, for whatever amount you can afford. Shimer has definitively turned the page on the ugly but mercifully brief Lindsay period, and is in as great need as ever of the support of its friends as it moves into the new era.

Agenda for Shimer College Assembly of 11/14

2010-11-09T12:50:00.005-06:00

The Shimer College Assembly, the self-governing body of Shimer College, will assemble on Sunday, November 14, 2010, at 4 PM in the Cinderella Lounge at Shimer. Alumni are non-voting members of the Assembly, and are welcomed and encouraged to attend.

The Assembly will be webcast, in part for the benefit of students in the Oxford program. It will also be livetweeted, commencing at @shimerians and continuing to @samuelhenderson if necessary.

Agenda for the Meeting of the Shimer College Assembly
November 14, 2010 – 4 PM

1) Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of September 12, 2010 (prepared by Colleen McCarroll)

2) Committee Report Updates and Questions

3) State of Academic Affairs Address (David Shiner)

4) Elections to Assembly Committees
a. Financial Aid Policy ‐ 3 staff members (at least 2 from the faculty), 2 Weekday students, 1 Weekend student (tenure 11‐15‐10 until late Fall 2011)
b. Quality of Life Committee ‐ 1 Assembly member (tenure 11‐15‐10 until early Fall 2011)
c. Academic Planning Committee ‐ 1 Weekday student (tenure 1‐1‐11 until August 2011)

5) Proposal for an addition to the section on “Powers of the Assembly” in the Constitution of the Assembly
(proposed and motivated by Jonathan Timm):

Election of members to any Assembly committee, as well as of representatives to the Board of Trustees, may occur online. Voting on all other matters will only occur in person at Assembly or committee meetings. Members of the Assembly who are not physically present at an Assembly meeting may only vote remotely if they are participating in a remotely located, official Shimer College program.

6) Proposal for an amendment to the “Preamble” to the Constitution of the Assembly (proposed and motivated by Eileen Buchanan and Albert Fernandez):

Current Language:
The Assembly recognizes the Board of Trustees as the ultimate legal authority of the College. Should there arise a conflict between any section of the Assembly Constitution and the By-laws of the Board of Trustees, the By-laws will take precedence.
The Assembly recognizes the President as the chief executive administrator of the College.
The Assembly recognizes that the College Faculty is authorized to maintain, develop and revise the instructional program of the College. This authorization includes responsibility for curriculum content, degree requirements, recommendation of graduates, college examinations, and academic lectures and convocations.
Proposed Language:
The Assembly recognizes the Board of Trustees as the legal authority of the College.
The Assembly recognizes the President as the chief executive administrator of the College.
The Assembly recognizes the College Faculty as the academic authority of the College.
The Faculty maintains, develops, and revises the instructional program of the College. Its authority includes responsibility for curriculum content, degree requirements, recommendation of graduates, College examinations, and academic lectures and convocations.

7) Announcements

8) Adjournment

[Original PDF of Assembly Agenda]

Montaigne scholarship now open

2010-11-03T11:41:00.005-05:00

If you know any prospective or potential Shimerians, make sure they know about this opportunity: Shimer's Montaigne scholarship competition for 2011 is now accepting applications. The Montaigne is an essay and discussion scholarship; one full tuition and two half tuition scholarships are provided.

You can read an interview with Naomi Neal, a previous winner of this scholarship competition, on the Shimer blog. Here is an account of the scholarship weekend last February, and a spectator and participant's account of the Montaigne competition by Adrian Nelson.

The contest is open to all prospective Shimer students, including those who wish to attend Shimer's early entrance program, its Weekend College program, or its BA to JD prelaw program.

October's Over

2010-10-30T19:31:00.016-05:00

The end of a month seems like a good time for another roundup post. Here's what's been going on in the past month, as far as your humble narrator is aware. (Previous summary here.)

The past month
- Top news: Seven members of Lindsay's wrecking crew left the Board of Trustees, conveniently matching the number of new alum members who joined in late September. The pro-Shimer majority is, thus, now quite solid.
- Shimer Days were held with great success.

A good number of Shimer faculty have been heard from, in print and on the blogs:
- Eileen Buchanan and Jim Donovan were published in Substance, Judgment and Education, a volume of papers from the Association for Core Texts conference in 2006. Both papers deal with Shimer's curricular development in response to the "Great Books, Great Art" NEH grant which ran from 2005 to 2007. Eileen's paper is titled "Michelangelo and the Copernican Revolution," although it begins "in reality, this paper is about neither Michelangelo nor the Copernican Revolution." Jim's paper is on "Teaching Scientists to See: A Possible Bridge Between C.P. Snow’s Two Cultures."

- Dave Shiner was quoted in a Pope Center article on whether tenure is necessary.
- Dave also talked with legendary Shimer professor John Hirschfield.
- Stuart Patterson checked in from Shimer-in-Oxford.
- Steven Werlin posted two articles about his work with Haitian microfinance agency Fonkoze: "Walking with Elie" and "Scaling Up".

Other blogospheric happenings:
- Mohini Lal shared her story as an early entrant.
- Noah Lebien shared his story as a transfer student.
- Shimer-in-Oxford student Adrian Nelson reported on Oxford academics and other matters:

- Shimer-at-Shimer student Michael Doherty interpreted Jean-Paul Sartre on stress management:

NB: No new materials have been added to the public case file for Lindsay v. Shimer College since early September. The case appears to be in a holding pattern.

Next month
- Eugene Baldwin, "Made in Illinois: Archaeology of the First Americans", November 5, 7 PM in Cinderella Lounge at Shimer (3424 S State)
- Orange Horse: November 13, 7 PM in Cinderella Lounge
- Life After Shimer Reading Group: The Pioneers by James Fenimore Cooper, November 14, 11 AM at the home of Jack Sigel in Evanston
- Assembly: November 14, 4 PM in Cinderella Lounge
- Buffy Ellsworth, "Of Men, Mice and Foxes", November 19, 7 PM in Cinderella Lounge

In closing
Two things come to mind:
1. Dang, there's a lot going on at Shimer.
2. It's always a good day to donate to Shimer.

Thought for the day

2010-10-20T22:02:00.006-05:00

Isn't it odd that Chicago Public Media, an organization with a notorious contempt for its listeners' opinions, has a much greater commitment to transparency than our beloved, participatory Shimer College?

2. Open Meetings. All meetings of the Board of Directors and Council and their committees shall be open meetings preceded by reasonable notice to the public at least one week in advance, except in the event of an emergency. In the event that the bylaws of the Board of Directors or Council permit such meeting held telephonically or other alternative format, the public shall be mean an ability to listen or observe.

3. Reasonable Notice. CPM shall post a notice on its website of any applicable meetings and make on-air announcements on at least three consecutive days once each calendar quarter explaining this policy and providing information about how the public can obtain information regarding specific dates, times and locations.

4. Closed Sessions. CPM may hold closed meetings or portions of meetings to consider matters relating to individual employees, proprietary information, litigation and other matters requiring confidential advice of counsel, commercial or financial information obtained from a person on a privileged or confidential basis, or the purchase of property or services whenever premature exposure of such purchase would compromise the business interests of such organization.

Contrast this with Shimer's open meetings policy:

Just putting it out there...

September song

2010-10-01T21:42:00.007-05:00

Here's another little old roundup (most recent previous roundup here). Things have been pretty quiet in the external community, as far as I'm aware, so this is mostly limited to news from inside the bubble.

Recent happenings:

As already noted on this very blog, the Board has added SEVEN NEW ALUM TRUSTEES!!!, each and every one of whom is an awesome human being. If this makes you feel good about the future of Shimer -- and it should -- please consider making a little financial vote of confidence in their honor.
On that note, the Advancement Office has rolled out some new ways of donating to Shimer. For instance, you can donate your beat-up old car to Shimer. (Or your motorcycle. Or your steamroller, apparently -- if you happen to have an extra one lying around. Not sure about tanks.)
Shimer-in-Oxford has checked in with a video blog by Adrian Nelson and richly illustrated reports from Stuart Patterson and Robert Carpenter. You may remember Robert as the Weekend students' intrepid representative on the Board this past year.
First-year student Mohini Lal has posted some reflections on Shimer's smallness and vastness.
The mills of the law grind exceeding slow, and Lindsay v. Shimer College continues to plod its ponderous way through Cook County Circuit Court. (No, not that Lindsay v. Shimer, and definitely not this one; this one.) The most recent event on the e-docket is a "stay of execution," a familiar theme in Shimer history. There is currently a lag of more than 15 days between the public case file and the actual motions filed in court; thus, it would seem that the only people who know exactly what has been stayed are those who were present in the courtroom. Still, you can view the case file up through 9/3/2010 here, or in a more organized format here. The motion to dismiss, by Shimer's counsel, is highly recommended for connoisseurs of the legal smackdown.
The Shimer-Student-Union listserv, much-used in the recent crisis, has shown unexpected signs of life.

Upcoming events:

Something called "Shimer Days" is happening soon (10/11 - 10/16), with all kinds of Shimer-y goings on. Of particular note, there is an open house for prospective students on Columbus Day, 10/11/2010.
Further on the Admissions front, any prospective students who complete their applications before 10/15 will not only get an answer by Thanksgiving, but will also get their book fee waived for the first year. So if you know somebody who is or might be applying, you might want to give that somebody a nudge... (Incidentally, this page is a good one to watch for updates admissionary.)
Shimer Days also marks the beginning of the fall lecture series, with a panel discussion on Shimer history led by Eileen Buchanan on 10/15.
Something called "Life after Shimer Reading Group" is happening just after Shimer Days, on SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY 10/17 in Evanston. The reading is Charles Brockden Brown's Wieland.
The next Assembly meeting will be November 14, 2010, at 4 PM in the Cinderella Lounge at Shimer.

Shimer Welcomes 7 New Alum Trustees!

2010-09-27T16:36:00.003-05:00

Seven new (or restored) trustees have joined the Shimer College Board of Trustees as of September 27th. They are Barry Carroll, Katherine Chappell, Mary Lou Kennedy, Robert Keohane, Peter Hanig, Sandra Hockenbury, and Linda Levy.

Our thanks go out to them, and to all trustees of good will, for helping to preserve the awesomeness that is Shimer.

Read the full report at the Shimer Alumni Alliance page.

Summer summary

2010-09-13T01:00:00.002-05:00

I've been remiss in updating this blog about various events in and around Shimer. Selected recent events are summarized below.

(This seems like a good time to note that any interested Shimerian is welcome to post here; just ask me or SaraDevil for posting rights if you don't have them already. )

The latest in hot trustee-on-trustee action:

A few weeks after his unceremonious removal, Tom Lindsay filed suit against the College and numerous individual trustees, making accusations which I will not befoul this blog by repeating. Tom was joined in the lawsuit by his puppeteer, Patrick Parker. The suit is now wending its way through the Chancery Division of the Cook County Circuit Court. At this point it seems unlikely that the wrecking crew has anything resembling a case. It's not entirely clear what they are playing at, though one likely possibility is that they're angling for a large cash settlement.
In its most recent meeting, the Board of Trustees changed its bylaws to permit board members to be added and removed by a simple majority vote, thus depriving the rump Lindsay-Parker faction of its pernicious veto over student and faculty representatives. Thank you, Trustees!

In news of the internal community:

The College beat its alumni fundraising target for the past fiscal year. Kudos to Don Moon, Aaron Garland and Noah Kippley-Ogman! Thanks must also go to noted money-bomber Nate Lefebvre and many other alums who dug deep to support the college.
Shimer also exceeded the enrollment target for the coming semester. Kudos to Amy Pritts and Cassie Sherman! And to 38 brilliant young souls who made the right choice.
The Admissions crew has been putting out some very interesting student video blogs.
Shimer-in-Oxford has begun, under the capable leadership of Stuart Patterson.

In news of the external community:

Over the summer, former Shimer President Don Moon toured the country and met with alum groups in cities including New York, Washington and Seattle.

New members have joined the Alumni Association board, including 90s alums Erik Badger, Beth Matthews and Sarah Delezen.
Thanks to the yeoman efforts of alum Chris Vaughan, the Shimer College article on Wikipedia has gained Featured status -- no easy task.
Alum Ron Rothbart has posted a number of Mt Carroll and otherwise Shimerical photographs on the Shimer College Flickr stream. If you also have photos to share, please consider sharing them there.
Two alum reading groups have been meeting regularly in the Chicago area, thanks to the efforts of Bill Arnold and Jack Sigel. A good time has been had by all. The next such group will meet on Wednesday, 9/29, at 6:30 PM in the Infinity classroom at Shimer. The text is Roberto Bolaño's By Night in Chile. (Note: date recently changed)

Webcast of Assembly of September 12

2010-09-10T17:11:00.003-05:00

The following information was recently disseminated by Speaker Albert Fernandez. The livetweet of this Assembly will be at @shimerians, with overflow to @saradevil if needed. The agenda is here.

Sunday’s meeting of the Assembly, starting at 4 pm CST, will be webcast. To access the site, go to http://shimer.na5.acrobat.com/assembly091210/

If you have never used an Acrobat Connect webcast site before, you can get an overview at http://www.adobe.com/go/connectpro_overview , and you can practice at http://shimer.na5.acrobat.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm

Many thanks to Shimer Data Services Administrator Steven Parker for arranging the webcast.Please remember that, according to the Constitution of the Assembly, only members present may address the Assembly, vote, or introduce motions or resolutions.

Shimer College Assembly Meeting, 9/12/2010

2010-09-09T18:08:00.002-05:00

The Assembly of Shimer College will hold its first meeting of the 2010-2011 academic year this Sunday, September 12th, at 4 PM in the Cinderella Lounge at Shimer College. The agenda is pasted below.

A webcast is likely, but details have not yet been announced. There will be a livetweet, assuming the community does not object.

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THE ASSEMBLY OF SHIMER COLLEGE

AGENDA FOR THE MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

I Approval of the minutes of the meeting of May 2, 2010

II Committee reports and responses from the floor.

III Amendment of the Constitution of the Assembly
Motivated by the Ad Hoc Committee to Study the Agenda Committee
The Speaker of the Assembly to be elected from the membership.

Wording changes:

Section IV:1

From: The Assembly shall elect from among the members of the Agenda Committee (Section V) a Speaker, who will be responsible for publishing the agendas for all Assembly meetings, for convening and chairing the Assembly, and for chairing the Agenda Committee.

To: The Assembly shall elect a Speaker early in the Fall term from among the members of the Assembly. The Speaker will be responsible for publishing the agendas for all Assembly meetings, for convening and chairing the Assembly, and for chairing the Agenda Committee.

Section V:4

From: The Committee shall be composed of four persons elected early in the fall term, at least one of whom must be a staff member.

To: The Committee shall be composed of the Speaker (Section IV:1) and three members elected early in the fall term. At least one of the four persons on the Committee must be on the (academic or administrative) staff of the College.

IV Elections
General procedure: Before each of the elections listed below, the Speaker will ask for nominations, including self-nominations, and for acceptance or decline of nominations by those nominated.

1) Admissions Committee: “two faculty members, one student from the Weekday Program, and one student from the Weekend Program. Community members employed in the Office of Admission and members of the Financial Aid Policy Committee are not eligible for election to this committee.”

2) Quality of Life Committee
“six other members of the community, at least one of whom must be a staff member and at least two of whom must be students in the Weekday Program.”

If proposed constitutional amendment is adopted:
3) Speaker
“From among the members of the Assembly.”

4) Agenda Committee:
If proposed constitutional amendment is adopted:“Three members. . . . At least one of the four persons on the Committee must be on the (academic or administrative) staff of the College.”

If proposed constitutional amendment is not adopted:“Four persons . . . , at least one of whom must be a staff member.”

If proposed constitutional amendment is not adopted:
5) Speaker“From among the members of the Agenda Committee”

6) Other Officers of the Assembly:
Secretary
Ombudsperson
Parliamentarian

7) Shimer College Representative to the IIT Student Government

V Announcements

The Problem with "Good" Administrators as Shimer Presidents

2010-05-15T23:35:00.014-05:00

The process of selecting the next president of Shimer College remains on hold until the problems with the Board are resolved. In the meantime, it appears that Ed Noonan is providing outstanding and much-needed leadership. That said, it is certainly not too early to reflect on the factors that have led to Shimer's best and worst presidencies, and how these might best guide the selection of the next president.

In the history of Shimer, there have been three presidents who served for twenty years or more: Frances Shimer, William Parker McKee and Don Moon. Shimer's enrollment more than doubled (arguably tripled) under each of these presidents, and each of them effectively built a campus from scratch: the 4-building 25-acre Seminary campus under Mrs Shimer, the 12-building Junior College campus under Dean McKee, and the 12-building Waukegan campus under President Moon. As Shimer once again finds itself in need of a figure who can lead us to renewed expansion -- and once again in need of a campus -- it is worth looking at what attributes these three figures share.

Shimer has had thirteen full (non-"interim") presidents in its history. These can be roughly graded according to their qualifications as administrators of higher education. Some were extremely highly qualified, in both education and experience: Floyd Wilcox, Raymond Culver, Aaron Brumbaugh, Robert Long, Tom Lindsay. Others had substantial qualifications and experience, though of a less sterling character: Albin Bro, F.J. Mullin, Milburn Akers, Ralph Conant, Bill Rice. And there were three who had no obvious qualifications or experience in running anything larger than a classroom or a congregation: Frances Shimer, William Parker McKee, and Don Moon. (All three were accomplished in their chosen fields, but juding from the available records, none appears to have had prior experience administering an institution of any size.)

I do not think it is a coincidence that the least superficially qualified presidents in Shimer's history have also been the most successful. Nor is it a coincidence that of the three presidencies that ended in unmitigated disaster, two were led by figures of unquestioned qualifications (Long and Lindsay).

Shimer has gone through many transformations in its history, but certain things have remained constant: Shimer has always been small, has always been unusual, and has never been a terribly glamorous place to be president. As such, it has little to command the attention or respect of the career administrator. No one whose qualifications would pass muster with a search committee would want to spend their career as the president of Shimer College. Thus, judging from the record, the best that we can hope for is that a qualified administrator will leave quietly after a short time, as Wilcox did in 1935, Brumbaugh in 1953, and Rice in 2006. Alternatively, unless they die early (Culver, Akers), such figures seem invariably to leave the college in disarray, if not chaos (Lindsay) or bankruptcy (Long).

On behalf of 157 years of hard-learned lessons, then, I make this request to the Board of Trustees: for our next president, please do not hire anyone who is "qualified" for the position. Instead, if you can, hire someone intelligent and accomplished in their field, someone who demonstrably cares about Shimer and about education... and who has never set foot in educational administration before.

Student Conversation with Interim President Ed Noonan

2010-05-13T23:46:00.003-05:00

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Trustee Skips Commencement to Attend Tea-Party Rally

2010-05-09T19:35:00.005-05:00

I wish this were more shocking. Via the aptly-named Crooks and Liars:

Hennessy's most recent post links to the American Majority 'grassroots summit' in Kansas City this weekend. One of the featured speakers is Eric O'Keefe, Chairman of the Sam Adams Alliance, also on the board of Wisconsin Club for Growth and a former director of Americans for Limited Government. ALG has been associated with Howard Rich and Grover Norquist.

O'Keefe is, of course, one of the many new additions to Shimer's Board of Trustees, brought on by the extremely former president Tom Lindsay.

A look at the schedule further shows that O'Keefe was speaking on Friday evening. So, if Shimer academics had any meaning to him -- or any of the other members of Lindsay's wrecking crew, not a single one of whom showed their faces at commencement -- he could easily have made the trip. That he did not, and they did not, shows that their disregard for the community extends to a general lack of regard for Shimer as anything but a useful, accredited shell.

In contrast, friendly trustees arrived from as far away as California to attend commencement, the single most important and uniting event in the Shimer year. And this year's commencement was a glorious occasion. Students, parents, and alumni from far and near came out to congratulate the newest members of the alum community.

We can only hope that Mr O'Keefe and his friends will continue to follow the precedent they have set, and stay away from Shimer permanently in the future. Unfortunately, despite the failure of their takeover attempt, and their evident shared contempt for everything that Shimer represents, not a single one has left the Board. This forces us, reluctantly, to conclude that there is still work to be done to preserve Shimer from the hostile takeover led by Patrick Parker.

Once O'Keefe and his ilk are gone at last, it is imperative that the Board enact substantial changes that will prevent anything of this nature from ever happening again.

Acts of the Assembly of May 2

2010-05-07T02:22:00.002-05:00

THE ASSEMBLY OF SHIMER COLLEGE

ACTS OF THE MEETING OF MAY 2, 2010

I. The Assembly congratulates and welcomes Edward Noonan to the presidency of Shimer College, and offers its support and assistance to the President in the constitutional governance of the College.

II. State of the College Address President Edward Noonan

III. Amendment of the Constitution

That the Speaker of the Assembly be a faculty or staff member who has worked for the college for at least four years.

