PEC Update, September 25, 2006
The Legal Update:Thank you to all who have pledged to the legal defense fund. Your pledges and efforts have allowed us to accomplish a great deal in a short period of time, and you need to know that our work has continued unabated for the last two weeks. There is so much to report to you.
First, I appreciate your patience during the past two weeks. Although we have not been able to contact each of you individually, we have been working diligently on our website to facilitate mass emails to all of you. Please keep in mind that all of us are working as hard as we can, while still trying to hold down our day jobs, keep our families together, and sleep (at least a little bit). Our new website volunteers and newsletter staff will ensure that you will now receive much more frequent communications regarding the progress toward reversing the Board of Trustees' vote to adopt coeducation.
I want to thank everyone who contributed to the original goal of $25,000. That initial amount allowed us to achieve the following:
- Acquire lead counsel with broad litigation experience and a keen understanding of Virginia law and government.
- Research the various legal concerns raised by the Board of Trustees' announced course of action (of which there were many).
- Use legal research to draft a detailed letter outlining legal issues that would arise if the Board of Trustees actually voted to adopt its strategic plan and to emphasize the importance of alumnae and parent concerns, which was delivered on September 5, 2006, and is now available on our website at http://www.PreserveEducationalChoice.org.
- Evaluate multiple legal angles and possible plaintiffs and claims to create an overall strategy for moving forward on multiple fronts to assure the best chances for stopping the trustees.
- Evaluate appropriate structures for our organization, and take all legal actions necessary to form and register our nonprofit corporation, Preserve Educational Choice, Inc., with the Virginia State Corporation Commission.
For those who have not fulfilled your pledges yet, we now have an active PayPal option on our website, but please note that we pay a charge to PayPal for each donation, so we still encourage you to send checks if you are able.
I can't believe it's only been two weeks since the R-MWC Board of Trustees voted on September 9 to adopt its "strategic" plan, because PEC's volunteers have truly moved mountains. Since the vote we have built two armies of volunteers (one with a legal focus and one non-legal), developed a new campaign platform and website, developed our broad legal strategy for litigation on multiple fronts, and have convinced several law firms to work for us pro bono and recruited plaintiffs. I know that you are waiting for us to file our first suit, and I assure you that it will happen sooner than you think, but you can appreciate that the strategy behind our legal actions needs to be perfectly orchestrated and filings prepared carefully. To do this we had to take some time to organize ourselves into an efficient and professional organization and carefully develop our overall legal strategy.
As we prepare for action, though, I'd like to catch you all up on the things that have been happening since September 9. First, I want to be sure you've heard that we've changed our name, will be filing for non-profit status and are poised to take on a larger role in overturning the trustees' coed vote. Our new name is Preserve Educational Choice, Inc., (PEC). We are not solely litigation anymore, we're also putting together a plan with resources that will turn the school around as a women's college.
Ellen Reid Smith, who executed the Alumnae Association's alumnae and student surveys, has joined PEC and has taken on the job of President, so that I can focus on legal issues. Ellen has designed our new "carrot and stick" campaign, which gives trustees a simple choice: they can choose the carrot or the stick. The carrot is an incentive package of increased support, a new business plan and pro bono resources to implement the plan they receive when they reverse the coed vote. The stick is litigation on multiple fronts that will start soon if they don't change the vote. Their choice is simple: carrot or stick.
It's CRITICAL that each of you go to the website and sign up as a supporter of the PEC mission. The more people who register their support, the stronger our case becomes. Therefore, all alumnae, faculty, students, and friends of the school need to register their support on the website. At the website you can also sign up to volunteer for PEC-this is critical as we prepare a business plan and an offering of pro bono professional services for the college going forward. Please sign up to be a "carrot" volunteer and donate to "the stick." You'll also find our new newsletter intriguing. It's called the "Voice of the Honor Code." This newsletter will provide counterpoint to the reasons the Board of Trustees has given as support for its decision. Bit by bit, we will chisel away at the foundation for the Board's vote on September 9. The new website also will make it easy for you to keep up with our progress each week.
I was able to speak before the entire assembly at the Alumnae Association Annual Meeting on Saturday, September 16, 2006, to advise that group of our efforts. Judging from the very positive reception I received at that meeting, and comments I have received since that meeting, the vast majority of women who attended the meeting disagreed with the Board of Trustees' decision to adopt the coeducation plan, and they were glad to know that our group is preparing to challenge the decision.
I also learned that many alumnae, parents, and students have not been following all of our comments regarding the faulty data upon which the Board's decision was reached. Accordingly, they have not heard our message regarding the lack of foundation for the coed decision. As such, many alumnae still incorrectly believe that the Board of Trustees was acting on valid information. Please help us to spread the word of our efforts, especially to those who do not have access to the internet. I can assure you that PEC is compiling experts who can rebut the major assumptions upon which the coed decision was based, and you can see these rebuttals on our website at "The Voice of the Honor Code." We intend to continue to provide factual data to help trustees understand they weren't given accurate data upon which to make their decision. We are counting on each of you to be the voice of the honor code and get the word out to build a strong base of support for our legal challenges.
