To: The Principia Community
Fm: The Board of Trustees

Below are the Minutes of the February 2, 2007 meeting with the Trustees and participants from the College and St. Louis campuses. The minutes are posted exactly as submitted.

We wish to thank Judy Barker, Upper School Librarian, for her gracious willingness to accept the Head of School's nomination to serve as scribe for this meeting.

Four points about pay raise:

• Trustees felt he was under compensated and looked at comparable pay
• Process was flawed in several ways:
  Everyone should have come before him. A professor said that he makes about one-sixth of the salary when he works excessive hours and has been losing money for years. Another said she donated to Principia and felt uneasy about people like her sacrificing to contribute with little money and a few small raises through the years. They said they are not jealous of Stuart’s salary, but are seeking fairness.
• Benchmark data did not help on how to do this, need a compensation expert for all compensations, decision made too quickly. Dr. Williams said college had been working on benchmarks for college faculty and staff for some time and in October was told they would have to wait until all the work was done and then found CEO had already been compensated.
• Board did not realize what size of his compensation would mean to all.

All salaries are private- no cover up, would be released in tax information, no one ordered to file late: it just happened

Some representatives felt the salary issue has pitted colleague against colleague, campus against campus, and put students in a bad position. 

Trustees apologized and said they would deal with this. College representatives said Stuart implied that he thought he was the last compensated, but told another group he knew he was first. Had problem with his doing this when a student would not be allowed this lack of candor. Michael Sharples made the point that a CEO may be asked a question one way and than asked another way which may require consideration of confidentiality, etc. and the answer may appear to be contradictory when it is not meant to be. There was also a feeling that Stuart had hinted about higher compensation and that he had ignored advice from former trustee, Traci Bliss, at Stanford to refuse it. Trustees said he did not know or hint about it ahead of time and wanted to refuse it when told about it. Some representatives also feel there is an “ends justify the means” mentality. An STL representative stated that they know Stuart better as a person, father, and husband and have a different view of him than Elsah representatives who may not know him as well.

In the past, this office has been held by those nearing retirement. Now we have a younger person who is not near the end of his career. There was no real move to do anything other than pay compensation above other salaries. Is the compensation right for Principia as for the rest of the world?
 
Michael Sharples said there used to be a president and a CEO. Has the position ever been properly compensated?

The board is charged with putting together the main offices. This is a very challenging post to fill. The process was flawed not the people. We have too few students and a complex organization. Need to find better way to settle it.  

We are not in poverty. The “Trim to Grow” program bothered many. While budgets were frozen, the CEO’s compensation was growing.  Stuart has said he would like to change “Trim to Grow” to “Grow”. The former has a negative feel. “Trim to Grow” is gone.

Several Elsah people felt the board is a closed club to whom the community does not have access. There was a discussion of the perception that the board only gets “sanitized” reports and does not hear from the principals involved. They said they have been told not to contact trustees. Is the board getting accurate information? The board agreed that the communication needs to be more open and that they need more input from the faculty and staff. Some representatives felt the board is controlled by the CEO, but the board said this is not so. Some people are concerned that the board is not always present, but they do spend a great deal of time here. They plan to be more active and they have been the ones to make governance decisions. They really do want to spend more time with faculty and staff. The college has a faculty senate and a student senate and perhaps the trustees could attend some of their meetings.
 
In the past, the trustees often just came in and voted; now they are much more involved in governing.  They come to serve Principia and people are often urged to stay. Frequently, new presidents, CEO’s, etc. ask board members to stay in place to help them.  Mrs. Morgan wanted the board to be self-perpetuating. There are 10 trustees at the moment. Trustees leave for personal reasons. Lives cannot be adjusted to fit trustee rotation and privacy must be protected. Five have terms about to expire and replacement is not easy. Having people continue is often a blessing. Rarely do people serve full three years and continuity is vital. Also, the rotation process is not fully understood. It is a complex process.

This is a board that deliberates. If they are divided, they pray until they reach a more uniform answer. Deliberations must remain confidential to allow for free, open, honest discussions. How can the trustees reach out to dissenting voices? The board could not answer that here: however, they said it helps to hear that question.  One board member said she loves open, diverse discussions.  

There is the belief that people have been forced to resign. There is especially strong feeling about George Moffett’s resignation. The students, faculty, and staff at the college are terribly concerned about this and an STL teacher had a representative say that he is now leery of recommending Principia College to students because they may see the problems there as being problems indigenous to the Christian Science movement.  The feeling was that no one should be placed in a position of being forced to resign. We need to value people. Everyone should be given due process and help in meeting goals. One Elsah representative felt women, especially, have been made to fear job loss for being “controversial”.  Some resigned at the ten-week period. The idea of “best person for the job” may have been used to simply remove people who have dedicated themselves to Principia for many years. These people are successful elsewhere. It was suggested that we are being manipulated and need to get rid of the animal magnetism which makes us blame each other. Much healing and prayer is necessary.  It was suggested that we have a moratorium on such “forced leavings” until there is a real process in place so people understand why they are leaving. All of this has to do with procedures and process.

An STL representative said that even people considering the Upper School are concerned about sending their children into the present controversy.   Another STL person stated that she was, also, concerned with anonymous letters that reminded her of the letters throughout our history which have targeted The Mother Church and the movement.  We need to be alert to such manipulation as this, too.

The college student representatives said the students are very confused but supportive.  They are praying daily and really need to see healing. They want facts about Dr. Moffett’s resignation.  The board said it was definitely his decision and his option to stay. Some college representatives said he would not have done this to the college and feel they need to know what really happened.

The campuses have different perceptions and issues, but we are all praying and supporting healing and everyone involved.

The board heard many interesting and challenging things. They asserted that this is an opening dialogue. Healing and blessing will continue to come from this institution. There will be follow-up. The board hears everyone loud and clear. They will take the time to really work on this. Changes will be made, but they must be deliberate, carefully thought out, and prayed about. A balance for working together must be found. We are all Principians and want what is best for Principia and everyone concerned. We must stay together and pray. We pledge a united effort to bring healing to Principia.

Respectfully Submitted,
Judy Barker