Wording:

Section IV:1

From: “The Assembly shall elect from among the members of the Agenda Committee (Section V) a Speaker, who will be responsible for publishing the agendas for all Assembly meetings, for convening and chairing the Assembly, and for chairing the Agenda Committee.”

To: “The Assembly shall elect a Speaker early in the fall term from among Faculty and administrative staff who have been employed on a fulltime basis by the College for at least the previous four years, including any formally approved leaves of absence. The Speaker will be responsible for publishing the agendas for all Assembly meetings, for convening and chairing the Assembly, and for chairing the Agenda Committee.

Wording-continued:

Section V:4

From: “The Committee shall be composed of four persons elected early in the fall term, at least one of whom must be a staff member.”

To: “The Committee shall be composed of the Speaker (Section IV:1) and three members elected early in the fall term.”

The motion was tabled indefinitely.

IV. An ad hoc committee is formed to study the Agenda Committee of the Assembly and to make recommendations to the Assembly by the end of October 2010.

V. The Ad Hoc Committee to Study the Agenda Committee is to consist of five self-nominated members of the Assembly, appointed by the Speaker.

VI. The Assembly instructs the Speaker to address and disseminate the acts of this day to all the constituencies of Shimer College, including Trustees and alumni.

This document is a redaction of the acts of the meeting, in compliance with Motion VI. Complete minutes will be publicly available after they are approved by the Assembly.

Webcast of Assembly of May 2

2010-05-02T13:15:00.005-05:00

The agenda for today's Assembly is here.

Today's Assembly will be webcast.

To join the meeting: http://shimer.na5.acrobat.com/assembly502/

(Select "Enter as guest" and type your name; no password is required.)

If you have never attended a Connect Pro meeting before:

Test your connection: http://shimer.na5.acrobat.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm

Get a quick overview: http://www.adobe.com/go/connectpro_overview

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There will also be a livetweet commencing at @shimerians and continuing at @saradevil if needed.

Agenda for the Assembly of May 2

2010-04-27T20:48:00.002-05:00

THE ASSEMBLY OF SHIMER COLLEGE

AGENDA FOR THE MEETING OF MAY 2, 2010

I Approval of the minutes of the meetings of February 7th and 28th , March 21st ,

and April 11th.

II Committee reports and responses from the floor.

III Resolution Motivated by the Agenda Committee

The Assembly congratulates and welcomes Edward Noonan as the fourteenth President of Shimer College, and offers its support and assistance to the President in the constitutional governance of the College.

IV State of the College Address President Edward Noonan

V Amendment of the Constitution Motivated by Eileen Buchanan

That the Speaker of the Assembly be a faculty or staff member who has worked for the college for at least four years.

Wording:

Section IV:1

From: “The Assembly shall elect from among the members of the Agenda Committee (Section V) a Speaker, who will be responsible for publishing the agendas for all Assembly meetings, for convening and chairing the Assembly, and for chairing the Agenda Committee.”

To: “The Assembly shall elect a Speaker early in the fall term from among Faculty and administrative staff who have been employed on a fulltime basis by the College for at least the previous four years, including any formally approved leaves of absence. The Speaker will be responsible for publishing the agendas for all Assembly meetings, for convening and chairing the Assembly, and for chairing the Agenda Committee.

Wording-continued:

Section V:4

From: “The Committee shall be composed of four persons elected early in the fall term, at least one of whom must be a staff member.”

To: “The Committee shall be composed of the Speaker (Section IV:1) and three members elected early in the fall term.”

Motivation:

“A) The speaker needs to be someone with considerable experience at Shimer in order to sense when a matter of college ethos is surfacing and to bring it to the attention of the Agenda Committee and the community.

B) Although this saddens me, I believe that we are at a point in terms of the wider community at which a student speaker would not garner the respect necessary to underline the importance of Assembly concerns and motions.”

VI Discussion Motivated by Eileen Buchanan

Should the Assembly meet during the summer? How might summer meetings be arranged and conducted? Are the technical means available for participation and voting from a distance?

VII Motion Motivated by the Agenda Committee

The Assembly instructs the Speaker to address and disseminate the acts of this day to all the constituencies of Shimer College, including Trustees and alumni.

VIII Announcements

Shimer College Radio 4/27

2010-04-26T23:24:00.002-05:00

The final broadcast of this incarnation of Shimer College Radio will occur from 4 to 6 PM, Chicago time, on Tuesday the 27th (today).

Please listen and call in. We have much to discuss. The call-in number will be (646) 716-4446.

You can still listen to the first broadcast (3/30) here, and the second broadcast (4/13) here.

Thanks to alumna Jacqueline Harris for making Shimer College Radio a reality.

Future broadcasts are being planned by Chris McGlynn, who also moderated the second broadcast. Stay tuned for details, but in the meantime please listen & call.

How Patrick Parker Gets His Way

2010-04-25T09:00:00.001-05:00

I would like to begin by thanking Patrick Parker for finally making the text of the 2007 agreement between Shimer College and the Aequus Foundation available to the community, shortly before the recent excitement. Granted, it was a few weeks late, but it's the thought that counts!

Trustee Patrick Parker played a key role in engineering both Thomas Lindsay's hiring in 2008 and the adoption of Lindsay's slipshod mission statement in 2010. We in the external community now have enough information about how these events unfolded to draw some general conclusions about how Patrick Parker gets his way.

Of course, in drawing these conclusions, there are only two data points to work from. Thus, it is likely that some parts of this pattern are illusory. But the similarities between these two events are striking. Here is how it seems to work:

1. Patrick Parker identifies some legitimate concern to which he just happens to have a privileged connection.

In 2008, this was the concern that the "anonymous donor" (Barre Seid) might reconsider his donations if a substandard president were chosen. It's not clear whether Barre Seid even knew that his identity was being invoked in this way. However, since Parker was the only conduit of information between Seid and the Board, nobody was in a position to contradict him.

In 2010, Parker's legitimate concern was that a contract existed between Shimer and Aequus that required certain changes to the mission statement. Although we do not know exactly what was said in the Board meeting, Parker certainly managed to convey the impression that both President Bill Rice and the Dean of the College had been signatories to this contract. We now know that this contract was a vague and probably unenforceable agreement to which a Development Office assistant had signed as the "authorized officer" of Shimer . However, since Parker didn't have a copy of the agreement handy (and neither did anyone else, as he hadn't happened to mention it until just before the meeting), no substantive questions about the agreement could be asked or answered.

2. Parker exploits the uncertainty of this concern so that he can present some specific action linked to his personal agenda as the only workable solution.

Did it make sense that a donor concerned about executive qualifications would prefer a candidate (Tom Lindsay) who had not been properly vetted and had never run a college before? Of course not. But since only Parker could know what the "anonymous donor's" exact concerns were, nobody was in a position to question how Parker presented them. Did it make sense that an agreement never mentioned before would require the sudden adoption of a poorly-written mission statement that placed extraordinary emphasis on a couple weeks' worth of Soc 2 readings? Of course not -- but once again, since only Parker knew what was in the contract, nobody was in a position to question its relevance.

3. The vote is held, reasonable people do the only reasonable thing based on the available information...

... and Parker gets exactly what he wants.

Patrick Parker is clearly a talented boardroom manipulator. We could all learn a lot from him. It is a great tribute to the sharp and observant intellects on the Shimer Board that, despite such skillful manipulation, the vast majority of swayable Trustees voted against the Lindsay mission statement in February. An even greater tribute, of course, is the outcome of the recent meeting in which Tom Lindsay was, at long last, relieved of his duties.

New Dawn A Success!

2010-04-23T15:27:00.007-05:00

$50,000

That's how much we have raised so far, a little more than halfway through the first ever Shimer "money bomb" fundraising drive!

I can barely believe my eyes. When Sam and I put together the event we were wondering if our little ChipIn chart counting up to $5,000 would be too big, and make it look like we barely raised any money. Yet here we are, halfway through with more than ten times that amount!

And it's all thanks to you and your unwavering support. Together we have weathered one hell of a storm--the likes of which have left Shimer's halls empty once before--and now, not only are we still here, but we're bouncing back with a vengeance!

You all deserve a serious pat on the back for all the work and support you have put in to bring Shimer back to it's full potential, and I love you all for it. Several of you have even gone above and beyond the call, working tirelessly to speak with every alumn, to write our history and to organize our leaders. I think we should take a moment to reflect on the people who made this possible, and tell them how much we appreciate their efforts. Today's money bomb, and the Alumni Alliance as a whole, could not have been possible without

Sam Henderson
Erik Badger
Sarah Delezen
Noah Kippley-Ogman
Beth Matthews
Dan Merchan

And I want to give special thanks to Dan Shiner, who has labored so hard to keep Shimer afloat and is currently working the phones and emails like a madman to secure alumni contributions to the New Dawn Money Bomb. There is no way this event would have been anywhere near as successful as it has been without his efforts.

This is only a very partial list, it doesn't even come close to recognizing all the efforts of people involved, like Allie Peluso and her amazing research, or Bill Arnold for keeping a level head and forming a bridge between two rival camps, or Erik Graf and Chris McGlynn for their muckraking, Jon Timm and Heath Iverson for their leadership, and all the others who have worked so hard to keep this going.

With that being said, we've got a ton of work left to do my friends, so let's not let the momentum slack even for a moment! We've got a new administration, but plenty of old problems yet to solve. Today we show ourselves and the world what kind of future Shimer has in store for it, and tomorrow we work together to see it done!

Don't forget to take a moment and show your support by joining the Shimer's New Dawn cause on Facebook, and making a contribution if you are able (see the link below). Thank you all sooooo much for your support!

http://www.causes.com/causes/475198

Nate Lefebvre, Class of '08

Shimer President "Steps Down"

2010-04-20T00:30:00.004-05:00

The following statement was released shortly before midnight on the 19th of April, and can be read in PDF at shimer.edu.

Lindsay's eagerly-awaited departure has also been noted by the Chicago Tribune and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

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Shimer College President Steps Down

Shimer College, the Great Books College of Chicago, has announced that its 13th president, Thomas K. Lindsay, will be stepping down effective immediately. Long-time trustee Edward Noonan, chairman of Chicago Associates Planners & Architects, has been named interim president until the college undertakes a search for a new president.

Mr. Lindsay accepted the Shimer presidency in June 2008 and assumed formal leadership of the college in January 2009. During his tenure, he brought fiscal responsibility to the college by insisting upon balanced annual budgets and eliminating the college’s trailing deficit. Chairman of the Board Christopher Nelson said, “We are grateful to Tom Lindsay for his financial leadership over the past year and a half and wish him well in his future endeavors.” When asked about the change in leadership, Mr. Nelson said “Shimer continues to face many challenges, but we are fortunate to have an experienced leader like Ed Noonan ready to step in and assist us through this transition.”

Former Chairman of the Board, Edward Noonan is a 20 year veteran of Shimer College and was named Trustee Emeritus in 2000. Said Mr. Nelson, “Ed Noonan is uniquely positioned both as someone who understands the long history of Shimer, but also as someone who understands the necessity of improving the administrative structures within the college. We look forward to Ed working with faculty & staff, alumni, students, and the Board of Trustees to continue the good efforts currently being undertaken by the college administration until we search for our next president.”

Through the years Mr. Noonan has been actively engaged in professional and civic activities at the University of Chicago and throughout the Chicago area. No stranger to the IIT campus, Edward Noonan conducted his graduate studies in architecture under Mies Van Der Rohe. Now a renowned Chicago architect, Mr. Noonan currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Chicago Associates Planners & Architects where he has most recently overseen innovative and eco-friendly development projects for Tryon Farm.

Mr. Noonan is now charged with continuing his recent efforts to strengthen internal structures, reach out to the Chicago community and college supporters, and respond to the new energy of Shimer alumni. “I’m grateful to once again have the opportunity to serve Shimer College. I am looking forward to helping an institution with such a unique and noble educational mission,” said Mr. Noonan.

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Now is the time for all Shimerians to come to the aid of their college.

2010-04-18T23:39:00.002-05:00

Historic vote

You can read the exact wording of the "no confidence" resolution unanimously approved Sunday night (4/18) by the Shimer College Assembly at both the Shimer Student Alliance blog and the Shimer Alumni Alliance blog . Since I've been scooped by Shimer new media-ites who must be younger and faster -- or at least closer to their computers -- I'll do some instant analysis of the vote and its meaning, like the pundit (did you know pundit derives from Sanskrit?) I once wanted to be.

The no confidence vote by an entity that speaks for Shimer is a loud statement. It follows similar/comparable statements from two major stakeholders in the institution that is Shimer: the college's faculty and alumni. There's an interesting distinction between the no confidence resolutions approved by both faculty and the Assembly, and the alumni association's call for the resignation of President Thomas Lindsay. For those of us who are alums, Lindsay is not our leader, so it's not appropriate for alums to vote no confidence, since we are not led, per se, by Shimer's president, unlike the voting members of the Assembly (students, faculty, trustees, admin staff). But it's as if there is a compound failure here; as a leader, Lindsay has not led. From the point of view of alums, the president has failed on his watch of the institution.

In the focused, non-protracted, non-wordsmithy, citizen-ly deliberations of Sunday's emergency Assembly, two things stood out from my perspective. First, Shimerians care about the faculty and are mindful of them. That means respects them, respects their words, respects their work, their sacrifices, their domain of curriculum. Shimerians will be protective should there be pretty good reason to fear that some faculty are going to be thrown away arbitrarily. One would think that a man with Tom Lindsay's intellectual interests would know dozens upon dozens of examples of historic usurpation of power and how those kinds of things always end badly for the usurper.

Second: unanimous. Since the balloting was secret, the 60-0 unanimity is remarkable. Nobody voted against no confidence. I guess that means positively nobody has confidence in the president's ability to lead the institution he is paid to lead; perhaps the three abstentions represent a kind of agnosticism about the question.

I was impressed by the efficiency of this Assembly. All democratic gatherings should have such informed and thoughtful citizens. The Assembly is Soc 2 homework.

Marcia Zdun Nelson '75

Acts of the Special Assembly of April 18th

2010-04-18T23:38:00.003-05:00

This document is a redaction of the acts of the meeting. Complete minutes will be publicly available after they are approved by the Assembly.

THE ASSEMBLY OF SHIMER COLLEGE

ACTS OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF APRIL 18, 2010

I Motion:
The resolution of no confidence from the meeting of February 28, 2010, is taken from the table.

The motion carried, after a vote by secret ballot, by 57 votes in favor, 3 opposed, and 1 abstention.

The count of the ballots was witnessed by visitor Susanne Sklar.

II Resolution (as amended):
Whereas the Presidency of Thomas Lindsay has imperiled the very existence of the College, the Assembly declares that it has no confidence in the ability of President Lindsay to lead Shimer College.

The resolution was adopted, after a vote by secret ballot, by 60 votes in favor, none opposed, and 3 abstentions. The count of the ballots was witnessed by visitor Susanne Sklar.

III Motion:
The Assembly instructs the Speaker to address and disseminate resolutions and motions adopted or passed on this day to all the constituencies of Shimer College, including Trustees and alumni.

The motion was passed unanimously.

Letter to the Assembly by Owen Brugh

2010-04-17T20:20:00.003-05:00

The following letter was addressed to the Shimer College Assembly of April 18th, 2010, by alumnus Owen Brugh (2006).

Dear Fellow Shimerians,

Unfortunately, the recent birth of my daughter prevents me from attending Sunday. Please know that I stand firmly with the faculty, staff, and current students in whatever course of action the Assembly chooses to pursue. I trust the Assembly.

I write to advocate that the Assembly unanimously adopt the tabled resolution expressing no confidence in the leadership of President Lindsay.

I will spare the Assembly the bill of particulars against President Lindsay. We are all too familiar with his unwavering quest to gut the very institutions that have given Shimer its strength during decades of adversity and poverty.

Fundamentally, the Assembly should take this step today because President Lindsay has shown himself to be un-Shimerian. His actions show he is unwilling to consider other points of view and unable to abide the consensus-building exercise that is the Assembly. Just as we would with a fellow student or new faculty member suffering a difficult adjustment to Shimer, countless community members have tried to help President Lindsay understand our beloved College and its ways. Unfortunately, such efforts have proved fruitless.

After such efforts, were President Lindsay a student, his grades would reflect his behavior, and he might be formally reprimanded. Were President Lindsey a faculty member, the Academic Planning Committee would not renew his contract. As college President, however, the Assembly has little choice but to repudiate his “leadership” and reprimand him in the strongest terms possible. President Lindsay’s complete and total failure to adhere to the policies, ethos, and folkways of Shimer represents a clear danger to the viability of the College.

Most of all, I urge that the Assembly take unanimous action on this issue for two reasons.

First, action of this magnitude calls for consensus. As I recall some said at the February 28 Assembly, this action could imperil the College’s continued existence. Because of the profound impact this resolution could have on every member of the Shimer community, I urge every member of the Assembly to consider the objections of any community member and do all that is practical to mitigate those concerns. From past experience, I trust this will occur.

Second, and more importantly, the Assembly is most powerful when it is most unified. Just as our faculty’s brave actions are amplified by the lack of abstention or opposition, so is the Assembly strongest when it speaks with one voice. (Conversely, I would argue that the Board of Trustees’ voice on the mission statement was weakened by the deep divisions evident from the vote total.) For this action to have the desired result, the Assembly must be at its strongest, and that requires unanimity.

I trust the Assembly to move forward wisely, and I will support whatever steps the Assembly takes. Despite the actions of the present administration, I remain forever proud to be Shimerian.

Respectfully,

Owen Robert Brugh

Class of 2006

Agenda for the Special Assembly of April 18th

2010-04-16T23:53:00.004-05:00

The next meeting of the Assembly will be held in the Cinderella Lounge at Shimer College, 3424 S State Street in Chicago, at 4 PM on Sunday April 18th. All constituencies of the College are welcome, including alumni, although alumni cannot vote.

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THE ASSEMBLY OF SHIMER COLLEGE

AGENDA FOR THE SPECIAL MEETING OF APRIL 18, 2010

I Procedural motion, motivated by the Agenda Committee:

The Assembly rule of open voting is suspended, so as to allow for secret ballots at the discretion of the Assembly, for the duration of the present meeting or until such time as the Assembly votes to end the suspension, whichever comes sooner.

§

This motion is not debatable and requires a 2/3 majority to pass.

II Motion, motivated by Bob Carpenter, Heath Iverson, and Katy Martin-Seaver:

The resolution of no confidence from the meeting of February 28, 2010, is taken from the table.

§

The resolution in question, originally motivated by the Agenda Committee, is as follows:

The Assembly declares that it has no confidence in the ability of President Thomas Lindsay to lead Shimer College.

If the motion carries, the Assembly will proceed to consideration of the resolution.

III Motion motivated by the Agenda Committee:

The Assembly instructs the Speaker to address and disseminate resolutions and motions adopted or passed on this day to all the constituencies of Shimer College, including Trustees and alumni.

IV Announcements

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Sunday’s meeting of the Assembly will be webcast, at http://shimer.na5.acrobat.com/assembly418/ . A password is not required. Please bear in mind that, according to the Constitution of the Assembly, only members present may address the Assembly, vote, or introduce motions.

Unanimous Resolution of the Board of the Shimer College Alumni Association

2010-04-16T19:19:00.003-05:00

The following resolution was adopted by the Board of the Shimer College Alumni Association with 9 votes in favor, none against, and no abstentions.

"The Shimer Alumni Association, acting through its Board, calls for the resignation of Thomas Lindsay as President of Shimer."

This follows on the heels of the unanimous faculty resolution to the same effect.

The community petition calling for Lindsay's resignation now has 618 signatures.

Unanimous Resolution of the Faculty of Shimer College

2010-04-14T13:14:00.002-05:00

The following statement was adopted by the Shimer College faculty at their Tuesday meeting (4/13). The vote was unanimous with no abstentions.

Whereas Thomas Lindsay’s unilateral approach to the management of Shimer College has sapped morale and created a climate of fear and mistrust that now pervades the College;

Whereas he has consistently shown a lack of understanding of and respect for Shimer College’s history, traditions, culture, identity, and academic mission;

Whereas he has increasingly acted in opposition to structures of the College, including committees and procedures, written policies, and handbooks;

Whereas his inability or unwillingness to communicate and work with Shimer College’s constituencies is demonstrated by his making major decisions and attempting major changes in the face of overwhelming opposition;

And whereas he has given no credible indication that he will desist from the conduct described or cease attempting to transform the College according to his own plans and without broad support;

The Faculty declares that Thomas Lindsay has done grave harm to Shimer College and imperils its very existence; and, therefore,

The Faculty resolves that it has no confidence in Thomas Lindsay as President of Shimer College.

