69传媒 and Cayuga 69传媒 speaks up: Letters to the editor for the week of Nov. 22, 2024
- Updated
Our weekly round-up of letters published in the Citizen.
- Rachel Snyder and Maggie Mahr
More than 700 alumnae/i of Wells College in Aurora, NY, gathered over Zoom on Nov. 13 to hear from the board of the Wells College Association of Alumnae and Alumni (WCA). Our alumnae/i organization was commemorating its 150th anniversary when the college abruptly announced its closure on April 29, 2024.
The organization last met during reunion on June 1, at which time questions and suggestions were collected by WCA officers. Members were told to expect replies in the coming weeks. After several months, very few responses were received.
And so, WCA members petitioned for a special meeting of the organization. After a delay of some weeks, the board agreed to call the meeting, as required by the WCA bylaws. The board solicited written questions in advance, and set a one-hour time limit for the meeting.
The much-anticipated Zoom gathering began with a PowerPoint 鈥渙verview,鈥 after which six WCA officers addressed fewer than a dozen questions. Disappointingly, most all of the information shared had already been sent to WCA members three weeks earlier by the Wells College Board of Trustees.
The WCA president closed the meeting after only 45 minutes, ignoring scores of complex and challenging questions. Unanswered questions submitted by the Wells Legacy Society included:
鈥⒙營s Manhattanville University still the intended 鈥渓egacy鈥 partner for Wells, in line to receive all of the school鈥檚 remaining assets, archives and artifacts?
鈥⒙燱hat committees now oversee the disposition of assets, and do they include WCA representation?
鈥⒙燞ow has the WCA board represented the WCA membership during the closure process?
鈥⒙燱ill alumnae/i be notified in advance of auction sales of college鈥檚 archives and artifacts?
鈥⒙燱hy hasn鈥檛 the WCA become a newly formed nonprofit organization independent from the college administration, as promised over the summer?
During the meeting, attendees were muted and live chat was disabled. Had the group not been effectively silenced, we very likely would have heard members calling for a vote of no-confidence in the WCA leadership.
For more information, please visit .
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- Rachel Snyder and Maggie Mahr
More than 700 alumnae/i of Wells College in Aurora, NY, gathered over Zoom on Nov. 13 to hear from the board of the Wells College Association of Alumnae and Alumni (WCA). Our alumnae/i organization was commemorating its 150th anniversary when the college abruptly announced its closure on April 29, 2024.
The organization last met during reunion on June 1, at which time questions and suggestions were collected by WCA officers. Members were told to expect replies in the coming weeks. After several months, very few responses were received.
And so, WCA members petitioned for a special meeting of the organization. After a delay of some weeks, the board agreed to call the meeting, as required by the WCA bylaws. The board solicited written questions in advance, and set a one-hour time limit for the meeting.
The much-anticipated Zoom gathering began with a PowerPoint 鈥渙verview,鈥 after which six WCA officers addressed fewer than a dozen questions. Disappointingly, most all of the information shared had already been sent to WCA members three weeks earlier by the Wells College Board of Trustees.
The WCA president closed the meeting after only 45 minutes, ignoring scores of complex and challenging questions. Unanswered questions submitted by the Wells Legacy Society included:
鈥⒙營s Manhattanville University still the intended 鈥渓egacy鈥 partner for Wells, in line to receive all of the school鈥檚 remaining assets, archives and artifacts?
鈥⒙燱hat committees now oversee the disposition of assets, and do they include WCA representation?
鈥⒙燞ow has the WCA board represented the WCA membership during the closure process?
鈥⒙燱ill alumnae/i be notified in advance of auction sales of college鈥檚 archives and artifacts?
鈥⒙燱hy hasn鈥檛 the WCA become a newly formed nonprofit organization independent from the college administration, as promised over the summer?
During the meeting, attendees were muted and live chat was disabled. Had the group not been effectively silenced, we very likely would have heard members calling for a vote of no-confidence in the WCA leadership.
For more information, please visit .
