Yes, this is long, but it is extremely important that OLLI membership be informed:
On Friday afternoon Mar 16, members of the OLLI Board of Directors received an email from Carol Parkhurst, OLLI’s Executive Director. The message header was “Information for OLLI Board Meeting - Tuesday March 20.”
Her message: “At the request of University President Marc Johnson, I am sending you the recently ratified University Administrative Manual** (UAM) statement on governance of UNR’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. The UAM statement was drafted by University General Counsel following established University protocols and considering guidelines received from the Osher Foundation. Per University procedure, the statement was approved by the Administrative Manual Review Board and by the UNR Faculty Senate (on Mar 15)…. President Johnson and Vice Provost Fred Holman will be at the OLLI Board meeting on Tuesday to answer any questions you may have about the changes. [See attached document].”
That document asserted that that our Bylaws were “null and void,” and that “The Executive Director shall develop policies and procedures…” These “policies and procedures shall be the governing documents for the program.” - thereby nullifying without any prior notice the Bylaws developed by an elected Board, approved by the OLLI membership and accepted by the University and the Osher Foundation for the last 10 years. This action and document was a complete surprise to the OLLI Board of Directors — NO ONE at the University had informed any OLLI members that this was happening, or given the OLLI Board any opportunity to be part of this decision.
We most respectfully suggest that those words do not describe our current situation. We request that the new Policies and Procedures - in other words, the new OLLI at UNR governance structure - not be “developed by the Executive Director AFTER input from the advisory council,” but rather that they be developed collaboratively, collegially, and respectfully WITH OLLI’s current leadership. We sincerely believe that that is the only way to preserve OLLI at UNR’s incredible record of success as a “volunteer-guided” organization.
On Monday morning Mar 19, OLLI Reno News posted Board President Dr. Lynne Gray’s letter to the membership that the OLLI Board meeting already scheduled for Tuesday Mar 20 would now be an open forum to hear from members wishing to talk about the transition from an OLLI Board of Directors to an OLLI Advisory Council.
That afternoon UNR President Johnson sent an email to OLLI members informing them that his meeting with OLLI was now rescheduled for March 26 at 11:30am. No one on the Board was consulted beforehand about this change of date/time, and the President’s office made no effort to ascertain whether any Board members could be available to meet at that time.
On Tuesday Mar 20, in President Johnson's absence, OLLI ED Carol Parkhurst, and Vice Provost Fred Holman attended the meeting to represent the University. The ED read out loud an additional message from President Johnson to the membership rebutting Dr. Gray's letter of Mar 19.
OLLI Vice President Richard Siegel began on behalf of the Board, stating OLLI's concerns about the University Administration's actions in unilaterally changing how OLLI functions (specifically by choosing and hiring an Executive Director in December 2016, and then by changing OLLI's governance structure in March 2018 - both done without any prior notice, input from or discussion with OLLI’s elected leaders). Dr. Siegel noted that this behavior is wholly inconsistent with college, departmental and program norms across the University which value openness, inclusivity, collegiality, and consensual decision making at all levels.
Executive Director Parkhurst and Dr. Holman stated several times that the changes to OLLI's organizational structure were required by the contract that the University has with the Osher Foundation and that we must comply for both legal and financial reasons.
Many members then spoke in opposition to those assertions, pointing out that our OLLI has been very successfully operating with funds from the Osher endowment for 10 years without any such objections from the Osher Foundation being communicated to the Board.
Present and former OLLI Board members spoke about the special Board meeting held in December, 2016 when the Executive Director was introduced to us. Board members who were in attendance at that meeting had a different recollection of events than those stated by Dr. Johnson in his letter. They recalled that there had been mention of revising, not dissolving, the bylaws, and specifically there were assurances that the status and function of the Board of Directors would remain the same. [In fact, the officially adopted minutes of the December, 2016 Board meeting (adopted with the ED in attendance) noted that President Johnson had chosen and appointed an OLLI Executive Director and further stated: “she will provide administrative continuity and stability for the organization. Her long association with UNR will help in tapping into fundraising resources. She knows OLLI and understands our priorities. She will also supervise the office staff. OLLI programs will still be run by the OLLI board of directors.”]
There were questions and concerns about the current budget process, how it differs from the prior process and the increase in administrative staffing. Concerns were also expressed about the possibility of membership dues increases and additional charges for classes.
Other members addressed their perceptions of the OLLI Executive Director’s lack of collegiality, transparency and collaboration. In response, ED Parkhurst stated her intention that "no one is to be removed, and all committees are to stay the same.” She also stated that the name of the OLLI Bylaws will be changed to OLLI Policies and Procedures, and volunteers are still considered the “heart and soul of OLLI.”
Many members commented that those statements were not reassuring given the fact that the Board and OLLI members were not given any warning that these changes were coming, nor any opportunity for input, consultation or comment, nor any reassurance until that moment that the changes might be minimal . Many expressed a need for more transparency, truthfulness and collegiality in communication between the University Administration and the OLLI leadership if OLLI is to continue to function successfully.
Further Notes from the OLLI Board:
The OLLI Board wishes it clearly understood that WE DO NOT OBJECT to any of the major points of the Osher Foundation’s guidelines as expressed by the National Resource Center (NRC) for Osher Institutes:
1. The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute is officially a program of its host institution.
2. The host university is legally responsible for financial oversight and program performance. It assumes the legal, financial and liability risk of the program.
3. The Institute is subject to overarching university direction, policies, rules and regulations.
There is no sense in which this Institute’s volunteer leadership considers itself to have the legally defined fiduciary responsibilities of a separately incorporated organization. We are extremely grateful to UNR for its strong support and its prodigious contributions to the health, success and sustainability of this OLLI.
We also wholeheartedly accept the NRC’s statements that the host university is responsible for “collaborating with its volunteer leaders and members to create a vibrant educational program... OLLI’s operate using a productive cooperative model of balanced contributions among the four… distinct constituencies of the program: professional staff, volunteers, members, and administrators of the host university…”
As President Johnson said in his letter - “words matter.” Absolutely they do! And the NRC words that matter to OLLI’s members and leadership are “collaboration,” “productive cooperative model of balanced contributions,” “transparency,” “mutual understanding” and “mutually beneficial relationships.” To those we would add mutual respect, trust, collegiality, and shared vision.
Lynne Gray, OLLI President. lynnegray1@gmail.com
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OLLI Reno News is a volunteer effort by Alice Yucht
to provide timely info for current OLLI members.
It is not an official OLLI at UNR publication.
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