Special Assembly Scheduled for April 18

2010-04-13T23:39:00.003-05:00

The Agenda Committee is convening a special meeting of the Assembly this Sunday, April 18, at 4 PM Central, in the Cinderella Lounge at Shimer (3424 S State, Chicago, IL).

The agenda is to be released shortly, and will include consideration of whether to untable and pass the no confidence motion that was tabled in the February assembly.

The full agenda will of course be posted here as soon as it is available.

It is not yet known whether the Assembly will be televised, but it will be tweeted over the usual accounts, @samuelhenderson and @saradevil .

Columbia Chronicle article

2010-04-13T16:20:00.005-05:00

Thanks to Stephanie Saviola of the Columbia Chronicle for shedding a bit of public sunlight on the events at Shimer.

It's good to see Nate Lefebvre and Allie Peluso getting some well-deserved media coverage.

“[The mission statement] did need to evolve and the school and community acknowledged that, but we were worried because we weren’t getting the whole picture,” Lefebvre said. “They had this secret contract about the statement and we weren’t told the stipulations.”

Allie Peluso, a second-year student at Shimer, discovered the identity of the anonymous donor through her own research of public records.“I’ve done a lot of research and looked into donations and money the school has received,” Peluso said. “I identified this man as Barre Seid through 990s [a tax form].”

The unwillingness -- or inability -- of Lindsay and his ilk to defend their actions speaks volumes.

Numerous attempts were made by The Chronicle to get in touch with Lindsay, but he could not be reached for comment.

Several messages were left for Joe Bast, board of trustee member and president of Heartland Institute, 19 S. LaSalle St., but no calls were returned to The Chronicle.

Read the whole thing.

After the Brawl is Over...

2010-04-10T10:57:00.006-05:00

We may yet have a long and difficult fight ahead of us. We may lose. There was never any reason to believe that Tom Lindsay & Co. would leave quietly. On the other hand, if I were President Lindsay, I would have been thinking about alternative careers for a while now. So if he does suddenly depart, we need to be ready for the next step.

If Lindsay leaves us, there will be three needs that must be met as quickly and effectively as possible: more money, more students, and more secure governance.

More Money!
Altogether, approximately $175,000 has been pledged to support a post-Lindsay Shimer. The short-term goal is $250,000. This will help to ensure a financially smooth transition. You can make a pledge using the online form.

In the longer term, of course, even more will need to be raised. It is critical that we establish a broad base of support to replace the narrow base that has recently been provided, directly and indirectly, by the Seid and Aequus foundations. Also critical will be ensuring that the people providing this broad-based support are heard in future discussions of college governance and mission. The efforts we have put into alum outreach will need to be retooled to this end.

More Students!
Lindsay hasn't been able to meet the expectations he was hired under when it comes to enrollment. If we want there to be a post-Lindsay Shimer, we'll have to do a lot better than he has done.

To that end, thus far approximately 40 alumni have volunteered to donate time on a weekly basis to help recruit students for a post-Lindsay Shimer. You can add yourself to this number by using the online form.

It takes time to get up to speed for this sort of work. Therefore, I would encourage anyone who is not too deeply involved in the current mess to get in touch with the Admissions Office (admissions@shimer.edu) as soon as possible about volunteering.

The energy dedicated to online action will also need to be reoriented to identifying and recruiting potential Shimerians. The blogs that have been put up in reaction to the crisis, especially Shimer College Alumni Speak and its sister blogs, will need to be retooled to help get out the word about the real Shimer. Fresh content will be needed, there and elsewhere.

Better Governance!
If we are fortunate enough to be delivered from the current mess, it is critically important that we make it much more difficult for anything like this to ever happen again. To be sure, no system of governance can be completely impervious to hostile takeover. But certain things seem clear:
- It should not be possible for a majority of non-internal seats on the Board to be held by people with no prior connection to the school (as is now the case).
- It should not be easy for a hostile majority on the Board to refuse to seat representatives of the internal community (as would currently be the case).
- It should not be possible to simply dilute the student and faculty seats on the Board into irrelevance.
- The role of the Assembly and its Constitution and committees should be affirmed in the Bylaws in unmistakable, weasel-free language. Some work on this front may already be under way, thanks to the joint task force that has been set up to clarify the changes of 2008.

* * * * *

All of the above, of course, remains miserably hypothetical for the time being. None of it will ever be possible unless Shimer's absentee president adds a seventh day to his weekend. So please keep reaching out to alumni and friends. Please keep spreading the word, in whatever ways you can.

And please, if you haven't yet, sign the petition.

Shimer's Zipcode is Irrelevant

2010-04-07T10:42:00.004-05:00

I appreciate Marcia's posting on the question Not my Shimer? I once held the belief that this Shimer is not my Shimer. And what a turnaround I've had in my realization that for me, the continuing quest for discovery and discourse that Shimer students faculty staff and alums hold, is the basis for what my Shimer is. I've come to realize that my Shimer is not geographically place based.

What is important to a Shimer College liberal arts education are the foundations grounded in the curriculum, the mission, and vision. In these, we then learn and embrace critical inquiry in all that we do. That we take this shared education everywhere we roam, that we may meet someday and have the same or similar readings or experiences in our psyche, is for me what binds us all together as Shimerites.

I have recently connected with a few current and former Shimerites through a listserv, Facebook, and blogs. I see Shimer students staff and faculty being interested in the very same type of fun or thoughtful discussions that we also experienced in years past. Topics I have seen mentioned or discussed include Spreading Life Throughout the Cosmos, notification for a showing of the Japanese film House, and a heads up for the celebration of International Pillow Fight Day on Chicago's Michigan Ave.

All of us who have stepped into the waters of a Shimer education have shared a journey I sometimes think as one of information gatherer, to knowledge seeker, and wisdom bearer. Wherever you are on your own journey now, I do believe that we come from the same place. That place is called Shimer College. Shimer's zipcode is irrelevant.

Ann Perbohner '76

Not my Shimer? Plus ca change, plus ca reste

2010-04-05T19:37:00.001-05:00

Shimer College and the future … is also Shimer College and the past. I would like to address a sentiment I’ve heard often enough since Shimer moved in 1979 from its Mt. Carroll campus, an opinion that can now be shared by alums from Shimer’s Waukegan incarnation, since Shimer is now based in Chicago: that’s not my Shimer.

For those of you who have said and/or thought that, please consider: oh, yes, it is.

I have a singular perspective: Mt Carroll alum (1975) who was Shimer faculty when the college moved to Waukegan in 1979 and who now visits the “Great Books College in Chicago” because my daughter is a student. It’s true: the Mies van der Rohe urban campus at IIT, where Shimer now lives, is not rural-bucolic. An elevated train runs through it, noisily. And no, it’s not the small enclave of aging buildings (which had character and also nice rugs) that was Shimer in Waukegan. But: plus ca change, plus ca reste, as they said in Brigitte LaCombe’s French III class in Mt. Carroll.

I went to a class last year on James Joyce’s Ulysses (an unreadable but important member of the Western Canon), which I read in an independent study with Eileen Buchanan in 1974. I was therefore ready for the class and most delighted to (a) remember anything from the book after 30 plus years and (b) accept insights based on close and imaginative readings of the text. It was fun, true, and good. I also recently attended a meeting of Shimer’s governing Assembly, which is foreign to Mt. Carroll alums. To Mt. Carrollingians I say: it sounded like student government from back in the day, and it also put me in mind of The People Shall Judge from our social sciences curriculum. There were the people, judging, deliberating. Plus ca change, plus ca reste.

Shimer is now in trouble; fellow alumni, if it did something for you, please give back now. Become informed; spread the word; sign the petition http://www.petitiononline.com/FWS/petition.html requesting the resignation of a president who, with an ideological rather than educational agenda, is a bad match for the school; squeak the wheel.

The Week in Review, 4/2

2010-04-02T18:59:00.004-05:00

I'd like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that we always need more voices here at Shimer College and the Future. If you'd like to post here, please send an email to the address at the top of the page. If you're already among the 50+ authors here, just start posting!

This week on this blog:

On Tuesday we had our first installment of "The Odd Lies of Joe Bast". Plenty more where those came from, but we'll try to space them out so nobody gets indigestion...
Also on Tuesday, a current student recounted an extremely troubling conversation between her, another student, and Thomas Lindsay in his capacity as President. Thomas Lindsay has been successful, for the time being, in "persuading" the author to withdraw that post. Lindsay has offered no actual rebuttal of the students' account, despite being asked to provide one. If Mr Lindsay is reading this, he should consider himself invited to send a response directly to the address at the top of the page.

On Wednesday, alum Byron Keys shared the community's initial response to Thomas Lindsay before he was hired, in "I signed up for Shimer College, not the Thomas Lindsay Reading Club." We hope to hear more from Byron on this and other topics in the future.

On Thursday, we enjoyed an insightful letter from longtime Shimer supporter Erik Graff.

Today, in my capacity as an irate Shimerian, I took issue with a Tribune article which has been high in the search results for "Shimer College" in recent months. A journalist alum took well-reasoned issue with my issues.

By the time you read this, the "Week in Review" post will have been posted.

Elsewhere on the net:

Many more Shimerians signed the petition demanding Tom Lindsay's immediate resignation. (Here's why.) The count now stands at 426, including hundreds of alumni, many parents, and approximately half of the current student body. If you haven't signed yet, please consider doing so. The petition isn't going to save Shimer all by itself, but it has an important role to play.
Many more Shimerians also filled out the form pledging support during and/or after the crisis. (If you have filled out the form and haven't heard back from anyone, we apologize -- things have been just a bit hectic. Feel free to contact me directly, samueljhenderson@gmail.com.)
Jacqueline Harris hosted an excellent 2-hour online radio show about Shimer events. (Click the link to listen.) The next show is scheduled for April 13th at 4 PM.
On Shimer College Alumni Speak, we heard from Shimer alums Jason Blaesing (2000), Maria Sosa (1972), and Louis F. Linden (1969). We'd love to hear from you, too; email your reflections to shimerspeaksout@gmail.com.
At shimerians.com, the problem with registration emails has been solved. (Probably.) If you already signed up but did not receive an email, you have been manually confirmed and can now log in freely. The site is still under construction, and any help in finishing the job would be appreciated.

Elsewhere off the net:

At Shimer, reliable reports indicate that facilitators facilitated, students studied, staffers staffed, and administrators administered. We're not quite sure what the president did, but presumably he spent most of his time presiding ... over some place other than campus. If only Tom would extend his 6-day weekends by one more day, things would be so much simpler for everyone.
The students who had an extremely disturbing conversation with a trustee two weeks ago were intimidated into remaining silent. (There seems to be a bit of a pattern here...) We can scarcely fault anyone for not wanting to be on the receiving end of a frivolous but well-funded libel suit, but it must be said that the external community is not currently getting the full story about the threat to the faculty.
Neither the president nor his cronies on the Board made any effort at a meaningful demonstration of good faith. Guys, if you really aren't planning to gut the faculty and curriculum, why don't you just make a binding commitment to that effect? Sure would go a long way toward putting everyone's mind at ease...

A Shimerian Responds: "Shimer College in Power Struggle"

2010-04-02T09:00:00.006-05:00

I recognize that the constraints of writing for a daily newspaper leave little room for scrupulous fact-checking. I believe that the errors and distortions in Ron Grossman's Chicago Tribune article entitled "Shimer College in Power Struggle" (1/27/2010) were almost certainly committed in good faith. But given the continued prominence of that article, I feel it is necessary to set the record straight.

On that positive note, then, let's start with a truth well stated.

=====

"In all of American academics, it’s a good bet there’s no place quite like Chicago’s Shimer College."

Yep.

Now then, let's have a look at that subtitle:

Board, president seek independence from partnership with students

This seems a peculiar way of stating things. It is, after all, the students and faculty who are Shimer College. The president and his razor-thin majority on the Board are free to go their own way -- and at this point, the sooner the better. Furthermore, the students have never attempted to interfere in the Board or president's internal affairs. It is, rather, the President and his lackeys on the Board who have eagerly thrust themselves into the internal affairs of the college. And even if one can somehow class that interference as "independence," it is a bit difficult to see how such an "independent" Board and president intend to go about running the college without any cooperation from the community. Unless, of course, they plan on reducing the college to a meaningless shell.

"[...] its mascot is the 'flaming smelt' [...]"

Shimer College does not have an official mascot. The flaming smelt, an unofficial symbol beloved of many Waukeganites, is no more or less a mascot than the phoenix or the squirrel.

"In some ways, the Shimer standoff is reminiscent of the left-versus-right campus melodramas of the 1960s."

It's hard to argue with a statement as vague as this, but it is clearly intended to mislead the reader into thinking of the current Shimer crisis as a continuation of the "culture wars".

"[...] some of the generally leftist students and faculty see a move to tip the power balance in favor of the administration. "

"Generally leftist"? Even with regard to the students, we've yet to see any documented evidence of this. And as for the faculty ... does anyone really think that teaching the Great Books year in and year out would appeal to your average "leftist"? Good grief.

"Many of the new trustees are political conservatives like the school’s new president, Thomas Lindsay."

All of the new non-alum trustees are political conservatives. Most also share undisclosed financial ties to Barre Seid. Seid's role as the "anonymous donor" was kept secret from the community for many years.

"The ’60s have echoed loudly in the feud [...]"

Sigh. What does this even mean?

"But both sides in the Shimer dispute are united in passionate enthusiasm for the 'Great Books' course of study -- an elitist curriculum holding that seminal ideas should be read in their authors’ own words rather than textbooks offering watered-down versions."

Shimer welcomes all applicants, including many who did not finish high school or dropped out of other institutions. Offering a high-quality education to all comers scarcely seems like "elitism."

"Shimer’s syllabus is the same as half a century ago, when it had its own campus in the small town of Mount Carroll in northwest Illinois."

Leaving aside the rather important distinction between syllabus and curriculum, this is simply untrue. While the core of the Core has held constant, as it should and must, the details of the reading lists and other requirements have changed enormously since 1960. The reading lists for some courses, such as Humanities 3 and 4, have been revised considerably in the past decade alone. In fact, it is a requirement of Shimer's accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission, that Shimer "[assess] the usefulness of its curricula to students who will live and work in a global, diverse, and technological society." If Shimer's curriculum were as static and unquestioned as Grossman suggests, that would surely cause significant problems with accreditation.

"The big issue dividing Shimer is what form of campus governance would best guarantee the survival of the classic curriculum. The communal democracy of which Marx dreamed, and of which Shimer students read in Social Sciences 1? Or the enlightened despotism that Hobbes advocated, which is discussed in Social Sciences 2?"

Yipes! It's hard to know where to start with this. So let's break it down.

"The big issue dividing Shimer is what form of campus governance would best guarantee the survival of the classic curriculum."

The big issue is whether the curriculum and faculty are to be free of political interference from President Lindsay and his cronies. If a binding guarantee of non-interference were provided, I'm sure we would all be happy to work through the remaining issues in a dialogical way.

"The communal democracy of which Marx dreamed?"

Presumably this is intended to be a reference to the Shimer College Assembly, but I have to say that the connection between the Assembly and Marx escapes me. The Shimer College Assembly is far more reminiscent of a New England town meeting -- but is actually significantly more removed from the particulars of governance than the average town meeting, inasmuch as the Assembly is restricted to deliberating on general issues of the ethos and mission of the College. The Assembly, which in 1980 replaced an earlier and significantly more radical institution known as the "House", was most directly inspired by the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, according to an account by veteran Shimer professors Jack Wikse and David Shiner.

The delicate balance of power between administration, faculty, Assembly, and committees was aptly described, by 26-year Shimer College President Rev. Don P. Moon speaking at the February Assembly, as a "constitutional monarchy."

"Or the enlightened despotism that Hobbes advocated?"

The gist of Hobbes' Leviathan is that rulers can do what they want, to whom they want, when they want and how they want, and that this is right and proper. Whatever its philosophical merits, this is scarcely a recipe for responsible governance.

Enlightenment is perhaps in the eye of the beholder, but I cannot seem to find the phrase "enlightened despotism" in Hobbes' writings at all.

Philosophically, Shimer is unabashed leftist: Former ’60s radical William Ayers was a recent speaker.

Sigh. How many times must we address this zombie half-truth? Apart from the fact that William Ayers has spoken in a great number of places, and his right to speak at Shimer was defended by Lindsay himself, Shimer has always welcomed speakers from across the political spectrum.

And what is this about being "unabashed leftist"? Is it leftist to study Plato, Aristotle, and Aquinas? Are New England town meetings a "leftist" form of government? Should the Hayekian economist and Episcopalian reverend on the faculty be tossed out as not being "leftist" enough? This is fatuous.

A concerned student blog proclaimed Shimer “in mortal danger of being reduced to a meaningless shell.”

I, the author of that post, graduated from Shimer 12 years ago. This blog was founded by '99 alum Saradevil in 2005, when most current students were not so much as a gleam in an admissions worker's eye. To be sure, Shimer College and the Future welcomes students as both contributors and readers, but throughout its 6-year history, the vast majority of posts and comments on this blog have been from alumni.

He considers the Assembly a “historical accident,” and other trustees say it is a burden now when trying to persuade potential donors to write big-bucks checks to what is seen as a student-run college.

Perhaps these trustees should explain that the particulars of administrative matters are handled only by carefully-selected committees, as would be the case in any well-run institution. Indeed, why would any sensible donor want to contribute to an institution that had no internal oversight system? Clearly the problem is not with the Assembly or the committee system, but with how these are represented to donors.

At the same time, all sides are pulling for the college to surmount this latest crisis.

We would all rest easier if there were any assurance that this were true. It has not escaped anyone's attention that Patrick Parker, the ringleader of Lindsay's wrecking crew on the Board, also sat on the Shimer College Board of Trustees in 1974 when it voted to close Shimer down the first time. We would all prefer to overlook this unfortunate bit of history, except that in reliably reported conversations, Parker has expressed his belief that it would be no problem if the entire student body and faculty were to leave, and his fellow trustee Joe Bast has echoed this opinion.*

In short, the good faith of Thomas Lindsay's wrecking crew is not merely in doubt; it is almost certainly nonexistent. This was perhaps less apparent when Grossman's article first saw the light of day in late January, but it is now painfully clear to even a casual observer.

====

* Even assuming that Barre Seid comes through with a few hundred full-tuition scholarships, it's not clear how Lindsay, Parker & Co. plan to bypass the upcoming accreditation review. Perhaps they imagine they can bribe and dissemble their way through that process much as they wormed their way into power at Shimer.

Letter from Supporter Erik Graff

2010-04-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

Dear Sirs:

My interest in Shimer College extends back to high school when one of my best friends, Trina VanTellingen, attended the original campus. Indeed, I considered going to Shimer myself, but ended up at Grinnell after receiving an attractive offer under their early decision plan.

My interest was renewed when I served as an academic dean at Loyola University Chicago. There I handled articulation agreements and the training and supervision of academic advisors in the university's part-time division of 3,000 students. This work led me to a pretty extensive knowledge of our competition.

Outstanding among regional liberal arts colleges was Shimer, then at its Waukegan campus. At the time you had one of the best catalogs on the market, a catalog which described a curriculum I personally approved of and an extraordinarily participatory and egalitarian polity. I kept a supply of these catalogs in my offices and, when it seemed appropriate, I directed the attention of prospective students to Shimer. Over the years I seem to have sent at least a dozen students to your school who actually matriculated there.

One of these students was my own stepbrother, Erik Badger, who, as you know, went on to graduate and, until recently, serve the college through a number of offices. Indeed, now he is a candidate for a trusteeship. Erik's involvement and deep concern for the college, as well as friendships and professional relationships with other members of the community, have resulted in my own abiding and rather well-informed care for the institution.

This concern was heightened by two major events. The first was the appointment of President Rice under whom the college began to radically change. Most remarkably, he spearheaded the move to Chicago. Most significantly, however, he began the process of destroying the uniqueness of the college by introducing pay inequities and increasing class distinctions between faculty, staff and administrators. Where once I would have gladly taken a pay cut to work at Shimer (and actually applied), Rice's presidency gave pause to such aspirations.

The second event was the firing of your successful admissions director and her replacement by a relatively inexperienced (except as a lobbyist for Right to Life) creature of current President Lindsay over the objections of the committee normally central to the hiring process. This seemed part of a pattern of presidential authoritarianism and disregard for the traditions and institutions of the college. I decided to check it out.

