Students and members of the Associated Student Body voiced their opinions and concerns on Thursday night about the Institutions of Higher Learning’s process of selecting Glenn Boyce to be the university’s new chancellor.
At ASB’s All-In forum, ASB Attorney General Austin Fiala stood alongside ASB President Barron Mayfield and helped answer questions that students asked.
“I know that many students are frustrated with the events of the past week, and I can assure you that we have been working tirelessly to reach out to students and other campus constituencies to create a path that is strategic, thoughtful and appropriate,” Mayfield said.
Mayfield said he had the opportunity to meet Boyce on Monday, and said that he believes that he is capable of leading the university.
“He made a commitment to a student-centered approach,” Mayfield said. “I look forward to holding him accountable to that commitment.”
The executive officers of ASB also released a statement this morning saying that they denounce the IHL’s actions in excluding students, faculty and alumni in the decision-making process, along with their lack of transparency, communication and accountability.
“We believe these actions stand in contradiction to the values of our university as outlined in the UM Creed. We call on the IHL to establish new policies and practices that will enable students, faculty, staff, alumni and other stakeholders to participate in decisions that directly affect their respective institutions,” the statement reads.
ASB President Pro-Tempore Anna Hall said that ASB is also releasing a resolution on Facebook that says that the ASB Senate condemns the IHL Board of Trustees and their process in selecting a new chancellor. Hall said that it will allow for constituents to comment on the resolution and that the Senate will vote on it on Tuesday.
Quay Williams, a leader of the “Abolish IHL” movement and president of the Students Against Social Injustices, asked how students could get more involved in the movement, then went on to discuss in detail what students could do.
“I feel like in order to start, we have to inform the people, and this week, and next week, we’re going to be focused on tactics on ways of getting the knowledge out there because a lot of students do not know what’s going on or what’s the importance of this incident, and how it can affect this part, how it is affecting those,” Williams said.
Charlotte Armistead, ASB principal of Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement, asked Mayfield and Fiala why students were so focused on abolishing IHL when Boyce being appointed chancellor is the direct product of IHL. Mayfield responded, saying that he believes that student leaders have a responsibility to work with Boyce.
“I think that the average student might have the luxury of disagreeing with him and opposing him. But the reality is that we’ve got to be going into these offices and talking with him about policies that affect students on the day-to-day,” Mayfield said. “I just don’t think that we have the ability to say, ‘I’m just not going to work with you.’”
Upon Armistead asking what steps students can take to go after the IHL, Mayfield said that if he thought that students were being ignored, he wouldn’t be spending so much time on this situation.
“If there weren’t faculty and alumni and other community members who were willing to stand up and say the same thing (as the students), then I think we would be spending our time elsewhere,” Mayfield said.
Williams said that he feels students’ voices are being ignored by the IHL.
“Voices are part of the process,” Williams said. “But I feel like (our voice) doesn’t really matter (to IHL). Because when it comes down to it, IHL really is over everything on this campus.”
At ASB’s All-In forum, ASB Attorney General Austin Fiala stood alongside ASB President Barron Mayfield and helped answer questions that students asked.
“I know that many students are frustrated with the events of the past week, and I can assure you that we have been working tirelessly to reach out to students and other campus constituencies to create a path that is strategic, thoughtful and appropriate,” Mayfield said.
Mayfield said he had the opportunity to meet Boyce on Monday, and said that he believes that he is capable of leading the university.
“He made a commitment to a student-centered approach,” Mayfield said. “I look forward to holding him accountable to that commitment.”
