In the Jack of too many trades editorial yesterday, the editorial writer made a point about the potential advantages for my employer from the retirement center as planned. The specific request for an opinion/complaint lodged by a citizen, expanded by a competing developer and repeated in the advisory opinion was explicit that we employees of the university would accrue benefits as students in the College of Health and Human Services secured internships at the proposed development. First, I am a member of the faculty from a totally different college. Inasmuch as I regularly send students in our major to internships across the state and here at home, I have some familiarity with the internship questions and potential benefits. I cannot begin to understand what benefit would come to me and how these perks would cause me to sway my vote in the internship example. What actually happened from this process is that two ward representatives likely to be most responsive to the issues in the neighborhoods were denied the right to vote at the 23rd hour. Prior to that, Debbie Phillips and I had worked for many hours with neighborhood people and the developers to add specifics to the ordinance to reduce the conflict between those most impacted in the neighborhoods and the developers. Such an effort is the best way to reduce conflict and smooth the development process. Representatives from wards naturally listen to and act for their smaller constituencies.
I would hate to sustain the impression created that employees of an institution automatically vote to benefit the institution. Nothing could be further from the truth if the record is consulted. Furthermore, with one exception from years ago ' when a university expediter came to my university office and pitched a half-baked proposal to sell the land currently under the community center to OU for a low price to allow Kroger expansion, no one in the administration has ever mentioned or requested a favor outside the public forum. The administrators do not tell me what to teach, and I do not tell them how to make institutional business decisions. When they impinge on my home life, I react as a citizen elected to serve my 3rd ward constituents, and some observers might say with considerable freedom because I am a tenured professor with enormous protection. I am evaluated by the students and my fellow faculty members. As a tenured professor, my scope of OU activities is teaching, research and service in my department and beyond if required. If I vote for the university, how could they reward me? Slip me a fiver for a vote?
I think that it is important to proceed as Garry Hunter, our Law Director, has to begin to develop a nuanced analysis of the ethical issues in a complex institutional setting. As the various dramas in our institution swirled around us, I had no input (and expected none) into the day-to-day business ventures of our institution.Nancy Bain is the councilwoman for the 3rd ward and an OU professor.
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Letter to the Editor