Doing so over the course of hundreds of hours, I have uncovered a covert, ideologically driven plan to take over Shimer College, a plan inaugurated by President Rice and continued by President Lindsay, a project well sketched out by the recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Personally, some of the ideology appeals to me. I'm in much agreement with some libertarian ideals, suspicious of big governments and have a valued classical education myself (indeed, I write for an academic journal in the field of ancient history and the classics). What I object to includes:
1. The covert nature of the take-over and the subversive nature of the executive administration of the college.
2. The packing of your board by persons whose only qualifications seem to be their political ideology and previous associations with Messrs Rice and Lindsay (or Seid et alia), persons with no background whatsoever with the college and its traditions--some of them, indeed, with little academic or educational experience at all. (What, for instance, qualifies Dennis Katz beyond the fact that he is financially dependent upon and associated with Barre Seid?)
3. The blatantly offensive hypocrisy of Messrs Rice and Lindsay and their creatures on the board. On the one hand, they espouse liberty and the democratic ideals and history of our republic. On the other hand, they work against just those principles as they practically apply to the Shimer community.
4. The recent appointment of an academically unqualified adjunct to push Objectivism, an adjunct who is broadcasting all over the web her intentions--and the college's supposed agreement--to create a school within in the school dedicated to the great books of Ayn Rand.
5. Trustee Bast's (an associate of Barre Seid and mouthpiece of the tobacco and oil industries) public boasting of this whole effort to take over the school, turn over its faculty and to change its curriculum to reflect his idealogy.
6. The increasing lack of balance on the board. A few neoconservatives and libertarians wouldn't be so objectionable were some liberals (in the current sense, not the mid-eighteenth century sense Mr. Lindsay endorses), social democrats and even apoliticals appointed as well--presuming, of course, their respect for the college and its commitment to rational dialog.
7. The increasing financial dependence of the college on ideologically driven, extremely right-wing foundations such as the Barbara and Barre Seid Foundation and Parker's hijacked Aequus Institute.
8. The increasing disregard for the community of shareholders who substantially and abidingly make up the college: the faculty and the present-and-future alumni.
9. The fact that these changes destroy the uniqueness of the college, a uniqueness both as regards polity and as regards curriculum. Whereas Shimer had been moving in the direction of a more catholic appropriation of human cultural traditions as a whole, now it appears to be headed back to the parochial confinement of the notion of the great books to those of the western--and U.S. political--culture almost exclusively.

The last point deserves emphasis. Shimer is not the only great books school in the United States. It certainly would not be the only extremely conservative school in the country. It has, however, long been unique among liberal arts institutions, primarily because of its polity. As such, it deserved support and even had a special market appeal. The abandonment of these traditions removes what may be the major justification for its continued existence.

Sincerely,

Erik Graff

"I signed up for Shimer College not the Thomas Lindsay Reading Club."

2010-03-31T09:00:00.002-05:00

Recent alum Byron Keys recounts the initial reaction of the Shimer College community to Thomas Lindsay.

I was a student member of the Board of Trustees in 2007-08. I was also the secretary of Administrative Committee and a member of the Agenda Committee during the same school year. In retrospect, we know now that the change in the responsibilities of the Administrative Committee and the foisting of Tom Lindsay on the college appear to be steps in a carefully orchestrated plan to take over the college. I know that some of you refuse to believe this and think that the Lindsayites have the best interest of the school at heart. I would argue to you that this is not the case.

By now, you have heard from many students, alums and employees of the college as to why Tom Lindsay must resign immediately to begin to return the college back to normal. I would offer you a number of voices from the past, of students, staff and faculty, that were sent to the board after Tom Lindsay’s May 28, 2008 visit to campus, prior to the vote on the presidency. It is amazing how, with this much documented opposition Tom Lindsay was still able to garner three quarters of the trustees in order to be confirmed. I will let these voices speak now, I will not identify the writer for a couple of reasons. I have not asked the writer’s permission and I fear Tom Lindsay would retaliate against some of the people who have commented, especially those in admin or academic positions at the college. So, listen to the voices of opposition that were raised at the end of May 2008. In retrospect, some of the comments seem very prophetic.

One commenter, whose remarks were the voicing of the secret fears of many Shimerians at the time said, “I have concerns about the candidate and his thoughts about the direction of the school and curriculum. I am concerned about his possible pushing in a direction that takes Shimer away from its roots.” Tom Lindsay’s visit at the end of May was a disaster, meeting and talking to him caused one Shimerian to post the following; “He believes in the centrality of certain outdated and dangerous narratives. And I do not mean the great books themselves (hahaha). Rather he holds ideologically loaded beliefs regarding what ‘questions we should be asking.’ This is important because he believes he is being objective when he says that race, class and gender are not important academic topics. He is a cultural imperialist and a staunch opponent of ‘multiculturalism.’ It would not be as upsetting to me had he not made it explicit that these were the fundamentals of (h)is crusade. He wants to implement these dogmatic jingoistic beliefs and make us into ‘proper American citizens.’ That last quote offended me. He also called all of continental philosophy (excluding Heidegger) derivative and not as worthy of our curriculum. His favorites ‘The Founding Fathers,’ whatever that means, however are excluded from criticism. He believes we should all identify with, what I call but he would never claim is, the dominant ideology of this country and that in fact the dominant ideology itself is a good litmus test for what is important to read. I think this sort of agenda-driven approach is harmful and will probably alienate a lot of students who are diametrically opposed to all of it. I signed up for Shimer College not the Thomas Lindsay Reading Club.”

Remember that Tom Lindsay submitted a CV for the original job opening, but was not chosen for a campus visit by the committee. A committee headed by Patrick Parker. However, after his chat with Barre Seid, in which Seid handed him a check for $75,000, he came to the May 8 board meeting with the purpose of extending the search. Actually, not extending the search, but bringing in Tom Lindsay and force feeding him down everyone’s throat. This should sound familiar to people who were on the Administrative Committee when Amy Pitts was rammed down their throats. One community member commented of Tom Lindsay’s visit, “Although I liked his ideas, I disagreed with his methods. I would prefer overall candidate #3 (I believe Mark Tierno) for Shimer. Not only did Mark connect more easily with Shimer students than Tom (at least from what I saw), he was also willing to listen and work things out before putting out his own ideas. I respect that. (Sorry for the dual evaluation.. but I didn't get a chance to fill out Mark's form!)” The favorite was Mark Tierno, who still serves as president of Cazenovia College in New York. Tierno’s visit was enlightening, he seemed to really be excited at the prospect of turning the colleges around and is an experienced and proven fundraiser. Tom Lindsay either avoided or obfuscated questions relating to his fundraising experience. One community member commented, “Very limited administrative experience - academic for sure, but little beyond that. He did not come across as a real leader to me - so I really wonder how this would play itself out. Little evidence of a sense of humor. Not clear if he is committed to diversity - in terms of the curriculum, student body etc. in any way, shape, or manner.”

One of the ways that Tom Lindsay rubbed me wrong was his body language and not giving direct answers to direct questions. This was noticed by other people who met him that day as well, as evidenced by the following comments, “Lindsay does not seem open to views that are different from his own. He tends to label any intellectual approach that differs from his own as ‘ideology’ and dismisses it as not worthy of liberal education. Shimer has served itself well by staying out of the cultures wars; Lindsay is a stauch cultural warrior and I fear he will drag our institution into this tiresome debate. He does not provide straight answers to questions but repeats the same ideas about a liberal education to most direct questions. We all agreed before the search process that what Shimer needs is someone who can be an effective fundraiser; Lindsay evaded questions about this aspect of the job. The one direct answer he gave was that when he believes in a cause, such as liberal education, he doesn't mind asking for money. We need a president who is less ideolgical and more interested in raising money for the College.” When we needed a man who was like our interim president, Ron Champagne, what we got was an ideologically compromised candidate who was in the pocket of and had marching orders from Barre Seid and Patrick Parker. Lindsay’s writings were printed and circulated at the college during May 08. One Shimerian said of them, “I discovered his writings online just as many others in our community did. Some of them scared me.”

Anyone who thinks that Tom Lindsay came on board with universal acclaim is mistaken. There was opposition to him before he ever set foot on campus when his sexist, racist and misogynistic writing was discovered. I offer these voices from the past to ensure you that he faced a lot of opposition early on. I believe this opposition will continue until Tom Lindsay is fired or resigns. Perhaps the presidency of COTUS would be suited for him.

Shimer College Fact Check: The Odd Lies of Joe Bast, Volume I

2010-03-30T01:03:00.009-05:00

Heartland Institute president Joe Bast is among the many trustees with no prior ties to Shimer College who recently joined the Shimer board while enjoying the undisclosed backing of Barre Seid. Since joining the Board, Mr Bast has become an ardent member of absentee president Thomas Lindsay's political wrecking crew. As one friend of the college recently said, "He runs a zombie think tank; why not a zombie college?"

In addition to his fondness for zombie philanthropy, it seems that somewhere in his rise to wealth, fame and Trusteeship, Mr Bast lost the ability to tell the truth. Today we begin what we fear will have to be a very long-running feature on Mr Bast's peculiar Shimer-related lies and distortions. Our first text is "Size Matters" by Jay Schalin, a Pope Center article published in October 2009 that cites Mr Bast as its sole source for information about Shimer College. The only falsehood not directly linked to Bast's name is also the most innocent:

Almost Harmlessly False: "It was founded as a women’s college in Mount Carroll, Illinois, during the 19th century. "

As even a casual student of Shimer history knows, Shimer was founded as a coeducational seminary in 1853. It became a women's seminary only 13 years later, under space constraints. For a reasonably accurate portrayal of the school's first 135 years, the interested reader is referred to the classic article "Big Ideas" by Harold Henderson. As noted above, it is possible that this error is simply a mistake on Mr Schalin's part, and not directly attributable to Mr Bast.

Just False: "At one point, Bast said enrollment dropped to less than 50 students. However, a subsequent move to the campus of Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago appears to have stabilized the school, and enrollment is now back up to 106. "

Enrollment was well over 100 in the late 1990s, when Shimer was still in Waukegan. Whatever the other merits of the move to IIT, it cannot be said to have had much positive impact on enrollment thus far.

Stupefyingly False: "Bast said the Board of Trustees hope to get it back up to 300 to 400 students, which they consider optimal size for a Great Books college (he added that the faculty and students would rather to keep it at its present size)."

This insult alone should be enough to wipe out any possibility that this man is operating in good faith. It boggles the mind that Bast could even imagine that anyone in the community, let alone a majority, does not want Shimer to grow to a healthy and sustainable size. There have been plans for a swift return to 300-500 students since at least the early 1980s. Thus far, every such plan has fallen maddeningly short. And thus far, there is little reason to believe that the absentee efforts of Thomas Lindsay will fare any better. Early indications are that recruiting for the
coming year is flat or down. It would seem that putting our school's curriculum and faculty to the torch may not have been the best recruiting tool after all. Who could have foreseen that?

Why Thomas Lindsay Must Go

2010-03-23T08:00:00.002-05:00

Please sign the petition.

General Summary of President Lindsay’s Tenure

Thomas Lindsay assumed the presidency of Shimer College in January 2009.[1] Lindsay was not among the three candidates recommended by the search committee, and there are no public records as to the process by which he was chosen.[2] Since taking office, Lindsay has repeatedly violated the administrative procedures of the school in order to advance a his own agenda and place his associates in positions of importance.[3] In order to preserve their narrow majority, Lindsay's allies on the Board, who for the most part lack any connection to Shimer College, have blocked the candidacy of qualified alumni.[4] The most recent transgression by Lindsay and his allies has been the abrupt, wholesale alteration of the College's mission statement, over the unanimous objections of the faculty.[5] There is abundant reason to believe that the faculty and curriculum of Shimer College are in serious peril. [6]

Primary Issues of Concern:

Stacking the Board

For all his many faults, Lindsay would not pose a credible threat to the College if he did not enjoy the support of a majority on the Board of Trustees. At the moment that majority is quite narrow: Lindsay's mission statement passed by only two votes in the February meeting of the Board. This narrow majority was only obtained by flooding the Board with new members over the past two years. Almost none of these new members have any prior connection to the college. The impression of a hostile takeover is confirmed by the refusal of the Nominating Committee, on which these new members now hold a majority, to confirm any of the six eligible alumni candidates who have been put forward.

Mission

Lindsay and his appointees on the Board have used their narrow majority to push through an ideologically-loaded rewrite of the mission statement. This was done under false pretenses and against the express, nearly unanimous disapproval of the faculty and student bodies. Approximately half of the student body came out on a freezing Saturday morning, in February, in Chicago, in order to calmly and peacefully express their objections to the Board's planned action.

Curriculum

Lindsay has expressed a desire to remove what he views as "political correctness" from the curriculum. This suggests that he will press to remove the many works by women and persons of color that are currently included in the Core. It may also suggest a desire to remove non-canonical works, keeping only the historical Great Books. Furthermore, by unilaterally removing "citizenship" from the mission statement of the College, Lindsay has stricken out one of the three pillars of Great Books education as articulated by Robert Maynard Hutchins. This bodes extremely poorly for his future intentions, which remain in shadow.

Intimidation

Lindsay has threatened faculty [6] and members of the Board with removal if they do not support his agenda.

Personnel

President Lindsay has fired skilled, professional staff members – notably Elaine Vincent, who modernized Shimer's admissions and achieved impressive gains in enrollment – in order to hire people he knows will support him. In this instance, he went against the express will of the committees that normally oversee personnel issues. Lindsay subsequently refused to discuss the rationale for his highly suspect firing of Ms. Vincent, even after a formal request by the faculty that he explain himself. [1] Elaine Vincent was replaced by a remarkably under-qualified Director of Admissions, Amy Pritts. In flagrant disregard of Shimer hiring procedures, Mrs. Pritts was re-inserted into the pool of applicants after three rounds of selection by the Administrative Committee per Lindsay’s directive. Mrs. Pritts had previously worked at the University of Dallas in a non-managerial capacity, further heightening suspicions of cronyism.

Governance

Lindsay's actions disregard the established, documented administrative institutions and procedures of Shimer College. His actions are most flagrantly in violation of the model of self-governance – reaffirmed by the Board as recently as 2008 – that has kept the college alive for so long against such incredible odds. But they also violate basic principles of sound management; Lindsay has made no effort to keep the community on board, or even to keep key stakeholders informed of his planned actions. In the process he has done the nearly impossible: united the Shimer community.

Security

Lindsay’s tenure has resulted in an atmosphere of suspicion and acrimony, wherein faculty and staff are saddled with justified and deep concerns for their jobs and students for the future of their education at Shimer College. These have grown to include the very tenability of Shimer College as an institution. It is difficult to see this as an ambiance in which education can proceed, let alone flourish.

Please sign the petition.

Please fill out the form.

1. "Inauguration of 13th President of Shimer College". http://alumni.shimer.edu/s/1028/index.aspx?calcid=772&calpgid=61&cid=933&crid=0&ecid=933&gid=1&pgid=252&sid=1028.
2. "Shimer College Presidential Search Finalist Candidates", http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B0ck2awuCGvlZmU1MWFlZGQtNDdlMy00ZTM2LTk4NmUtZDkyYzhiODBiOGNj.
3. "Growing Suspicion Pits President and Several Trustees Against The Rest of Shimer's Community", Eugene Lim, February 2010 Promulgates, page 8 et seq. http://www.mediafire.com/?nzxjfdidynj.
4. In what is believed to be an unprecedented action, the Nominating Committee in January voted to table 6 eligible Shimer graduates who had been nominated to the Board, thus effectively turning away both money and support. The group that was tabled included former members of the Board, and others who had made substantial contributions to the college. "For First Time in Recent Shimer History, 6 Nominees to Board of Trustees 'Indefinitely Tabled'", Dan Merchan, February 2010 Promulgates, page 4. http://www.mediafire.com/?nzxjfdidynj.
5. Faculty statement: https://acrobat.com/#d=PMxWWeia*tueKCe9NgV86Q. Assembly resolution: https://acrobat.com/#d=PMxWWeia*tueKCe9NgV86Q.
6. The statement adopted by the faculty in February reads in part "[Lindsay] has indicated to us that if the Board adopts his statement, he would ask us individually to confirm our support of it. The implied alternative was to seek employment elsewhere." Personnel decisions by the President are subject to review and reversal under the Article V Paragraph 4 of the Board bylaws. However, the Executive Committee of the Board has recently claimed that the President has always had the simple authority to hire and fire faculty. https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B788E5miKgPCMmI2ZGI4NjEtOTcwYS00MWRkLTlhYmUtYWZhMTAwMzBlN2Yx.

Shimer College Assembly Approves New Mission Statement

2010-03-21T20:45:00.003-05:00

In its March 21 meeting, the Assembly of Shimer College unanimously approved the following mission statement, selected from among a total 10 candidate statements that had been put forward.

Shimer College—the Great Books College of Chicago—provides and preserves education centered on discussion of enduring questions and issues. Historically influential original sources are studied through Socratic questioning, in small seminar classes and following the curriculum developed by Robert Maynard Hutchins. The core values informing education at Shimer are free inquiry, dialog, critical open-mindedness, and integration of disciplines. As a community, the College offers all its members the opportunity to participate meaningfully in deciding the future of the institution. A Shimer education demands much of both the intellect and the character of students, and prepares them for responsible citizenship and the examined life.

The Assembly further approved a request to the Board of Trustees that the statement be formally adopted, without modification, at the May meeting.

3/21 Livetweet

2010-03-21T13:54:00.003-05:00

Livetweet of the Special Assembly of March 21, 2010 will commence at @samuelhenderson, and will probably continue at @saradevil as technical constraints require. Check #shimercollege for pertinent announcements.

Agenda for the Special Assembly of March 21st

2010-03-20T19:30:00.002-05:00

THE ASSEMBLY OF SHIMER COLLEGE

AGENDA FOR THE SPECIAL MEETING OF MARCH 21, 2010

I Motion, motivated by Barbara Stone

The Assembly shall elect three mission statement proposals, by vote count, from among those that have been submitted to comply with the motion passed at the Assembly of February 28, and send them to the Board of Trustees with an invitation to the Board to choose one of them as the mission statement of Shimer College.

§

Motion passed at the Assembly of February 28:

The Assembly will endeavor to provide a mission statement enjoying broad support from the community, including the board, staff, faculty, students and alumni of Shimer College by March 21, 2010.

II Election of a mission statement or statements, in accordance with the motion passed at the Assembly of February 28, and with the motion above (agenda item I) if it has been passed.

Proposed mission statements (in alphabetical order by last name of first author):

1)

It is the Mission of Shimer College to cultivate habits of critical inquiry and an ethic of participation, and to thereby enable students to enter the world as active citizens who, on the model of Socrates, endeavor to maximize intellectual liberty and relentlessly pursue the examined life.

Shimer is a small, tight-knit community where students and facilitators cooperatively inquire into the questions and problems contained in, and raised by, the 'Great Books' of the Hutchins Curriculum. This inquiry seeks both to take up the investigations at the heart of these texts and to reveal them as contingent and polysemous; through such inquiry students identify and interrogate the unexamined assumptions which bind these texts and this tradition, and thus prepare themselves to reflect upon the extent to which their thinking may be comparably bound, and how they might begin to liberate themselves from such bondage.

All classes at Shimer are dialogue-based and predicated on an egalitarian ethic of participation. In keeping with this ethic, students acknowledge their reciprocal obligations to do close reading, careful listening, and thoughtful, respectful responding, facilitators work to keep the classroom a safe space for serious intellectual work, and the College offers the entire community - students, facilitators, staff, alumni, and trustees - the opportunity to participate in the Assembly, the democratic component of the college's governance model.

Bill Arnold

2)

Shimer College fosters independent thought and analysis applied across a broad liberal arts core curriculum linking the humanities, and the natural and social sciences. Agreeing with Socrates that “the unexamined life is not worth living," our mission is to graduate students who have questioned their assumptions and who appreciate the need to understand presuppositions, habits, beliefs and the power of prejudices. Liberal education at Shimer offers a setting for students to learn for, through and in an atmosphere of liberty. The goal of liberty should be the pursuit of truth and we believe that the best perspective on how this may be accomplished is by active engagement in the Great Dialogue. Using the works of the greatest accomplishments of Western culture for the starting point of this dialogue, students develop an intellectual framework for lifelong learning and responsible citizenship to preserve freedom of enquiry and expression. Our motto, Non ministrari sed ministrare, (“To serve rather than to be served”), reflects our commitment to work for the greater good over partisan or parochial interests.

Barry Carroll, Harold Stone, Simon Creek, Erik Badger

3)

Shimer welcomes students who seek to learn how to think independently and to freely choose their personal values. To this end students (1) attend small seminar classes where the Great Books and other original sources are explored using the Socratic method of open inquiry, and (2) participate in a democratic process of shared governance of college affairs with faculty and administrative staff. This affords ample opportunity to examine alternatives dispassionately, to put ideas into practice, and to integrate one's unfolding intellectual understanding within the broader cycle of deliberation and action.

The core curriculum, based on innovation by Robert Maynard Hutchins, includes course sequences in the Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and Humanities, followed by integrative courses in History and Philosophy. The educational community at Shimer cultivates the kind of collegial interplay that fosters individual autonomy, the ability to think critically, tolerance for a diverse spectrum of values, skillful approach toward mutual understanding, and principled action: the essential qualities that enable lifelong learning and active citizenship in the world at large.

