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Three trustees miss a year’s worth of meetingThe Voice investigates trustee attendance after three miss the vote for tuition

APRIL 25washtenawvoice.com Washtenaw Community College, Ann Arbor, MI

THE

WASHTENAW VOICE

QUINN DAVIS &MATT DURR Editor & Managing Editor

Some at Washtenaw Com-munity College would like tograde the Board of Trustees,

just like students are. Unfor-tunately for them, the trusteeswon’t be getting a report card.If they did, some would beflunking, and it’s not becauseof their votes to raise tuition or approve controversial construc-tion projects.

It’s because they just don’tcome to class — er, meetings.

From January 2006 untilnow, three of the eight trusteesthat have served in the last year,

missed more than 20 percentof their public meetings. Thistranslates to an entire year’sworth of meetings, and in onecase, even more.

Some students would like tosee the trustees held account-able.

“For a lot of classes, if youmiss more than two classes,your grade will go down,” saidDorian Witherspoon, 18, a busi-ness major from Ypsilanti. “Ithink they should be punished,

because they have a responsi- bility just like when we go toclass.”

The most commonly absenttrustee was State Rep. DavidRutledge. From the beginningof 2006 until he left office inlate 2010, Rutledge missed morethan 28 percent of the meetings.During that time, Rutledge ranfor state representative on morethan one occasion.

“I am thankful to the com-munity for electing me to the

board for over 13 years; sec-ond, I am thankful to both mycolleagues on the board and the

No successor yet

Whitworth sayshe’ll stay for aslong as it takes

POINT OF VIEW

‘For a lot of clayou miss moretwo classes, yograde will go d

I think (the trushould be punbecause they hresponsibility jwhen we go to

DORIAN WITHERSPOON, 18,

Ypsilanti, Business

MATT DURR Managing Editor

As the search for a suc-cessor to President LarryWhitworth drags on, Whit-worth has informed theWashtenaw Community Col-lege Board of Trustees thathe has no problem with stay-ing on as president for as long

as necessary.“I have informed the

board that I w ill stay on u n-til they have found someonethey are satisfied with,” saidWhitworth. “I don’t think this should be rushed, andI don’t have anything I’mrushing off to do.”

The Presidential SearchAdvisory Committee lastweek was sifting through thesecond round of applicantsafter passing on the first threefinalists following interviewslast month.

The application deadline passed on April 18, and the

search committee speweek narrowing its candidates. Accordingmittee member Bill nethy, dean of HumanScience, there were plcandidates when the cotee reconvened to cothem.

No recommendatithe board had been m

the time The Voice w press, but updates on tveloping story can beat www.washtenawcom.

In the meantime, nethy said he was cothe committee will sin finding the best perthe job.

“I’m sure we’ll findone good sooner thansaid Abernethy, who with Whitworth that time and doing a thsearch is the best optthe college.

Ready, set, wait: StudentCenter renovation put on hold

SEE TRUSTEES PAGGRAPHIC JOSH CHAMBERLAIN

ANNA FUQUA-SMITHContributor

Maybe you’ve seen thegoose sitting on the patch of grass in the back of the park-ing lot near the GM building.

Maybe you’ve even parkednext to her, and she’s madethat infamous hissing noiseas you tried to exit your ve-hicle to head to class.

If you’ve seen her, you’ve probably noticed the mound

of mulch beneath her. She’slaid eggs, which would be thereason why she’s aggressivetoward anyone who gets tooclose to her.

Dr. Susan Lewis, owner of All Creatures Veterinary

Clinic on Washtenaw Av-enue, suspects that if the eggsare moved, the mother willnot take care of her babies.

Legally, no one is allowed

SEE GOOSE PAGE A7

‘Mother Goose’ picks awkward place to nest

JARED ANGLE THE WASHTENAW VOICE

Orange cones warn drivers away from a goose on her nest in Lot 6 near the GM building.

*Patrick McLean was not included in this graph

because he has yet to miss a meeting since his

January 2011 appointment.

IF THE SHOE FITS...and then walk a mile in

someone else’s shoes. Exotic

dancers are sisters, mothers,

daughters — and students at

WCC. B12

Check out Ann Arbor’s new downtown

store, The Gown Shop. It gets brides every-

thing they need for their big day — and

even get them shoes fit for Cinderella... B1

SWEET AS HONEYIt’s been a tough year

for beekeeper Lonnie

Compeau but soon he –

and his honeybees – will

be up and dancing. B2



A10 • APRIL 25, 2011 washtenawvoicNEWS

ommunity for permitting meo serve the 1,200 communityolleges in this country as a

member of the board of direc-ors of the National Associationf Community College Trust-es (ACCT), which is head-uartered in Washington D.C.,”aid Rutledge in an email to The

Voice.