In conversations with other alumnae, I learned that many of those in attendance during Alumnae Leadership Council were offended and put off by the comments and attitude of Ginger Worden, Chris Burnley, and especially Acting Dean William Coulter. If you boil it down, here is the message that was conveyed by the Administration to Alumnae at Council:
- Alumnae should not expect to have any voice in the governance of the college; that right belongs solely to the Trustees.
- The College does need your money, but that's all. Ginger Worden announced that if alumnae stop giving, the college may take out operating loans, using the Maier Museum paintings as collateral. Ginger implied that if alumnae don't give, it will be their fault the paintings are sold.
- All of the information upon which the coed decision was based is confidential, and the Trustees cannot (or will not) share the reasons for the Board's decision, nor the methodology used by A&S to arrive at its conclusion that coeducation was the only option.
- The economic model, which indicates coeducation is the answer, has significant flaws on many levels and cannot be deemed reliable. The modeling expert whom trustees hold out as proof has only looked at the formulas in the model and was not asked to look at the reliability of the assumptions used to predict the College's financial future, or for which scenarios the model would be used. It would appear that the trustees are unaware that Mr. Burnley's model has not been properly evaluated.
- The term "global honors" has not yet been defined, nor was it defined when it was used in the surveys conducted with potential students, making most of the A&S research unreliable and misleading at best.
- The "strategy" of the strategic plan has not been developed. The Board of Trustees admitted when it voted that the details of the plan would be developed by committees after the plan was approved. Accordingly, the Board has does not know how it will implement the plan and consequently has not even begun to consider the real costs of the program.
- That the Board of Trustees never considered the possibility that the quality of marketing and management at R-MWC could have been the crux of the whole problem, but instead, it appears that the Board accepted all evidence presented to them by the Administration.
- Likewise, it does not appear that the Board has critically evaluated the existing marketing and management functions of the last 10 years, and thus has not fully evaluated all courses of action that could allow R-MWC to remain a woman's college.
- Finally, it appears that R-MWC used increasing amounts of financial aid ("tuition discounting") as a substitute for an effective marketing program. It appears that financial aid was given out liberally for years, and in many cases, students receiving that aid have indicated to us that they would have chosen R-MWC with a smaller aid package. Some of the students receiving these awards even had full tuition grants from other sources. Therefore, it has become apparent that the true need for tuition discounting may have been significantly overstated, and that R-MWC failed to engage in adequate communications with parents and students to determine which students needed a financial incentive. Accordingly, the solution to the tuition discounting problem may be as simple as being more prudent with the financial aid dollars that are available. This is a management issue, and does not require the college to admit men for its solution.
That's what the carrot and stick plan is about: encouraging the Trustees to seek a second opinion and try a different course of action before killing our school forever. PEC is working hard to get trustees to take the carrot and to allow us to assist the Board by providing experts to turn the school around.
We feel very strongly, though, that Randolph-Macon Woman's College can survive as a woman's college. Thus, if the trustees don't take the carrot, PEC will begin litigation on multiple fronts using multiple law firms very soon.
As I advised you when I first began this fund one month ago, PEC has engaged the firm of DurretteBradshaw LLC as its lead counsel. DurretteBradshaw continues to provide strategy for litigating on multiple fronts. We have been overwhelming happy with DurretteBradshaw as our counsel of record. The firm is working very hard on a number of strategies. Additionally, we are in the process of finalizing arrangements with several firms who have agreed to provide significant pro bono assistance to make our legal fund dollars go as far as possible.
Though we are excited to have such support from multiple law firms, our legal expenses and operating expenses continue to mount. While pro bono law firms give of their time, they still will charge us thousands of dollars in expenses. Additionally, we still have to pay for coordination of this vast network of attorneys. The expense of litigation will stretch into the hundreds of thousands of dollars if trustees do not take the carrot.
Therefore, we still need each of you to continue to contribute to the legal defense fund of PEC, and to be sure and fulfill your original pledges. Our target is to raise $100,000 each month and we're closing in on that amount with your help.
Additionally, we promise that if the trustees take the carrot and we can immediately stop all litigation, any left over funds will be donated to R-MWC. In this way, we hope to leave no doubt in the minds of Trustees that alumnae, students, parents, and friends of the college DO expect to have some input into the future of the college, and that we expect to be provided far more information to support a decision of this magnitude.
Lastly, if you are a student or a donor and would like to be considered as a plaintiff, please contact PEC through our website or contact a PEC board member directly and we will get your name to the lawyers in charge of these issues.
Thank you all for your support to date-it has truly made a difference. Please don't forget to be generous with your contributions because we cannot move forward without your support.
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