Russell Davis

4)

Shimer College—the Great Books College of Chicago—provides and preserves education centered on discussion of enduring questions and issues. Historically influential original sources are studied through Socratic questioning, in small seminar classes and following the curriculum developed by Robert Maynard Hutchins. The core values informing education at Shimer are free inquiry, dialog, critical open-mindedness, and integration of disciplines. As a community, the College offers all its members the opportunity to participate meaningfully in deciding the future of the institution. A Shimer education demands much of both the intellect and the character of students, and prepares them for responsible citizenship and the examined life.

Albert B. Fernandez

5)

The Shimer College community engages with ideas embedded in works of enduring value, enabling its members to develop skills of critical and creative thinking. Consistent with Shimer's traditional Great Books curriculum, first developed at the University of Chicago under President Robert Maynard Hutchins, emphasis is placed on original sources. These works are are discussed in small classes using a contemporary adaptation of the Socratic method. A Shimer liberal education, which includes active

participation in governance of the community by its members, is designed to enable its graduates to become active citizens in a free society as well as to be engaged productively on issues of global concern.

Robert O Keohane

6)

Shimer College is an independent undergraduate liberal arts college dedicated to developing students' abilities to interpret, reason with, and express ideas free of any commitments to particular subject matters, methodologies, doctrines, professions, disciplines or creeds, but prepared to be informed by any of them. Following the Hutchins' Curriculum, all Shimer students and their facilitators read the original expressions of reasoned interpretations of natural science, social science, individual human creativity and the integrating principles relating these aspects of reality as embodied in the Great Books of Western Civilization and its global context These works and the questions they raise are engaged together in small group discussions in Socratic style, and individually confronted by students in written essays and examinations.

In the spirit of Frances Wood Shimer, whose labors gave birth to this institution and whose name we still bear, we embrace the active participation and mutual empowerment of all members of the Shimer community in the rights and duties of self governance as the proper means to secure the context of reciprocal respect and support that allows the education we seek to take place.

Eric Nicholson

7)

In its long history, Shimer College has always engaged its students and community members toward meaningful and unselfish participation in the world. Shimer College follows the Socratic Method of shared inquiry, requiring of students and faculty alike the recognition of each inquirer's fundamental dignity and equality, for the sake of unselfish participation in the world. Shimer College is thus an intentional community, recognizing that participation in this intellectual dialogue demands that each member has both an opportunity and a responsibility to participate in the College's governance.

The College, in the spirit of Robert Hutchins, challenges its members to examine those great works (Great Books) of all civilizations, which have influenced thinkers throughout history. The College, through dialogue, cultivates an unwavering and demanding intellectual liberty and honesty. It endeavors to move its members beyond either unquestioning acceptance of authority or its automatic mistrust and toward responsible and active citizenship.

Mike Weinman, Mark Robinson, Chris McGlynn

8)

Shimer College's mission is to educate through close study of the Great Books conducted in the Socratic dialogue method. The education and intellectual liberty that Shimer pursues depends on an environment that cultivates freedom of thought and conscience necessary for participation as citizens in a democracy and in the world at large. The end of a Shimer education is the capacity to set aside unexamined assumptions in the dispassionate search for truth as the model for a lifelong education.

Gerald Welch

III

Motion, motivated by the Agenda Committee

The Assembly instructs the Speaker to address and disseminate the acts of this day to all the constituencies of Shimer College, including Trustees and alumni.

IV Announcements

§

A tabled motion or resolution is taken from the table upon passage of a motion to do so, which requires a simple majority. A motion to take from the table may be introduced before or after, but not during, consideration of any item on the agenda.

At the meeting of February 28, 2010, the following resolution was tabled:

The Assembly declares that it has no confidence in the ability of President Thomas Lindsay to lead Shimer College.

Friends and Alums: How Can You Help?

2010-03-19T13:05:00.006-05:00

Shimer College Fact Check: Wall Street Journal article

2010-03-12T17:52:00.005-06:00

Here at SC&TF, we try not to give undue prominence to political hit pieces called in by Lindsay and his cronies. However, when a publication as prominent as The Wall Street Journal publishes a misleading, tendentious screed about the current events at Shimer, we believe it is necessary to respond. In what follows we address the more obviously false and misleading statements in the article. If you read that article, you will realize that the following list is far from complete. Please feel free to adapt, expand, and repost.

False: "The school's embattled president, Tom Lindsay, is facing ideological opposition from faculty and students. "
The opposition to Lindsay's mismanagement and abuse of power runs across the spectrum, including staff, students, and alumni of all political persuasions. Shimer's intellectually diverse faculty have been unanimous in condemning Lindsay's actions, which have included firing and threatening to fire anyone who stands in the path of his premeditated hostile takeover. [President Lindsay Threatens Faculty, They Firmly Declare Stance]

Opponents of Lindsay's actions also include many current and former Trustees, notably the distinguished former Chairman of the Board, Young Kim, who urged the community to support a vote of no confidence in Lindsay.

Misleading: 'The "family dispute" is over how to govern this great-books school.'
The problem is less the governance structure than what Lindsay and his cronies intend to do with it. Lindsay & Co. have already vandalized the school’s mission statement and threatened the jobs of staff and faculty. An analysis of Lindsay's speeches and writings indicates strongly that he, and presumably his backers, are also bent on reshaping the Shimer core curriculum according to their own political inclinations, trimming the diversity of ideas currently found there. The contempt that Lindsay & Company have demonstrated for dialogue and participation further suggests that Shimer's unique dialogical classes are also at risk. If we had any reason to believe that Lindsay and his cronies support the core ideals of Shimer, his arrogation of power would be less troubling -- but, unfortunately, there is absolutely no reason to believe this.

False: "Is Shimer a Greek-style polis, as many Shimerians believe?"
Shimer has not operated this way in many years. If there are any Shimerians who think otherwise – and perhaps there are – they are seriously confused. Shimer has operated for decades as a nonprofit corporation with a chief executive whose power is tempered by community and Board oversight. Unfortunately, Thomas Lindsay and his cronies on the board have been working to gut that oversight, eliminating the College’s long-standing tradition of accountability. This is bad management and an abuse of the public trust, and has been decried as such by Rev. Don Moon, who served as president of Shimer for 26 years and arguably deserves the greatest credit for keeping the school alive.

Misleading: "At the time, Shimer faculty, staff and students were eager for Mr. Lindsay to join their tiny school, which enrolls about 100 students, and lead it to happier times."

No doubt, hope springs eternal at Shimer, and we in the alum community dearly hoped that Lindsay's appointment would work out. But the very manner by which he became president raised very serious issues. Lindsay had actually been rejected in the first round of the presidential search process, in favor of other candidates with more pertinent experience. Although the finalists had been narrowed to two excellent candidates in May 2008, Lindsay was suddenly pushed forward by his backer Patrick Parker, who successfully intimidated other trustees with the threat that “anonymous” donor Barre Seid would not approve of these nominees – even though the finalists had real experience at the helm of small colleges, while Lindsay had no experience as a No. 1 executive at all. [May 2008 board minutes]

Misleading: “Enter Mr. Lindsay, charged by Shimer's board—which includes faculty and students—with securing the college's future. “
Unbeknownst to the community, a majority had already been secured on the board by proxies for wealthy industrialist Barre Seid. This fact was only discovered in December 2009, thanks to the diligence of a concerned alumnus. Thus, Tom Lindsay was selected by a board that was already out of the school’s control. [Who’s Buying Shimer?] Confirming the reality of a hostile takeover, this covertly-assembled majority, led by operative Patrick Parker, has maneuvered to maintain its control by blocking the nominations of reputable alumni. [Promulgates 2/2010, page 4]

Misleading: " Less than two years later,"
Actually, objections to Lindsay's abuse of power became widespread less than eight months into his tenure. [Promulgates 2/2010, page 8] Even now he has been in office for only slightly more than a year (he was installed in late January 2009). It is certainly true, however, that 8 months is less than 2 years.

False: 'many of the same people who once cheered Mr. Lindsay's arrival now denounce him as a "conservative menace,"'
"The Conservative Menace" is the sensationalistic title of a Chicago Reader exposé. Newspapers like the Reader do what they must. However, no member of the Shimer community has been heard to use this term. Shimer's problem is not with Lindsay's political leanings, whatever they may be, but with his evident contempt for the unique ethos and mission of the college. Lindsay is definitely a menace, but his political inclinations are only incidental to this.

Misleading: "He fired the director of admissions, without consulting the assembly."
It would have been very unusual for Tom to consult the Assembly, which has not deliberated on specific personnel issues for decades. His responsibility, however, was to consult with the Administrative Committee. This responsibility is specified in the Board bylaws. Not only did Lindsay refuse to discuss his firing of the skilled, successful, and recently-hired Director of Admissions, but both the Admissions Director’s firing and Lindsay's subsequent hiring of a political crony to replace her were done over the express objections of the Administrative Committee and the college faculty. [Promulgates 2/2010]

So yes, Lindsay didn’t consult the Assembly, nor would anyone have expected him to; the breach of procedure was much more profound.

False: "As for the claim that the president ignored the tradition of self-governance at Shimer, in 2008 the college's board itself determined that matters of personnel, among others, would rest with the president."
The Board's own bylaws, as amended in 2008, require that the president consult with the Administrative Committee. This cannot be said to have occurred in any meaningful sense. The Board's bylaws also specify that the Board has the power to overturn any personnel decision by the president. However, the Board, which has been covertly packed with people owing their allegiance and funding to Lindsay's backer Barre Seid, has consistently failed to exercise this oversight. [Board bylaws]

Misleading: "What seems to be irking faculty and students are the president's classically liberal politics, which are out of tune on a campus that invited ex-Weatherman Bill Ayers to be a speaker in 2008."
Shimer has always welcomed speakers from across the political spectrum. This tradition dates back at least to the early 1960s, when the president of the American Nazi Party was invited to speak on campus. [Big Ideas] I fear that Ms Smith’s latching onto this point speaks more about what she and other members of Lindsay's circle imagine “liberty” to be. In this regard it is worth noting that even Tom Lindsay defended Ayers' right to speak on campus.

False: "When Mr. Lindsay shared the statement with students and faculty as part of an intended consultation process, the words "liberty" and "liberal" exploded like a bomb."
In fact, the actual statement drafted by Lindsay was never shared with the community, and was not even disclosed to the Board until a few days before it was voted on. Instead, Lindsay disclosed what he claimed were "guideposts", and rejected any specific criticism on the grounds that these guideposts were not, in fact, a mission statement proposal. The problems with the so-called “mission statement” and the manner of its adopting are detailed in the resolution passed by the February 28^th Assembly.

In closing, we believe it is prudent to mention that the WSJ appropriately classified the above-quoted piece as "Opinion," and that Emily Smith, who authored the piece, is not a Wall Street Journal reporter. Ms Smith is instead a "fellow" at the "Collegiate Network" operated by the Weekly Standard. The Collegiate Network, like approximately half of Shimer's current Board, has benefited from the generosity of Barre Seid, the "anonymous donor". Much like the members of the Board, Ms Smith apparently did not consider it necessary to disclose this information.

Announcement of Special Assembly March 21

2010-03-12T12:39:00.001-06:00

Citizens of Shimer College,

A special unscheduled meeting of the Assembly will take place on Sunday, March 21, starting at 4 pm central time, in the Cinderella Lounge. The Agenda Committee is convening the Assembly to comply with the Carroll-Badger-Shiner motion passed by the Assembly at the special meeting of February 28, which reads as follows:

The Assembly will endeavor to provide a mission statement enjoying broad support from the community, including the board, staff, faculty, students and alumni of Shimer College by March 21, 2010.

The agenda will include motions for electing a new mission statement and will be disseminated on Tuesday, March 16. Those who are writing mission statement proposals are asked to submit them by noon on that date (to a.fernandez@shimer.edu ) so that the community has time to study the proposals before meeting. However, in recognition of the short amount of time since the motion, Dean’s Break, this notice, and the upcoming meeting, statement revisions and additional proposals will be accepted by the Committee until Friday, March 19, 9 pm cst. Updated editions of the Agenda will be sent between Tuesday and Saturday if need be.

As at the February 7th meeting of the Assembly, there will be discussion of Shimer’s mission and of the mission statement proposals before the election begins, but amending, including friendly amending, of the text of the various statements will again be out of order. The Committee believes that last-minute wordsmithing during the meeting would take up a completely prohibitive amount of time, and could result in poor and hasty rewriting of a statement of the greatest importance to the College. The Speaker will entertain objections to this procedure from the floor (amending as usual will be in order for other agenda items). Members who would like changes in any of the proposed statements on the Agenda should contact the authors with suggested emendations. Some proposals have already been circulated, and contact information for authors will be provided when the agenda is distributed.

The Carroll-Shiner-Badger motion calls for a mission statement with “broad support from the community, including the Board, staff, faculty, students and alumni.” Although the Committee will not judge whether proposals received are in accord with the intent of motion or not, it may be helpful to those who are composing or revising statement proposals to consider the following list of content components and qualities that members of the community have advocated in various forums since the review of our mission statement began in the fall. The list is by no means intended by the Committee as a set of requirements for proposals.

1 written clearly and correctly, and in a tone that commands respect
2 no longer than two paragraphs
3 gives a comprehensive and accurate sense of Shimer to outsiders
4 distinguishes Shimer from other colleges, including St. John’s
5 can realistically be used in soliciting donors, including donors with definite political views
6 mentions small seminar classes
7 mentions original sources
8 mentions the Great Books
9 mentions the Socratic method
10 mentions or invokes shared governance
11 mentions or invokes active citizenship
12 content substantially refers to education and intellectual values
13 mentions freedom of the mind
14 includes the word “liberty”
15 mentions the Hutchins Curriculum

Apart from mission statement proposals, the Committee will also consider other agenda item proposals for this or a future meeting of the Assembly. Any member of the Assembly, including alumni, can suggest agenda items by sending them to any member of the Agenda Committee (names below--Shimer eml addresses consist of the first initial, dot, last name, and @shimer.edu). As has been the case since the beginning of the academic year, we expect the March 21 meeting to be quite lengthy, and will exercise judgment as to which possible agenda items may be taken up at a later date. Again, considering the importance of the issues before us, we ask members of the Assembly to prepare to stay late. There will be short recesses during the meeting. Because of the special nature of this meeting there will be no approval of minutes or committee reports, though time will be set aside for announcements.

As before, members who are unable to attend the meeting but who would like to address the Assembly may send written messages to the Speaker and they will be forwarded to the membership. In keeping with Assembly precedent, in the interest of saving time, and to avoid preferential recognition of absent members, such messages will not be read or distributed during the meeting. For prior distribution, they must be received no later than Saturday, March 21, 9 pm cst, but the Committee cannot guarantee all messages will be disseminated if their number turns out to be overwhelming. To make it easier to forward messages to the community, please send them to the Speaker as attachments to e-mail, and not as text within the e-mail.

We expect that the March 21st meeting will be webcast as prior meetings have been. If it will be, access information will be disseminated to members. Please bear in mind that, according to the Constitution of the Assembly, only members present may address the Assembly, vote, or introduce motions.

Both Trustees and alumni are members of the Assembly, though alumni are not voting members. Since it is not possible to send this message to all alumni, those who are recipients should feel free to forward it to alumni they know. The Committee, on behalf of the internal community, welcomes Trustees, alumni, and all other members to the meeting.

Albert

Albert B Fernandez

Speaker of the Assembly

News Reports To Date on Shimer Crisis

2010-03-04T18:41:00.009-06:00

Here are the recent stories in the Serious Media, in approximate reverse chronological order. This may not be a complete list:

Big Trouble at Little Shimer: What’s happening to Chicago’s Great Books college?	Chicago Weekly	3/3/2010	Sam Feldman	Focus on 2/28 Assembly vote; good background; somewhat confused about relative size of last two campuses
Anonymous Donor Outed in Debate Over Small College's Mission	Chronicle of Philanthropy (subscription)	2/26/2010	Andy Markowitz	Poor, poor Barre Seid. How hard his life must be.
At a Tiny College, an Epic Battle Over Academic Authority	Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription -- but ask around)	2/25/2010	Don Troop	A merciful focus on the real issue of governance, rather than ideological distractions.
Who's Buying Shimer?	Chicago Reader	2/25/2010	Deanna Isaacs	Deanna takes it up a notch; good details on the covert purchase of the Board and the mysterious COTUS issue.
Shimer College in Power Struggle: Board, president seek independence from partnership with students	Chicago Tribune	1/27/2010	Ron Grossman	A shameful mess of an article. The first sentence is accurate; the rest, not so much.
The Conservative Menace: Is an influx of neocon board members threatening Shimer College’s egalitarian tradition?	Chicago Reader	12/10/2009	Deanna Isaacs	Although problematic, this article pretty much broke the story; at the time, few took the claims of conspiracy seriously, and the role of Barre Seid was still unknown.

Overall, I think the media has been doing a decent job. So far the Tribune is the only legitimate news outlet to have fallen for Lindsay's spin. That alone should be enough to get Tom Lindsay fired for incompetence; who ever heard of a conservative executive who couldn't piss on the media and convince them it's raining? Then again, the Tribune is also the only entirely mainstream media outlet to weigh in so far.

A WBEZ reporter has been working on a piece, but as far as I know, there is still no word as to when it will come out, or what form it will take.

Three Video Resources for Following Shimer Events

2010-03-03T22:00:00.007-06:00

If you're following events at Shimer College from afar, you may have a hard time visualizing what's going on. Fortunately, there have been a lot of people hanging around with cameras and cell phones, and some of that video has been posted online.

Here are three channels that you should definitely look at, and keep an eye on for future developments.

Go to FWShimerFoundation to see video of the students' extraordinarily civil and disciplined protest of the Board meeting, and of some conversations between the community and Thomas Lindsay:

Go to SuperLordnicon to see some video/audio of the unscripted conversation between trustee Frank Buckley and the protesting students and alumni in the IIT Atrium. It's difficult to avoid the impression that Buckley said a bit more than he meant to:

Go to GadflyNewsOnline for video of the emergency Assembly of February 28:

Please pass the word, and if you have a YouTube account, also subscribe to the channels and uprate and comment on the videos. If you know of any more sources of good Shimer videos, please let us know in the comments.

Resolutions of 2/28 Assembly

2010-03-01T20:28:00.005-06:00

In the emergency Assembly of 2/28, the community voted to reject president Thomas Lindsay's so-called "mission statement."

The vote of no confidence in the so-called president was tabled for the time being.

In addition, it was resolved to seek a mission statement enjoying broad support from all constituencies, this process concluding no later than March 21st.

The text of the adopted resolutions follows.

I.Resolved:

Whereas the Board of Trustees adopted a statement called a “mission statement,” written by President Thomas Lindsay, on February 20, 2010;

Whereas this statement is without the express support of the faculty, the students, the administrative staff, or the vast majority of alumni who have addressed it, and is upheld only by 18 out of 34 Trustees;

Whereas the Assembly by overwhelming majority and the Faculty unanimously have voted to retain the current mission statement at least for the time being;

Whereas the statement approved by the Board is not consistent with the criterion of the College’s academic accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission, that “Understanding of and support of the mission pervade the organization” (Accreditation Criterion 1c);

Whereas the statement, unlike all other mission statement proposals, was never submitted to the Self-Study Group, or brought to the Assembly, but was sent exclusively to Trustees, and only five days before they were to vote on it;

Whereas the statement was approved by the Board after a major donor said, one day before the Board plenary, that funding would cease if a new mission statement were not adopted;

Whereas shortly before the Board plenary President Lindsay urged the Trustees on the Executive Committee to resign if they would not vote for his statement, and told another Trustee that he would “have to go” or words to that effect if he did not vote for his statement; and,

Whereas the statement was voted on by the Board without the customary notification of a vote in the meeting agenda, after only 75 minutes of consideration, and without observance of equal time for those opposed;

Therefore,

The Assembly of Shimer College does not recognize the legitimacy or authority of this so-called “mission statement.”

(Adopted by a vote of 69 for, 1 against, and 2 abstentions)

II.The Assembly will endeavor to provide a mission statement enjoying broad support from the community, including the board, staff, faculty, students and alumni of Shimer College by March 21, 2010.

(Motion passed by 59 for, 1 against, and 2 abstentions)

LiveBlog, Tweet of the Special Assembly

2010-02-28T18:40:00.000-06:00

http://twitter.com/samuelhenderson

If you would like to follow what is going on at the Feb. 28th Special Assembly. It's a doozy.