Rutledge went on to say thats part of the ACCT, he attendedumerous meetings that causedim to miss time at WCC. Hedded that attending those

meetings helped WCC gain na-onal exposure as a communityollege, and said that most of is absences in 2008 and 2009

were due to these meetings, notis run for state representative.

Trustee Richard Landau isne of the more vocal membersf the board, yet he has missed2 percent of the meetings since006. During that time, how-ver, Landau has been dealing

with a serious family illnesshat has made attending board

meetings difficult over the lastwo years.

“Prior to that (family ill-ess), my attendance was good,”aid Landau, acknowledginghat he missed some time in007 because he was openingis own law firm and that inter-

fered with his ability to attendevery meeting.

“I was juggling some new positions in my professionallife,” said Landau.

Trustee Anne Williams hasmissed or been late to just asmany meetings as Landau sinceher appointment in Januaryof 2007. She said that many of

her absences were due to sick-ness or family matters, and thatobstacles like those are unfore-seen and impossible to change.

“I believe that all the trust-ees, including myself, are 200

percent committed to the posi-tion,” said Williams. “I knowthat for all of us, life happens,with being sick or family mem-

bers being ill.“It isn’t that they just don’t

want to come — it’s something pretty serious.”

Williams also noted thatmoving the meeting time,which is typically 4 p.m. on thelast Tuesday of every month,could possibly help improvetrustee attendance.

Gloria Velarde, a nursingfaculty member, was unawareof the attendance issue. Shequestioned how this might af-fect the board’s efficacy.

“I would think regular at-tendance would be critical in

making sound decisions regard-ing the college,” she said.

President Larry Whitworthwas also surprised to learn aboutthe absences. He is present for all

board meetings, save for whenhe is on sabbatical, but said thathe would “be hard-pressed toguess who is missing meetings.”He said that he’s actually quite

impressed with the board.“They’re busy people. It’sunderstandable,” said Whit-worth. “There are boards that

just show up and schmooze alittle bit. That’s not our board.We’re an action board.”

One recent action that the board has taken was to increasetuition, effective Fall 2011. At-tendance to that meeting was

particularly bad, with Wil-liams, McKnight-Morton andLandau all missing. Because of this, only four trustees were leftto vote on the issue. McKnight-Morton, it was noted, was ab-sent due to a family emergency.Overall, she has missed 18 per-cent of the meetings since 2006.

At the time of print, The

Voice was awaiting a responsefrom McKnight-Morton

Trustee Stephen Gill andChair Pam Horiszny comefrom the other side of the spec-trum; the t wo of them have only

missed a handful of meetings.They both stood by their fellowtrustees when pressed to explaintheir colleagues’ attendance.

“I could say that I think our board attendance is excellent,”said Gill. He also said that com-

pared to other boards, WCC’sattendance is above average.

Horiszny did acknowledge

that due to the board’s smallsize, attendance is incrediblyimportant. She went on to ex-

plain that these t rustees add tothe board, despite their lacklus-ter attendance records.

“A lot of the trustees areinvolved in a lot of differentthings,” she said. “They may not

be able to be at all of the meet-ings, but the information and ex-

perience that those people bringto the board is invaluable.”

Kelli Clothier, 19, a businessmajor from Ypsilanti, doesn’tquite see it that way. She, likeWitherspoon, proposed that thetrustees be punished.

But instead of grades, whichwouldn’t actually have any sortof consequence, Clothier sug-gests something a little moreserious.

“They shouldn’t be re-elected,” she said, “because if they’re making decisions, thenthat’s not fair to everyone. If

they’re running for reelectionin the future, their attendanceshould be looked at.”

Kelly Truett, 47, undecided,from Saline, agreed.

“If they miss a certainamount of attendance, theyshould be let go,” she said. Truettadded that the trustee positionshould be treated like a normal

job. She said there should be aset of rules just like there would be for anyone else at the collegewhen it comes to at tendance.

The newest member of the board, Treasurer Patrick McLean, has not been aroundlong enough to fully commenton his colleagues’ attendance,

but did offer some insight to hisown attendance.

“When I took the appoint-ment, I worked it out with myemployers and the city of To-ledo,” said McLean referring tohis position working in the To-ledo government.

McLean also noted there ismore to a trustee’s job than justshowing up.

“Attendance at board meet-ings is important, but beingengaged is a more importantquality,” said McLean, whoadded that all the members of the board are engaged in their discussions.

Board Secretary Marman had a different petive on how the board oand how their attendan

be difficult sometimes.man was elected to theof Trustees in Novembeand has only missed twoings since.