Special Assembly Feb. 28th Agenda

2010-02-25T03:53:00.000-06:00

THE ASSEMBLY OF SHIMER COLLEGE

AGENDA FOR THE SPECIAL MEETING OF FEBRUARY 28, 2010

I Resolution, motivated by the Agenda Committee

Resolved:

Whereas the Board of Trustees adopted a statement called a
“mission statement,” written by President Thomas Lindsay, on February
19, 2010;

Whereas this statement is without the support of the faculty,
the students, the administrative staff, or the vast majority of alumni
who have addressed it, and is upheld only by 18 out of 34 Trustees;

Whereas the Assembly by overwhelming majority and the Faculty
unanimously have voted to retain the current mission statement at
least for the time being;

Whereas the statement approved by the Board does not meet the
criterion of the College’s academic accreditor, the Higher Learning
Commission, that “Understanding of and support of the mission pervade
the organization” (Accreditation Criterion 1c);

Whereas the statement, unlike all other mission statement
proposals, was never submitted to the Self-Study Group, or brought to
the Assembly, but was sent exclusively to Trustees, and only five days
before they were to vote on it;

Whereas the statement was approved by the Board under threat by
a major donor, delivered one day before the Board plenary, that
funding would cease if the statement were not adopted;

Whereas shortly before the Board plenary President Lindsay urged
the Trustees on the Executive Committee to resign if they would not
vote for his statement, and told another Trustee that he would “have
to go” or words to that effect if he did not vote for his statement;
and,

Whereas the statement was voted on by the Board without the
customary notification of a vote in the meeting agenda, after only 75
minutes of consideration, and without observance of equal time for
those opposed;

Therefore,

The Assembly of Shimer College does not recognize the legitimacy
or authority of this so-called “mission statement.”

II Resolution, motivated by the Agenda Committee

Resolved:

The Assembly declares that it has no confidence in the ability
of President Thomas Lindsay to lead Shimer College.

III Announcement from the Agenda Committee regarding future mission
statement proposals.

IV Other announcements

[The Assembly will convene at 4 PM in Cinderella Lounge.]

Special Meeting of the Assembly to Take Place::::Sunday, February 28, starting at 4 pm, in the Cinderella Lounge.

2010-02-23T23:52:00.001-06:00

Citizens of Shimer College,

A special unscheduled meeting of the Assembly will take place this Sunday, February 28, starting at 4 pm, in the Cinderella Lounge. The Agenda Committee is convening the Assembly in response to requests from throughout the community for an emergency meeting after the Board of Trustees plenary last Saturday. The agenda for the meeting will be published shortly and no later than tomorrow.

Because of the special nature of this meeting there will be no approval of minutes or committee reports, though time will be set aside for announcements. It is not clear how lengthy this meeting will be, but, given the importance of the issues before us, members are asked to prepare to stay late if need be.

Members who are unable to attend the meeting but who would like to address the Assembly may send written messages to the Speaker and they will be forwarded to the membership. In keeping with Assembly precedent, in the interest of saving time, and to avoid preferential recognition of absent members, such messages will not be read or distributed during the meeting. For prior distribution, they must be received no later than Saturday, 9 pm cst, but the Committee cannot guarantee all messages will be disseminated if their number turns out to be overwhelming.

Since Sunday’s will be an unscheduled meeting, we cannot say with assurance that it will be webcast, as prior meetings have been, but preparations are being made for online access, and, if the meeting will be available on the internet, website information will be disseminated to members of the community. Please bear in mind that, according to the Constitution of the Assembly, only members present may address the Assembly, vote, or introduce motions.

Both Trustees and alumni are members of the Assembly, though alumni are not voting members. Since it is not possible to send this message to all alumni, those who are recipients should feel free to forward it to alumni whom they know are planning to attend. The Committee, on behalf of the internal community, welcomes Trustees, alumni, and all other members to the meeting.

Albert B Fernandez

Speaker of the Assembly
For the Agenda Committee
(Simon Creek, Jim Donovan, Meg Nelson)

Letter from the Faculty to the Board Re Mission Statement Changes

2010-02-23T23:40:00.002-06:00

The Faculty supports unanimously the Assembly's recent vote to uphold the current mission statement of Shimer College. In doing so we confirm and uphold our responsibility for the College's mission itself: in word, education.

The Faculty and Assembly together, rather than President Lindsay by himself, have the standing to define the College's mission. As Chris Nelson recently wrote, the Faculty and Assembly have for decades labored against "almost insuperable challenges" to save the College itself and greatly enrich its incomparable instructional program. But President Lindsay turns his back to this history, revealing just days ago a proposed mission statement restating "guideposts" that have been resoundingly rejected by the internal community and alumni both.

More trying still, President Lindsay presumes to use his mission statement as a test of the Faculty's continuing commitment to the College. He has indicated to us that if the Board adopts his statement, he would ask us individually to confirm our support of it. The implied alternative was to seek employment elsewhere. Let us be clear: we reject with one voice such tests of our loyalty to Shimer College or to President Lindsay.

President Lindsay has maintained that he wants only to clarify the College's mission, not to change it. An unsympathetic redrafting of the entire mission statement is not a clarification. Further, his intransigent insistence on the rightness of his views on education, even in the face of months of considerate attempts to qualify them and to offer alternatives, only betrays how little he understands or adheres to the College's principles for cooperative dialogue.

Such betrayals strike at the heart of our educational mission. Students complain rightly that they are admonished just to study, while their studious efforts to defend and clarify their sense of the College's mission are repeatedly dismissed. And we hear more and more from alumni troubled by the lack of harmony gripping an institution they helped build on mutual support. For our part, the Faculty has grown increasingly dismayed at the President's and even Board's seeming relunctance to affirm our necessary authority over the College's core educational program and to assure the security and freedom we must have to protect and enhance it.

We understand entirely the Board's need to support the powers necessary to the President. But to define the College's mission unilaterally and without board approval is not one of these powers. We therefore state again our unanimous backing of the Assembly's present will to uphold the current mission statement. And we trust the Board will help in enlisting President LIindsay to this bgeneral will for the greater and lasting good of the College.

The Faculty of Shimer College

[version circulated at 2/23 SSA meeting]

What the Hell Just Happened

2010-02-23T23:39:00.000-06:00

"What the hell just happened?!"

On the afternoon of February 20th, in a discussion circle hastily formed by students outside the IIT meeting room in which the Shimer College Board of Trustees had just decided, by a narrow vote of 18 to 16, to adopt President Lindsay's whole-cloth rewrite of the mission statement, Jack Garvin ('12) - part of a peaceful protest of over 60 students and alums there to challenge this eventuality - in exasperation, asked this question.

Given the circumstances, it's a really good question. Despite overwhelming support from the Assembly, a powerful letter from a unanimous Shimer faculty supporting the Assembly's affirmation of the current mission statement, as well as a petition from both students and alumni in support of the current mission statement, a determined faction of the Board voted against community consensus, instead adopting the clearly unpopular, hastily drafted, last-minute whole-cloth rewrite of Shimer's mission statement by President Tom Lindsay.

What the hell just happened, you ask? Well, here's our answer.

1. October 2009: Mr. Lindsay offers his "guideposts on the mission" in an hour-long lecture to the internal community. Though it's billed as a "discussion," questions are not welcomed.
2. February 3, 2010: Mr. Lindsay met with the Shimer community and respectfully disagreed with faculty, staff, students and alumni about what the mission of the College is (see notes here).
3. February 7, 2010: The Shimer College Assembly considers several alternative mission statements and votes overwhelmingly to affirm the current one. Since Mr. Lindsay had only submitted "guideposts", the Assembly could not vote specifically on his proposed mission statement.
4. February 8, 2010: Noting the "soft conviction" of the [unanimous] Assembly on behalf of the current mission statement, "Bud" Vesta - a Lindsay trustee nominee from 2009 - sends an open letter to Lindsay and the Board asking Mr. Lindsay to draft a rewrite of the Shimer mission for consideration by the Board at their plenary meeting of February 20.
5. February 15, 2010: Mr. Lindsay submits his whole-cloth rewrite of the Shimer mission statement to the Board via email. The Assembly doesn't have a chance to respond to it. As per Lindsay's own strategic plan, it is not formally scheduled for a vote until the May 2010 Board meeting.
6. February 19, 2010: A day before the plenary meeting of the Board, Patrick Parker - the chair of the hiring committee which forced Lindsay's hire despite overwhelming internal community resistance in 2008 - claims that there exists a legally-binding grant document that was supposedly signed by Dean David Shiner and [former president] Bill Rice in 2006, according to which Shimer MUST rewrite its mission statement to include the terms "Great Books of the Western Canon", "Socratic method" and "Hutchins curriculum" by April 10, 2010. Though Dean Shiner does not acknowledge this claim and Parker cannot produce this document, Parker uses this as a pretense for forcing a vote on the issue at the February 20 plenary session of the Board.
7. February 20, 2010: The Board, by a narrow vote of 18 to 16, adopts Mr. Lindsay's whole-cloth rewrite of the Shimer College mission statement.

"What the hell just happened?" The short answer: Snake oil, a la Lindsay. What's gonna happen next? Stay tuned. Like Aristotle says, "This shit ain't over yet."

Shimer Student Union Blog

2010-01-27T20:47:00.003-06:00

Hi All!

I am pleased to announced that the students of Shimer College have formed what we are currently calling the "Shimer Student Union." The Shimer Student Union is a group of concerned students dedicated to playing an active and instrumental role in preserving and furthering Shimer College's ethos and democracy. In order to be a more powerful force than we were in the proceedings of the last board meeting and in general, we are formally outlining goals and tactics, gathering allies, reaching out to media outlets, disseminating information, and preparing in such a way that the voice of the students can no longer be ignored.

Join us! For private, member-only discussions, submit a request to join our Google Group. And for the latest news and commentary written by solely us students, visit the Shimer Student Union Blog.

Thank you for your care and concern.

--Jonathan Timm, Class of 2011

Letter to Shimerians Regarding By-Laws Changes

2009-11-20T19:09:00.002-06:00

Via Karen Stabler,

This is a letter sent out by Dave Shiner explaining by-laws changes that were adopted by the assembly in 2008.

Dear Shimerian,

There appears to be some misunderstanding about the current constitutional roles and powers of the Board and the Assembly, especially with respect to changes that were approved by those bodies of the College in the spring of 2008. In the interest of helping to clarify these matters, I crafted the message below and sent it to the Board of Trustees last week. The faculty discussed governance issues at today's faculty meeting, as a result of which I was asked to forward that message to the entire Shimer community. So here it is, with very slight modifications. If you're interested in governance issues, you should find it helpful. Comments are welcome.

David Shiner

****

Dear Board Member,

In my remarks last Friday night concerning recent changes to Shimer's governance structure in general and to the By-Laws of the Board of Trustees in particular, I mentioned that it is difficult to summarize those changes briefly. In this email I'd like to offer a bit more background information so as to obviate any future misunderstandings.

On the basis of some statements made during last weekend's Board meetings, it might be thought that the changes in Shimer's governance that took effect last year, particularly with respect to the revisions of the By-Laws approved by the Board in 2008, marked a revision from democratic self-governance to a chief executive model. That would be a considerable
overstatement, albeit a somewhat understandable one given the time constraints that the Board faced last weekend. In point of fact, the formal changes approved in May 2008 were quite focused, although also significant.

The Board By-Laws already recognized the President as Chief Executive Officer of the College; the Assembly Constitution stated that, if there were to be any conflict between its strictures and those of the Board By-Laws, the By-Laws took precedence. However, each document had developed over the years in such a manner that there were some inconsistencies between them,
and there was growing concern that such lack of clarity would lead to confusion and ineffective decision-making.

For those reasons, Interim President Ron Champagne recommended and spearheaded the composition of a Task Force in early 2008 to study both documents and to recommend changes to the respective bodies. That Task
Force, on which I served, consisted of Board members and internal members of the Shimer community. Its agenda was set and its meetings moderated by Glenda Eeyong, an alumna of St. John’s College and a member of their Board of Visitors and Governors, who had previously facilitated a similar conversation at St. John’s as they amended their governance structure.

The express charge of the Task Force was, in Glenda's words, "to identify and resolve inconsistencies between the Assembly Constitution and the Board By-Laws for Shimer." In so doing, the Task Force was expected to explore the foundations of effective decision-making and action and to help clarify
the roles and responsibilities in the decision-making process for the Board, the Assembly, and the Executive Management Team (that is, the President and upper-level administrators).

The formal changes recommended by the Task Force and subsequently approved by both the Board and the Assembly included responsibility for (1) hiring and firing and (2) preparation and submission of the annual budget to the
Finance Committee of the Board. Prior to 2008, the Assembly Constitution recognized the Administrative Committee of the Assembly as responsible for the former and the Budget Committee of the Assembly as responsible for the
latter. With respect to effective decision-making, the Task Force concluded that it would be best if those roles were expressly given to the President in all College-wide documents. It was therefore recommended that the Assembly Constitution be amended so that those committees became advisory to
the President with respect to those roles, and that the Board By-Laws be amended to reflect the consultative role of those committees on those matters. The Assembly approved those changes in April 2008, and the Board approved them the following month.

Several other changes were approved by each body at that time, although those were restricted to matters of internal consistency or insubstantial revision. Otherwise the Board By-Laws and the Assembly Constitution remained unchanged; the powers of the Board, the President, and the Assembly
generally remained as they had been prior to 2008 with the exception of the revisions mentioned above.

As a concrete example of what changed and what did not, I will offer the example of the hiring of an upper-level administrator. At any time from many years ago until last spring, the Shimer President would have recommended a candidate and a proposed salary within the salary structure set by the Administrative Committee of the Assembly. The Administrative Committee would have made the final decision on both. In April 2008, as mentioned above, the Assembly voted to amend the description of the Administrative Committee so that some parts of the domain of its former powers became advisory only. The first paragraph of the description of the committee in the Assembly Constitution now reads as follows:

"The Administrative Committee is responsible for advising and counseling the President and the Executive Team regarding the supervision, direction, and management of the College on matters including, but not limited to, the hiring of new non-academic administrators and the setting of policies and
practices. It is also responsible for setting salary policy for
non-academic staff members."

The import of this is clear: the Administrative Committee advises on hiring choices (first sentence), but it sets college policy on salary structure (second sentence). Given this, the President must consult with the Administrative Committee (among others) concerning hiring of an upper-level administrator, but is authorized to make the final decision even if the committee recommends otherwise.

With respect to salary, on the other hand, the President is expected to abide by the College’s salary policy as set by the Administrative Committee. The President is of course welcome to make a recommendation contrary to that policy, but the Administrative Committee must approve it before the President is authorized to proceed with a salary offer. If it does not do so, the President's offer must be within the salary structure approved by the Administrative Committee.

I hope that this brief synopsis has shed some light on the nature of governance at Shimer. I cordially invite all who are able to attend the Assembly meeting that will take place in the Cinderella Lounge at Shimer at 4 PM Sunday, November 15. Also, if you do not have a copy of the current Assembly Constitution and would like one, please let me know and I'll send it to you as an email attachment.

David Shiner
Dean of the College"

Background on Newly Appointed Board Members

2009-11-19T07:22:00.001-06:00

This is information, originally from Michael Sussman, posted by Eric Badger and reposted with his permission. Michael took some time to look into the board members whose letters have been posted and which were read during the Nov. 15, 2009 Assembly.

The below comment was posted on my page by Michael Sussman. In a further effort to provide evidence for the current concerns, I'm reposting it here.

I'll just mention, for context, that Patrick Parker was the chair of the Board committee that hired Lindsay. At the time, I was told by other members of the committee that he pushed hard for Lindsay's hire, neglecting other applications, and both passively and actively ignoring the opinions of others on the committee as well as the overwhelming disapproval of the internal community.

As for the others who sent these messages, they are ALL brand new Lindsay appointees, none of them having more than a 6 months experience of Shimer. Pointedly, this means that NONE of them are speaking from experience when they interpret the May 2008 Constitution & By-Law revisions.

erik
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, this is disheartening. The repeated use of the word "dysfunctional" in 4 of the 6 opinions expressed here makes these sound more like previously agreed talking points than sincere dialogue.

A little googling for background on some of these folks also proved somewhat disturbing:

Patrick Parker, the "second largest financial supporter" is also the president of the Aequus Institute, whose purpose is to promote free market economics and Christian Science teachings. He's also done quite a bit of work for the Department of Defense.... Read More

Bob Chitester is President and CEO of Free to Choose Media, a company dedicated to producing films ranging from an exoneration of Milton Friedman's free market economic theories to documentaries attempting to debunk global warming which feature Exxon-Mobil funded scientists.

Carson Holloway, a political science professor at U Nebraska, is a contributing author to the hard-right National Review Online and given lectures to the authoritarian Family Research Council concerning the immorality of sexual freedom. He's also published books concerning the "moral failure of Darwinism".

Matthew Franck, a political science professor at Radford, is also a contributing author of National Review Online where he argues against gay marriage, abortion, and the general "leftist agenda".

Michael McDonald, General Counsel for the NEH, also founded the conservative law firm Center for Individual Rights (CIR), which litigates affirmative action cases and defends public funding for religious groups. They also were involved with the US vs. Morrison case, in which a female Virginia Tech student claimed several football players had raped her...CIR represented one of the football players. Former staff of CIR includes the prestigious Ann Coulter.

Shimer, what kind of company have you been keeping lately?

An attempt to Summarize Recent Events at Shimer

2009-11-19T00:00:00.000-06:00

An attempt to Summarize Recent Events at Shimer

I'm trying to quote people where appropriate, and I may not have all of the information, so do feel free to post comments or corrections for any or all of this information.

As was previously stated by Denise Lane, part of the current issue is:

"Tom Lindsay wants to remake the college and his tactics frighten me."

The frightening tactics are essentially firings and hirings without considering input from the Administrative Committee.

Lack of interest in participating in active dialogue regarding things happen at Shimer.

Proposed changes to the Mission statement (Shimer Mission Statements Past and Present) to move away from active participation and informed decisions and towards something that is not really clear (proposed Mission statement).

Disinterest or unwillingness to participate in the Assembly, or a clear disregard for self-governance in any form at Shimer.

Much of what has happened prior to Nov. 15 was in some way agreed upon by the board in slim majorities. A small group of board members are also interpreting the by-laws in such a way that the Assembly is either obsolete or unimportant to the future of Shimer. (Letters from the Board)

Students and faculty have organized. In the instant of the firing of the former admission's director the faculty formally protested.

"To make matters worse, the President declined to subsequently explain his action, pleading liability exposure. The Faculty formally protested, but the reaction of the Board to the Faculty's protest I think can be objectively described as a dismissal." -Albert Fernandez

Further there are troubling movements on the Shimer board, being described as a crisis.

"Which leads me to the second large feature of the current crisis at Shimer. There is now an undetermined number of new Trustees on the Board who know little about Shimer and who look upon shared governance as an impediment to efficient, corporate management..." -Albert Fernandez

To address the immediate concerns about the Shimer Mission and the Role of the Assembly the Nov. 15, 2009 Assembly had three motions in favor of the current mission statement and to strength both the mission of the college and the role of the Assembly. The Assembly was attended by students, faculty, staff, and Alumni of the school. Some board members were in attendance. Mr. Lindsey sent his regrets but chose not to attend and submitted no remarks to be read to the assembly. There were other board members who were not in attendance. Several did submit letters to the assembly. (Letters from the board will be provided in a separate post.)

The results of the assembly were the passage of the following resolutions: (Thanks to Eric Badger)

RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED AND MOTION PASSED BY THE SHIMER COLLEGE ASSEMBLY ON NOVEMBER 15, 2009

I.Resolution addressed to the Board of Trustees: The Assembly of Shimer College: Welcomes and accepts the invitation of the Chair of the Board to dialogue with the Board of Trustees regarding the governance of the College, Thanks all the members of the Board of Trustees for their ongoing service to Shimer College, and looks forward to working collaboratively with them, and Urges the Trustees and the President to respect the moral authority of the Faculty and of the Assembly, as the embodiment of the College’s democratic ethos.

II. The Assembly of Shimer College adopts the following declaration: DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES OF SHARED GOVERNANCE AT SHIMER COLLEGE

III. Be it known that shared governance at Shimer College, and the authority and powers of the Assembly in particular, are based, first, on the history of the College... on ideas and values central to liberal education, to academic freedom, and to our curriculum; on innumerable precedents and public statements over the course of the last four decades; and, further, on the following specific constitutional and other official documents. (Full Resolutions passed)

In all, it's been an amazingly busy week at Shimer. Reports are that the Faculty and Students are demoralized by what is going on. The largest problem with this is that a student body that is miserably unhappy is not one that is going to bring in new students, or have any interest in the continuation of Shimer College. Long term these events could be seriously damning.

From Alumni, some students, and with some support, some of the following actions have been proposed or considered:

Raising money to provide a new board member to Shimer from the recent Alumni group (Waukegan Alums in particular)

Discontinuing all donations until Lindsey has been replaced.

Collecting a donation pool that is held until Lindsey has been removed.

A petition for those interested in providing legal representation for the Assembly (should it come down to a real fight between President, small majority of the board, and the assembly).

So that is a quick overview of what is happening. More on what we can do, how we can participate, and actions to be taken will hopefully be coming.

Resolutions Passed at Nov. 15, 2009 Assembly

2009-11-18T23:51:00.000-06:00

I.Resolution addressed to the Board of Trustees:
The Assembly of Shimer College:

Welcomes and accepts the invitation of the Chair of the Board to dialogue with the Board of Trustees regarding the governance of the College,

Thanks all the members of the Board of Trustees for their ongoing service to Shimer College, and looks forward to working collaboratively with them, and

Urges the Trustees and the President to respect the moral authority of the Faculty and of the Assembly, as the embodiment of the College’s democratic ethos.

II. The Assembly of Shimer College adopts the following declaration:

DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES OF SHARED GOVERNANCE AT SHIMER COLLEGE
1.All members of the Shimer College community--which embraces students, faculty, trustees, administrative staff, and alumni—have a stake in the identity and future of the College. They have both a right and a responsibility to participate in its governance and direction to the best of their ability.
2.All of the constituencies of the College are entitled to fair and adequate access to, and to means of influencing, the upper-level decision makers and governance bodies of the College.
3.It is an integral part of education at Shimer College, which requires participation in a “Great Conversation” that addresses far more than the particular concerns of the student, that students actively concern themselves with the welfare of the College community and of broader communities.
4.Shimer College recognizes and appreciates the value of experience, education, and expert knowledge in the making of decisions, in reaching them expeditiously, and in the general management of the College. Democratic governance does not mean that all decisions are to be made by plebiscite.
5.Decisions that substantially influence the identity, ethos, or future of the College are to be reached, even when the consent of others is not constitutionally required, after adequate consultation and discussion insofar as possible, and in accordance with the dialogal traditions of the College and the processes set forth in its constitutional documents.
6.To be worthy of the name, consultation must be in good faith and never merely perfunctory. It should involve persons who hold diverse opinions, and it should include honest explanation and full discussion of points of disagreement.
7.The mere general invocation of peril to the College, including legal liability exposure, is not a justification for decisions or conduct that violate the letter or spirit of its ethical norms or constitutional processes. When such peril or exposure actually exists, measures can and should be taken to protect the College while respecting its shared governance. The nature of the invoked threat should be explained as specifically as the welfare of the College permits.

The Assembly of Shimer College
November 15, 2009

III.
Be it known that shared governance at Shimer College, and the authority and powers of the Assembly in particular, are based, first, on the history of the College, which testifies to the devotion and sacrifice of ordinary community members—students as well as faculty--who made it possible for the College to endure against odds; on ideas and values central to liberal education, to academic freedom, and to our curriculum; on innumerable precedents and public statements over the course of the last four decades; and, further, on the following specific constitutional and other official documents:
The Mission Statement of Shimer College
The Constitution of the Shimer College Assembly
The Bylaws of the Board of Trustees, Article V:4
The May 15, 2008 resolution of the Board of Trustees concerning the Assembly.
The 2008 Shimer Strategic Plan
The Ethics Statement of Shimer College
The Constitution of the Shimer College Faculty
The Shimer College Student Handbook
The Board Expectations of the Shimer College President, Expectation 6, from the fall of 2008
The accreditation criteria of the Higher Learning Commission, June 2009.

IV.
The Assembly instructs the Speaker to address and disseminate the resolutions adopted on this day to all the constituencies of Shimer College, including Trustees and alumni.

Letters From the Board Read at Assembly

2009-11-18T23:50:00.001-06:00

The following messages were sent to Albert Fernandez, Speaker of the Assembly, in advance of last Sunday's Assembly with requests that they be read at the meeting.

NB: As one Trustee present at the meeting made clear: these emails do not represent the Board's opinion; they are the opinions of the named individual Trustees.

Erik

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Albert,

I understand that the Shimer Assembly will meet tomorrow afternoon to consider the Collegeís governance. Because it will not be possible for me to attend the meeting, I would be most grateful if you would read aloud the brief remarks on the subject that Iíve written below, at the earliest appropriate point in the discussion, so that they may become a formal part of the Assemblyís record. Thank you very much.

Yours,

Michael McDonald

Dear Colleagues,

I write as a member of the Shimer Board of Trustees to express my dismay that the Shimer Assembly is meeting today apparently to re-open--yet again--the matter of the Collegeís governance. Indeed, I understand that certain members of the Assembly may even plan to introduce measures to reinstitute the participatory model of decision-making that is no longer in effect and that the Board rightly discarded eighteen months ago because of its deleterious effect upon the Collegeís academic, administrative and financial management. I would hope this is not the case; but if it is, I am genuinely amazed.

As you are well aware, Board of Trustee voted overwhelmingly one month ago to reaffirm the May 2008 changes to the By-Laws that ended the previous, dysfunctional mode of governance at Shimer. That should have settled the matter. And yet some among the faculty and staff seem bent on willfully misunderstanding, and obscuring to the Shimer community, what occurred at those meetings. Their obstinate refusal to accept those decisions will only result in continuing student confusion and demoralization. The Collegeís survival depended on enacting the May 2008 By-law changes and the Board acted wisely in making them. It is time to move on.

Sincerely,

Michael McDonald

_________________________________________________________________
From: Franck, Matthew J
Sent: Saturday, November 14, 2009 8:46 PM
To: a.fernandez@shimer.edu
Subject:

Dear Albert,

I so wish that I could be there tomorrow for the College Assembly with Shimer's faculty and students, but I'm afraid it's impossible. This is an important moment in the College's history. As you'll recall, at the October board meeting, an important resolution was passed, clarifying the respective roles of the Assembly and the College's President in making certain pivotal decisions that set the College's direction. While equivocal and ambiguous language remains in the Bylaws regarding "consultation" by the President with the Assembly in making personnel decisions, those same Bylaws since the spring of 2008 have unequivocally and unambiguously affirmed the "authority" of the President to make those decisions according to his own untrammeled judgment. Since you are one of the College board members representing the faculty, I trust you will convey the message of the board's confirmation of these internal governance principles to the Assembly tomorrow in your capacity as Speaker. It is never pleasant to be the bearer of a decision that went otherwise than we could have wished (as I know all too well as a faculty member and department chairman myself), but sometimes it is our duty to speak for an authoritative institutional decision even though it would not have been our choice had it been our own decision to make. I know that you will dutifully comport yourself as the Speaker of the Assembly tomorrow in clarifying this matter, as the board majority decided it, at tomorrow's Assembly meeting. I would be very much in your debt if you could read this message to our colleagues and students in the Assembly, and carry my warm greetings to them all. Many thanks.

Matt Franck

________________________________________________________________
From: Carson L Holloway
Sent: Saturday, November 14, 2009 9:39 PM
To: a.fernandez@shimer.edu
Subject: Shimer Assembly

Professor Albert Fernandez
Speaker of the Assembly
Shimer College

Dear Professor Fernandez,

I regret that I am unable to attend the meeting of the Shimer Assembly scheduled for November 15. I would be most grateful, however, if you could read the following remarks to the Assembly during its meeting:

I understand that there are continued efforts among some Shimer faculty and staff to contend for, and to propagate among the students, an understanding of College governance that is contrary to the plain meaning of the By-Laws, as revised in May of 2008, and to the Board of Trustees resolution of October 15, 2009. I understand the strong commitment that some may hold for a mode of self-governance to which they were long accustomed. Nevertheless, I think it must be admitted that if Shimer College had long operated under such governance, it is equally true that it had also only barely survived under such governance, and that its continued existence under such governance was gravely questionable. The proven dysfunctionality of the old governance structure was precisely why the Board of Trustees voted in 2008 to amend the By-Laws.

I think that further agitation of this question by faculty and staff is not only useless but a positive detriment to the institution. Quite apart from the fact that an institution so continually roiled by such political skirmishing will have a difficult time attracting students and therefore will imperil its own future survival, such behavior harms the College at its heart right now. Shimer's core mission is to provide students with a liberal education through the study of the great books. The fulfillment of this mission is the greatest good that Shimer can offer to its students and, through them, to the community at large. The pursuit of this education is not only the faculty and students' primary responsibility, it is also the most humane and enriching use of their time and energy, which they should jealously guard for this purpose above all. Time for study and thought is short and therefore precious, and it should not be wasted in meddling with the efforts of the College administration, whose only aim is to preserve and enhance the environment in which such study can take place.

I myself learn about and teach the great books at an institution of higher learning, and I try to resist all administrative impositions on my time, because they take me away from my primary work. I willingly consent to particpate in governance, however, when I see that such service can enable others to pursue the kind of studies to which I want to dedicate most of my own time. That is precisely why I agreed to be on the Shimer Board of Trustees. Shimer is almost unique in its commitment to great books education. For that reason it deserves to be saved and to prosper. Further political action on the part of faculty and staff does not help to support the extension of Shimer's mission into the future, and it in fact distracts from that mission in the present. Accordingly, I urge everyone to accept the governance structure that the Board of Trustees has adopted, to pursue their intellectual endeavors will all possible vigor, and to support President Lindsay in his efforts to build up the College.

Thank you for your attention and for your commitment to Shimer.

Carson Holloway

Carson Holloway
Associate Professor of Political Science
275 Arts and Sciences Hall
University of Nebraska at Omaha

_________________________________________________________________

From: Bob Chitester
Sent: Sunday, November 15, 2009 11:38 AM
To: 'Albert Fernandez'
Subject: November 15 Assembly meeting

Albert,

I'm still trying to get acquainted with how Shimer is organized, but if I'm correct as Speaker of the Assembly, you will "chair" tomorrow's meeting. I also understand the Assembly will consider a "resolution(s)" with regard to Shimer College Governance.

Since I cannot attend, but feel students and faculty should know the position of Trustees, would you please be so kind as to read this statement into the record of the meeting.

"It was my understanding when I agreed to serve as a Trustee, that I was being asked to help restore Shimer College to its standing as an exemplar of the "Great Books" model of higher education. At the last Trustees' meeting questions were raised about the respective role of the Trustees, the President, the Faculty and the Students. I was surprised to learn that despite the recent By-Laws change there was still a perception that governance of the College was a communal and consensual process. That is not what I understand, that is not what the Trustees affirmed at our last meeting and that is not how any great institution of higher learning that I am aware of is organized. If Shimer College is to rise to prominence as a Great Books college such concepts must to set aside and the Trustees have so voted."

best,

Bob Chitester
___________________________________________________________________

Advocating personal, economic, and political freedom through state-of-the-art media.

Dear Albert,
I am in the uncharacteristic position of having to register a concern about something with which I am only recently acquainted. But after receiving the Assembly agenda for this afternoon the other day, I feel I must so I send this hurried comment to you now with the request that in my regrettable but unavoidable absence from the Assembly today, you will read this note to the Assembly in my stead.

It seems clear to me that faculty and students at Shimer are still intent on challenging the changes to the by-laws made by the board last year and affirmed in our October 2009 meeting. It is disheartening to see from todayís Assembly agenda that the issue is still considered, by some, to be a matter of discussion and, furthermore, to see that this ìdiscussionî continues to foster a culture of dissension at the college.

The value of the way that the Shimer community felt called upon to support and govern itself those years ago when the college was at risk of closing is not in question. Noble sacrifices kept the college from extinction; like a monastery in the middle ages, it was preserved for the future. But in spite of the high regard with which some still hold this manner of governing, the self-governance that developed then was a response to a crisis and was not a re-founding of the nature of the institution. The college needs to move out of what amounts now to an unnecessary mode of self-defense if it is to recall its true founding as a Great Books, liberal arts college. No organism or institution of any kind can thrive if it remains in one stage of being, and Shimer must grow into its future by growing beyond this form of governance which has clearly become a dysfunction of the community rather than a function of the college.

I urge the Shimer community to work together to grow into this future. Although familiar ways and notions must be altered nowóand this is always painful to doóthe changes that have been made by the board are going to secure the true future of the college, not cause its demise.

It may seem disingenuous, here, for me to say thank you for your dedication to Shimer, but I do so, nonetheless. It was your diligent oversight that kept Shimer safe for a future. I ask you all now to let that future begin.

With sincere regard,

Claudia Allums, Ph.D.
Associate Director
The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture
2719 Routh Street
Dallas, Texas 75201
___________________________________________________________________

Dear Albert,

I have received the agenda for tomorrowís Assembly meeting and am deeply disturbed by it.

The lengthy deliberations last year which resulted in serious revisions of the Shimer bylaws, left no room for ambiguity as to the implications of the revisions.

Without these changes I do not believe that Shimer would be alive today. They were aimed at making a dysfunctional and wasteful management scheme more effective. They were necessary to raise the funds that are still keeping Shimer alive. The main appeal of Shimer to donors is the Great Books curriculum and the obvious excellence of the Shimer classroom experience. It is not the Shimer governance that evolved in Waukeegan.

The Assembly agenda clearly indicates that the changes in the bylaws were not accepted by some of the faculty and are being misrepresented to the rest of the Shimer community. Fifty years ago I watched Shimer self-destruct over a similar, and to my mind totally unnecessary, upheaval.

As a Shimer alumnus and lover of the Great Books ideal, and also as Shimerís second largest financial supporter, I think that the obvious disaffection of some members of the community is imperiling Shimerís future and our ability to raise the funds necessary to keep the doors open. Like me, Shimerís largest supporter is a graduate of the Hutchins Great Books curriculum. We and other supporters do what we do to advance the educational ideal for which Shimer uniquely stands, and to see Shimer survive and prosper. We expect, in return for our support, that the rest of the community will do its job, i.e. for the teachers to teach, the students to learn, and the managers to manage.

If the Shimer community is going to waste its time and resources on unproductive, wasteful, and destructive internal bickering, you have a duty to let us know. Please read this to the Assembly.
With highest personal regard for you and for all you have done and continue to do for Shimer.

Patrick Parker

Proposed Mission Statment

2009-11-18T23:49:00.001-06:00

"Guideposts" for mission statement change by Pres. Tom Lindsay:

"Liberal education is an education for, through, and in liberty.

- 'For' - the highest freedom is the freedom of the mind, that is, freedom from bondage to unexamined assumptions (e.g., partisan politics, ideology, and political correctness).... Read More

- 'Through' - through close study and free, wide-ranging discussion of the greatest works of Western Civilization, students gain the depth and breadth essential to a free mind.

- 'In' - the practice of questioning the competing arguments of the greatest minds regarding life's most serious questions nurtures and, in time comes to embody the qualities of mind and character essential to intellectual
freedom.

In the course of examining the whole of existence, Shimer recognizes that, to be true to its quest, it must likewise examine its act of examining; that is, must explore the context in which its inquiry takes place. Accordingly,
Shimer studies the Founding documents -- the Declaration, U.S. Constitution, and The Federalist -- as well as the other original sources that both informed the Found and, later, reacted to it.

We at Shimer both acknowledge and appreciate the fact that the very possibility of an education for intellectual liberty depends on our being situated in a system of ordered political liberty such as we enjoy in American democracy."

Information Coming

2009-11-18T17:48:00.001-06:00

I'm working together on gather information and will post it as soon as possible, this afternoon in fact. In the meantime any current students or alumnae who would like to be added to the blog to contribute to this discussion, please send me an email at saradevil at gmail com and I will add you to the blog. It really does seem like this current debacle could be a lot more damning for Shimer long term than the move to Chicago.

I have said this before...

2009-11-16T15:40:00.004-06:00

I am an alumnae. I have a check in my hand for $100. For every month that goes by that Shimer keeps its old mission statement and fires/ demotes for any good reason, I will mail another such check to Shimer.

I'd like to see others join me.

Preparing for the worst

2009-11-16T00:58:00.004-06:00

Dear folks,

Shimerians interested in pursuing independent legal representation for the
Community are invited to send their info (name, year of graduation if
applicable, willingness to contribute funds, anything else that seems
pertinent) to concerned.shimerians@gmail.com. Communications will be kept in
absolute confidence, as far as legally possible. So far 26 have signed on.
Thanks to Dan Merchan for suggesting this originally, and to Katie Harrell
for helping with the signup sheets.

Nobody wants things to work out this way. It is with a very heavy heart
that I am holding on to the modest donation I had been planning to make this
month. I would look toward actual legal action against the Board (which is
to say, against the College as institution) with indescribable horror. And
it is unclear, at this juncture, what avenues might be available even if we
do pursue this. Nonetheless, until the President and Board show by words and deeds that they are prepared to enter
into a dialog of equals with the community, the college will be in mortal
danger of being reduced to a meaningless shell.

In case anyone is wondering what all the fuss is about, here are some choice
words from current Trustees, as contained in the handout distributed at the
Assembly:

"I was surprised to learn that despite the recent By-Laws change there was
still a perception that governance of the College was a communal and
consensual process." -- Bob Chitester

"It is disheartening to see from today's Assembly agenda that the issue is
still considered, by some, to be a matter of discussion and, furthermore, to
see that this 'discussion' continues to foster a culture of dissension at
the college." -- Claudia Allums

"I understand that certain members of the Assembly may even plan to
introduce measures to reinstitute the participatory model of decision-making
that is no longer in effect and that the Board rightly discarded eighteen
months ago..." -- Michael McDonald

"I understand that there are continued efforts among some Shimer faculty and
staff to contend for, and to propagate among the students, an understanding
of College governance that is contrary to the plain meaning of the
By-Laws..." -- Carson L Holloway

These people must be stopped.

Update: In response to some questions and concerns, let me clarify that any legal action (if any is possible) remains an extreme last resort. However, it is imperative that we be prepared to take this step if it is necessary. Much will depend on how (or if) the Board and President respond to the statements made by the Assembly.

Current Shimer Changes, Mission Statement, New President, etc

2009-11-13T20:22:00.001-06:00

Via Denise Lane:

Hello! I'm writing you to make sure you, as Shimer alumns, have heard about the current goings-on at the college. I'm worried about the state of the college, as are faculty, students, staff, and other alumns I've spoken to.

The college is at a crossroads, and if the current president, Tom Lindsay, has his way, some faculty and students are allegedly considering walking out.

THIS SUNDAY, November 15th at 4:00pm is an Assembly meeting at the College, which all alumns are invited to attend (we are a non voting part of the Assembly, which means we can speak). At this meeting the Ethos of the College is being defended against a true attempt to significantly alter Shimer's mission. If you are in the Chicago area and can attend - PLEASE DO. I have more specific info I can forward you, just let me know.

Tom Lindsay wants to remake the college and his tactics frighten me. He fired Elaine, the Head of Admissions, without discussing it with anybody in the community, and in my view, without showing proper cause. (Besides which she was being more successful at bringing in the numbers than Shimer has *ever* seen before.) This has current staff members fearing for their jobs.

He then replaced her with a woman who was a student at his past university, who does not have the experience to hold the job. Further, he hired her against the Committee of the Assembly who had thrown out her application twice.

Both Lindsay and his new hire are not participatory in the dialogical method of Shimer, meaning to say I've heard the current community is very frustrated with his lack of listening. This concern is also held by faculty members.

The Board of Trustees does not stop him because it has ballooned by a large addition of *his* friends. The Shimer faculty and students who are on the Board have been ignored and yelled at in the meetings.

Apparently he wants to "water down" the mission of Shimer, and this Sunday's assembly meeting has an agenda item to specifically strengthen the mission instead. Please attend this if you can. I know that current Board members are planning on attending, the voices of alumns (read, possible donors in their mind) mean a lot!

If you are interested in knowing more, I suggest you sign up for "Listen" the Shimer email list which any member can post to, there has been a lot of back and forth on these issues on there. Also the President and the Board of Trustees are on the list as well.

If you are interested in more info, let me know. Otherwise thanks for reading this long. I truly believe in Shimer and I don't want a Neo-Conservative stonewalling and taking over just because he and his friends have a lot of money. Please help.

Thanks!!
:D

For those Shimerians who need to get on to Listen to receive the emails: lists.shimer.edu choose the first "this", choose "listen", and create a logon. It will email a confirmation. Let me know if you have any problems.

One is not born

2008-02-02T05:00:00.000-06:00

http://chicagoist.com/2008/02/01/the_friday_flas_4.php

Ahem. Shown is a photograph of Simone De Beauvoir unclothed (one hesitates to say "naked") from behind. Even though I have settled down quite a bit in my old age, it is a lovely photograph and highlights the simple beauty of a healthy body.

Warning: if one is likely to be offended by the skin with which our gracious creator/ evolution has gifted us, or if your self-image is likely to be threatened when one does the math and finds out how old she is in this shot, you should probably not click the link.

Immanuel Kant was a real pissant...