Freeman was a WC

dent when he became intin being a member of theHe said that when he decrun, he thought that mato one or two meetings awould not be difficult.

He was wrong.“The meetings are j

tip of the iceberg of whaexpected to do,” said Fr“You find out about theactivities that get added.”

Some of those activivolve around things likeing the new president, or meetings that are callevery little notice.

“It’s very importantat the meetings, but som(absent members) are er things to help the ssaid Freeman, who addI would have looked a(attendance) numbers aknown the behind-the-stuff, I would have beeous too.”

RUST FROM FRONT PAGE

GRILLING FROM A12

Korean Flank Steak

Ingredients:1 flank steak ⅓ cup of soy¼ cup green onion cut into pieces2 Tbsp red wine vinegar 1 ½ Tbsp olive oil1 Tbsp sesame oil2 cloves garlic1tsp black pepper 2 cups cola

Score the surface of the steak with ¼ — inch deep knife cutsabout an inch apart, across the grain of the meat. Combine themarinade ingredients. Place steak and marinade in a large freezer

bag or plastic contai ner. Coat the steak well with the marinade.Seal the bag or plastic container and place in the refrigerator for at least two hours or overnight. When it’s time to grill, soak someolive oil on a piece of paper towel, and coat the grill rack with theolive oil. Preheat the grill to high heat. Take the steak out of themarinade and place it on the hot grill. Grill 4-6 minutes per side.

About halfway through cooking, take a temperature reading bytaking the meat thermometer and sticking it into the thickest partof the steak. The steak is done when it reaches 160 degrees for me-dium, which is the best way to eat a flank steak because the more

k d th t k t th t h it i O th t k h k d

Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Ingredients:3.5 lbs chicken, cut into parts2 Tbsp Thyme2 Tbsp ground allspice8 Cloves garlic chopped3 Medium onions chopped2 Tbsp brown or regular sugar 2 Tbsp salt

2 Tbsp pepper 5 Serrano or scotch bonnet peppers¼ cup cilantro¼ cup green onion1-2 tsp each ground cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger 2 shots triple sec, optional½ cup olive oil½ cup soy2 cups pineapple orange juice1 cup apple cider vinegar 2 limes juiced

Take all ingredients except for the chicken and combine in a blender or food processor. Blend until liquefied,and reserve about two cups of the marinade to baste thechicken with while cooking. Wash the chicken parts and

pat dry with a paper towel. Place chicken with marinadein a large freezer bag or plastic container and place in arefrigerator for at least eight hours. The longer it mari-nades, the better this chicken will be. Preheat the gr ill to

medium low or medium. Cook the chicken on this lowheat to keep it from dry ing out. The lower the heat is andthe longer the cook time, the better the chicken will be.Baste the chicken with the reserved marinade through-out the cooking process Once the chicken has reached

Hawaiian Quail

Ingredients:½ cup soy¼ cup sugar ¼ cup cooking oil3 cloves garlic2 medium onions, chopped4 Tbsp honey½ cup orange juice1 tsp ginger

1 tsp dry mustard2 tsp salt1 can tomato sauce1 pineapple fruit cup with juice1 mango fruit cup of and papaya with juice

Take the quail out of the packaging and wash, then pat drywith paper towel. Combine all ingredients into a blender or food

processor and blend until liquefied. Place quail and marinade intoa large freezer bag or plastic container and place in a refrigerator for at least eight hours, or overnight. Preheat grill to high andcook the quail for about five minutes per side until the birds reachan internal temperature of 170 degrees. The quail should take ona mahogany brown color when done. Take the quail off the grill,

place them on a plate and cover with aluminum foil for a few min-utes. Serve with a salad or rice pilaf and enjoy. Serves about 3.

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_____________________________________________________________________

2012 Michigan Community College Press Association Judging Form

Place of award: Third Place First Place Second Place Third Place Honorable Mention

Category: In depth reporting

Headline/title of entry: Three trustees miss a year’s worth of meetings

Contestant’s name: Quinn Davis and Matt Durr

College name: Washtenaw Community College

Judge’s comments:

Nice job pressing the college’s leaders on fulfilling their responsibilities.

The piece would have benefitted from a graph or two laying out some basics: are thetrustees paid or not (I’m assuming not)? What are their duties, as prescribed in thecollege bylaws?

Also, when Rutledge said his participation in the ACCT kept him from meetings, youmight have verified that its meetings actually conflicted with the board’s meetings.

Finally, you might have pressed the trustees in question on why they didn’t simply

resign. They’re public officials, elected by the community at large, and there areresponsibilities that go with that. If they couldn’t fulfill them, why didn’t they cede their place to someone who could?

davis and durr

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