2007-12-20T13:28:00.000-06:00

http://www.adelaide.edu.au/library/guide/hum/philosophy/philos_song.au

http://www.adelaide.edu.au/library/guide/hum/philosophy/philos_song.html

Some Points to Which to Get

2007-12-05T20:39:00.001-06:00

Well, anyway, some time after I graduated, I was living in an apartment in Hyde Park with some other former Shimerians and friends and working as a mailroom clerk at the Graduate School of Business of the University of Chicago. I was still in touch with friends who remained on the Mount Carroll campus and would frequently go out to visit on weekends. We knew right away when the first closing was announced. We knew right away when the announcement was rejected and wondered what we could do to help.

I thought maybe I could find something in the archived papers of William Rainey Harper relating to the Frances Shimer Academy that might be useful, so I looked. What was most useful was actually a volume from the main stacks at the Regenstein which was evidently issued in connection with the memorial service at the time of Frances Shimer's death. How I used it (or should I say: "How it used me"?) was to write a song about the struggles of Frances Ann Wood and her partner Cinderella Gregory to establish and maintain the Mount Carroll Seminary from the point of view of one of the locals. The song has never really been finished- I got about as far as the Civil War and then the words stopped flowing.

I played as much as I got, though, out in Mount Carroll at Frances Shimer's final resting place, at alumni gatherings, at Orange Horses at the old campus, in Waukegan, and now in the Cinderella lounge in the new IIT digs. I'm told that David Shiner has kept the song alive even in my absence, which I guess makes it a genuine folk song or something. I can't wait to hear what Lance Dyke does with it on the ukulele. After my performance at the Orange Horse on the new campus I was told by some stranger who had evidently participated in the recent move from Waukegan that I had no idea how much that song has meant to the community during this last transition.

Maybe, but the song and the chord it seems to strike in the hearts of many Shimer people point to my first point: THE CORE OF THE SHIMER EXPERIENCE IS NOT THE GREAT BOOKS, NOT THE DIALOGIC PEDAGOGY NOR THE COMPREHENSIVE CURRICULUM; THE CORE IS A COMMUNAL LOVE OF LEARNING. I emphasize the "a". There are many other communal loves of learning but Shimer's is that shared by individuals gathered into a specific community streatching back to Frances Ann Wood and Cinderella Gregory.

There is more to be elaborated on this point but it has gotten late and I am still a working stiff, so later. Right now I want to make sure I get my second point out, which is: I have often been told that I should record that song (and other fine tunes inspired by my studies at Shimer.) OK, well I'm willing and if we find someone who can record them for commercial distribution I'm quite willing to sign my cut over to the College. If the songs are as successful as they might be, perhaps some more of our fair share of prospective students would hear about us. Trouble is I'm never going to make the arrangements, myself, so somebody else would have to push the project through to completion. I'll try at least to get the songs online somehow so anybody out there who cares and knows how can make their own judgment about the merits of the proposal.

Some other quick points without support or argument.

Start an online Shimer Historical Society to archive and share documentation of the history
of Shimer and its curriculum. Include reminiscences from alums (and old journal entries)

Buy an island 0n Second Life, scale model all three campuses and conduct virtual classes.

Get some sleep.

Up to Speed

2007-12-04T02:22:00.001-06:00

I've just finished reading this whole blog from start to finish. I am impressed and disappointed not to have been reading it while it was being written. I'm tempted to offer as an excuse for not following the move more closely the fact that during the six months between July and December of 2005 I was undergoing chemotherapy three days out of every two weeks following the removal of most of my colon at the end of May. I know better, though.

Right now it's three in the morning. I'll be getting up at five to go to my job as interlibrary loan coordinator at Governors State University in University Park, Illinois. That's about as far south on the Metra Electric as Waukegan is north on Metra's North Line. (I should know- I don't drive: Waukegan is farther but they're both end of the line.) After an 8:30 to five day shuffling books and affiliated papers, including a lunchtime meeting of the Friends of the GSU Library Historical Society I'm trying to foment, I'll be meeting with the board of the South Suburban Heritage Association till passed ten. Shimer's got me pulling another all-nighter.

I graduated from Shimer the same year as Young Kim, 1973. Same year but maybe a few months earlier. I completed my coursework in three years, one in Oxford sandwiched between two in Mt. Carroll. Alas! The comprehensive wasn't offered until late in the following fall so I didn't get the degree until the February of my fourth year. I still claim to be an early extrant.

What gave me a jump was the placement exams and the preparation for them that I had gotten from my parents and my high school. My parents met at the University of Chicago in the late Hutchins era. They participated in one of the early Great Books Foundation's reading groups
and the kids of all their friends were our friends so we all grew up with the same books. And the parents all took an interest in what was going on in the schools. And our favorite teachers were all U of C graduates or spouses of U of C graduate students. So when I got to Shimer I was used to small group discussions of seminal texts. And while I found myself quite at home, it was not at last but still.

I came to Mt. Carroll in the aftermath of the GIS. There were still students around from the time of that catastrophic event, and we listened to their tales of the bygone glory days, and the Grotesque Internecine Struggle like ghost stories around the camp fire. Oh! would we had a blog such as this of that!

Anyway- I see that 5am is pressing closer and I'll have to break off soon and haven't gotten to any of my points. I've got some, really. I just had to put up something so Sara would know I was serious about getting permission to post.

also on 12/10/00

2007-11-13T10:26:00.000-06:00

i'm really out of sorts lately. i know, i write that a lot, but i mean it this time. it's the first time all semester that i've wanted to leave campus but somehow been mentally incapable of it. there were a million things i wanted to do in the city yesterday, and a million of things i wanted to do today, none of which i did.

i'm trying to figure out how much of this is because i'm working through that book, and how much of this is because it's the end of the semester. i got in an argument with my housemate about the FRIDGE, for christ's sake. there's never any room in it and i never buy any groceries because i know they won't fit, and she says it's because i'm too lazy to clean it out. (except she insists that when she said "you" she didn't mean me. or some shit.) i say that i don't like throwing out other people's stuff, and maybe if everybody else would stop taking up all the shelf space, the two of us who have NOTHING in there could buy a bag of apples every once in a while...anyways...

i finally finished my semester project, almost. we don't really have finals days at my school, some of the classes I'm in have final papers or exams (usu. take-home exams) so there's really not a big push for studying for finals. however, during writing week we either have to take Comprehensive Exams or do a semester project. There are only two comps, the basic comp and the area comp. I've already basic comped, and don't have to area comp until next semester. So all I have to do this week is work on my project. We're supposed to spend forty hours working on our projects, though most students don't...they call it (writing week) "drinking week and writing day." But we're not allowed to work for the school or rewrite papers or anything this week, and I do my best to try to spend all forty hours on it.

One semester, I did an analysis of religion and mysticism by having students fill out surveys about whether they believe in god or faeries, and analyzing the results. My first semester, I did a zine about my experience at college. Last semester, I wrote a huge (thirty or so page) essay about my friend who passed away on mother's day, and my reaction to it, and my thoughts about how the school was handling it.

This semester I'm doing the newsletter, and I'm almost done. I have an intro page, 4 pages of places to go and things to do in this lame-ass town, three pages of things to do in Evanston and Chicago.

There are also articles about the electives in our school, and how there are more Humanities electives than Soc. and Nat Sci. ones. I interviewed the Dean and two students and we tried to figure out why. There's one on the selection process for RA's, tutors, editors, etc. and it calls for open application processes from the school as well as students not selected being told the reasons why, with quotes from a student chosen as an RA, one not chosen, and the person who chose.

There's an article on housing disputes and conflict resolution, interviewing two dissatisfied people, one RA and the Housing Director. There's a rumor control section, which was fun, I went around and verified all the rumors going around, mostly false. There's an article I wrote about the enviro group and what we've done all semester, which was originally printed in a copy of the school paper that didn't quite make it into everybody's mailbox (they're doing an awful job this semester). I also interviewed the computer lab director (my boss) abt. new developments, and all the banks in the area about their accounts. There's stuff I copied from off of the walls in the dorms, a piece on detoxing with herbs, an article on doublecasting for the play, and one on the controversy of the tutor system in the school. I worked really hard on it!!

So far two students have offered to do columns if I keep doing it next semester, so I'm planning on it...part of it is that our school paper rarely has articles about things going on...but partially it's because I'm pissed that I didn't get picked as editor for the school paper this semester (even though I wrote for it a lot)...and I just think it's good to have a paper not officially sanctioned by the school.I'm tired...and hoping I can get my ass out to Chicago tomorrow instead of sitting around and whining about wanting to go and not going.

posted at

memories of Waukegan police

2007-11-13T10:22:00.001-06:00

Sunday, December 10, 2000

i was walking to this downtown association in my city to get some information for my project, and i'm being watched by this cop car. the cop is trailing me. i can feel his eyes on me as he drives by really slowly.

it's freezing out, and my shoes have holes, and i am walking in snow (i've staggered off the sidewalk now) and my toes are cold. so i pull my heavy brown coat that i hide behind even tighter against my skin.

then i realize he's probably going to think i have something on me.

i go to the store, get my info, and walk out. he's still there, sitting in his cop car. watching me.

i start to walk home, and about thirty seconds later, i hear a "hey you!"

"hey you!"

i turn around, with my short hair, with my thick coat, with my hemp shoes with the holes in them, trying to see who is yelling at me.

sure enough, it's that cop.

now he's waving me over, trying to get me to come over. well, it's a cop, i guess i have to go.

"can i ask you a question?" he finally says, after staring me down some more.
"um, yeah..."
"how old are you?"
"21"
"oh, really?? you look like you're about fifteen!! ha ha!! ha ha ha!!"
"eh heh."

i'm remembering all the verbal boundary-setting skills i learned and not feeling able to use any of them.
i'm wishing it wasn't a cop so i could tell him to fuck off. but he's got a gun and i've got an arrest record.
i'm remembering the articles i read in slingshot when i was in high school.
i want to ask him if he's detaining me.

instead i say,
"can i go?"

he says yeah and i have to make an effort to walk, instead of running.

posted at

just one more--Yael on Shakespeare

2007-11-12T22:25:00.000-06:00

I think this was from my first year, too--I took Eileen's Shakespeare class for 2.5 credits.

I'm really glad, first off, that we get to actually perform this and run lines as opposed to just reading/studying + discussing it. Although the discussion certainly clears up a lot of things in terms of who said what, what it means and some of the historical details I don't always pick up on...there is something drastically different between reading a line to understand it and reading a line to act it out and put in your own interpretation.

Since Shakespeare is, indeed, dead*...we don't know exactly how he expected the characters to be and even if we did, the actors might have played it differently than he had written it.

*and they didn't have Camcorders back then

In any case, I think it's just so interesting to analyze the depth of a character by hearing and seeing different interpretations of it.

Midsummer Night's Dream is funny with its whole ethereal/dream-like/"it's all an illusion" bent. There are some very serious issues brought up but the contrast between those issues and the light-hearted tone of the faeries.

From watching scene 1.2 performed I learned a lot abt... there was a LOT of humor I missed. Quince's role took on new life because suddenly words like "a lover, who killed himself most gallant for love" took on new meaning.

Bottom's humor was also even MORE evident in his over-eagerness to play every part.

Natalie as Flute was very funny as well but I think that's because of the casting. :)

Snug and Quince's interaction brought on new meaning with the part "You may do it extempore b/c it is NOTHING BUT ROARING."

There wasn't a whole ton of humor that I could have picked on in Oberon and Titania's part. What I learned from it was just how dramatic the two really are, and not faerie-like, and powerful. Oberon's jealousy (and how he was not used to getting what he wanted) was apparent.

The part with Helena and Hermia I didn't learn too much from because I already analyzed it for English-Speaking-Union. What I did pick up on was...

(okay, I'm getting bored typing this so it must be more boring reading it so I will stop now)

my first year at Shimer--journal entries

2007-11-12T22:02:00.000-06:00

I just found one of my old journals from Shimer and thought it'd be fun to post some excerpts. I had to xxxx out some names/events to protect the guilty. I left my typos, etc. intact. The () are added now.

August 29, 1998
Shimer is cooler than cool. It is also wacked. The ppl. are bold, imaginative, daring and somewhat crazy. After an annoying car trip - Eyal (my brother) ultimately stopping to help some womyn change their tires...when they were in a gas station and didn't need the help...meanwhile I'm running late and we left an hour later than I was supposed to - dad taking 1/2 hour to make some coffee, me waiting for mom who said the shower was hers at 7AM and I waited 'til 7:15 to ignore hr. We were supposed to leave @8, left @9.

Ran into the guy I thought was so cute...smoking a joint w/ a group of ppl. My "mentor" offered me some alcoholic beverage...I didn't think Shimer was a party school.

Met Brandi, finally...which was awes. The luncheon was great, wonderful food (vegetarian, too!) - a good speech by David Shiner on how nobody calls a textbook "great"-and cake. Met my roommate, who I really like. Walked outside on broken glass + got lost w/ her. Attempted to unpack. Met John + Rich, neo-beatniks, and Psyche and Luke. Got a CD from John, gave them (and Luke) stones, traipsed up and down the colorfully painted hallway... listened to Mom bitch in the car all day. Am having a blast and attempting to figure out... my confusion. I don't know how I feel abt. being here yet. The drugs and alcohol threw me off. I feel uncomfortable w/ them. I do indeed like the ppl. I've met so far though.

rt on North
left on Cory
~~~~~~~~

the 30th?

This is the real thing. ppl here have children, are married, have arrest records. the plato (euthyphro) sem. class rocked...I'm still thrown off by the pot/alcohol use but... went to a picnic by the lake. later on we all swam naked in the beach. there's a guy here named XXXXX, intuition man, who is really, really, cool. XXXX, XXXXX, (censored), XXXX, XXXX...everyone is really cool. went grocery shopping, did more unpacking, had some fun.
-------
31st

he said...it's bad to visualize to try to change the future. he said__ God, he said so many things so full of insight. really hit close to home. well i guess it's okay that luke is sleeping in my bunk with amy beside him my comforter on their lap. my blanket

and that i feel like a stranger in my own room + someone would do me the service of going in + telling them

*snip*

September 8th
school is interesting. am learning and questioning more than i ever fathomed. it's scary that ppl. understand me and what i say to the pt. that they argue abt. it so much I just have to TOTALLY change it.

went w/ jason stahl to get a drum the other day but he didn't like it and charlie came and drove my car and almost killed us 3 times.

he was mad that i said if it was womyn in lord of the flies they would've just braided each other's hair. (he said) it was sexist + wrong of me to say that.

it was also a joke.

being + nothingness. we can confuse ourselves here. i like it, it's challenging. only a bit frustrating. i keep forgetting he has a hard time talking to people. that maybe he's as nervous as i am.

9/13
I can't believe I'm about to go to church with the Dean. That's so weird. This school is crazy. I hear he did a lot of acid and had affairs with students but that he is married now + it's all good.
~~~

Well I went + it was really great. His wife came too. We sat, said nothing for an hour except one womyn who spoke abt how we were united in the Spirit and in silence and not distracted by the outside world/noise and it was so beautiful. I couldn't get my mind to shut up but the silence really helped. Then they introduced the Sunday school kids who explained what they did that day (the oldest group talked abt. which word they'd never utter and about what it means to be gay, etc.) They listed off a lot of activist stuff they did. I just really like Quakers, they've done so much w/ gay rights, womyn suffragists, native people, conscientious objectors to war, underground railroad, etc.
-----------------

It was cool reading this because just last Friday I was teaching my 8th graders about Quakers after we read a textbook story about Harriet Tubman...all these years later!!

I will look for more interesting excerpts...

Mini Globe and President

2007-09-17T20:26:00.000-05:00

Okay, I’ll fill you in on as many interesting happenings at Shimer that I can muster before I go to sleep…cool things going on at Shimer…well, my favorite “cool” thing is (literally) the miniature “Cool Globe” that Shimer students, faculty, and staff designed and created to increase global warming awareness. The following text is from the e-newsletter I sent out today…

“Shimer has been awarded one of 10-20 “Mini Cool Globes” in response to our submission of the artistic vision “Read the Earth: Great Books and Great Art Supporting Environmental Stewardship.” Shimer students, faculty, and staff have covered the oceans of this miniature globe with quotes about the environment from influential texts, including selections from Maria Montessori, Albert Einstein, Pindar, Darwin, Heraclitus, Lao Tze, Aristotle, and Alice Walker. The continents feature naturalistic images including those of Leonardo DaVinci, Carl Linnaeus, Maria Sibylla Merian, and the Cave of Lascaux.

Shimer’s mini-globe will be auctioned along with larger globes on October 5th at the Auditorium Theatre, at an event hosted by activist/comedian Al Franken. Tickets for the auction are $75.00 (you can also bid online – for general information about the auction, visit www.coolglobes.com). We would like a Shimer alum to win the globe at auction, so if you are interested in bidding, please contact either Stuart Patterson (s.patterson@shimer.edu) or Julia Mossbridge (j.mossbridge@shimer.edu) to receive a free ticket…first come, first serve, but serious bidders only, please!”

The next cool thing occurring to me is that, with a remarkably quick turnaround time, Shimer has named Ron Champagne the Interim President. He has worked closely with Shimer in his past role as Vice President of Development at Roosevelt University, and is President Emeritus at St. Xavier. He’s also a likeable, respectful, kind, responsible, well-read and intelligent guy, at least in my dealings with him so far. Here are some words from the e-newsletter on Ron…

“Shimer’s President Emeritus Don Moon tells us, ‘As President during the Roosevelt negotiations, I met with Ron and got to know him. More importantly, he got to know Shimer and its mission, which he and the then president of Roosevelt held in high regard. I have confidence that Ron Champagne will provide excellent leadership for the College during the coming year.’

Shimer’s Academic Dean David Shiner agrees, adding ‘The transition is being managed at the Board level by Chair Chris Nelson, the President of another Great Books college. Like Ron Champagne, he is a longtime friend of Shimer. Both Ron and Chris should be stable, positive forces at Shimer while we search for the next Shimer President during the coming year.’”

…Now I have to sleep…my kid is sick and I’m afraid I don’t feel altogether vibrantly healthy…more on the Marshall Field donation, The New Digs at 3424, Fall Lecture Series, etc. later. By the way, if you want this kind of news more regularly (albeit a bit more formally), please sign up for the e-newsletter at http://www.shimer.edu/alumninetwork/eletter.cfm . I send one out around the 15th of every month, and there’s no way your email address will be traded/sold/packaged/mutilated/turned into an electronic widget of any kind, at least as far as I can control such things.

Shimer on the Street

2007-09-16T19:06:00.001-05:00

I really enjoyed this.

Evolution is a 24 hour process.

Overwhelmed with options...what would be interesting?

2007-09-12T15:30:00.001-05:00

Hi Shimerians,

I'm physically new at Shimer, but philosophically old. My parents, aunts, uncles, step-parents, graduate advisor, and good friends all either attended Shimer or work here. I, on the other hand, went to Oberlin because my parents told me they feared Shimer would go bankrupt before I graduated.

Wrong, of course...and that's part of why I'm here. I want to become a full-time natural sciences professor/facilitator/teacher/whatever at Shimer, but there isn't enough money to pay for a new faculty hire. So I'm here as a marketing/PR consultant to get the word out about Shimer...and I'm here as an adjunct faculty member to get a sense of what it means to profess/facilitate/teach at Shimer.

Sara invited me to blog because, in my role as PR/marketing person, I have a sense of the goings-on here and I'd like alums to know about them. We've got an email newsletter and of course the Symposium paper thing...but a lot of folks don't read those. SO...I have a lot to share...some amazing cool stuff happening in this place that both is and isn't Shimer (I loved that post). I'm overwhelmed with ideas about what to share, so I'm taking requests...do you want to hear about Shimer's entry into the mini-cool globe project (www.coolglobes.com), the guerrilla marketing effort underway this summer, plans to create a Crucible-like play with actual readings from the McCarthy era, the new Shimer viewbook, Marshall Field donation of Art Institute memberships to Shimer students, the IIT/Shimer academic cross-fertilization experiment...something else I'm forgetting to mention?

If so, post here or (better) send an email to me at j.mossbridge at shimer.edu.

Groove on Shimerians of many eras...

Julia

The Interim Prez

2007-09-05T08:46:00.001-05:00

I'm responding to Sara's question about the Interim President. At least that's what I'm trying to do; I've never been too good with machines. Anyway, the plan is for Ron C (the Interim President) to be around for about a year. We're planning to begin a search for a "permanent" President soon. The Presidential Search Committee consists of 1/2 Assembly members and 1/2 Board members. The Assembly will elect its members this Sunday, and the Board will elect theirs when it meets at Shimer next month. A search like this takes about 8 months (at least the last one did), so allowing for slop of various sorts we should have the new person in tow by next summer or thereabouts. Of course, this is Shimer, where things of this sort don't run on schedule all that often, so take this with several grains of salt.

In other news: how do you like my picture? Lots more gray hair, eh? The student with whom I'm speaking in the photo is Meg Nelson, whose mother was a Shimer student when I arrived all those years and two campuses ago. Time shows no mercy.

Best to all,
David Shiner