PEC Update, October 17, 2006
PEC supporters:There is so much news and so little time for those of us at PEC to stop and do the important task of keeping PEC supporters up to date. For this I am truly sorry. Between researching and publishing two documents for trustees, managing press calls, coordinating lawsuits, working on efforts to support the emotional needs of students and responding to literally thousands of emails a week, we have been completely overwhelmed. Even something as simple as writing an update letter has been difficult to squeeze in.
The good news is that we’ve added dozens of new PEC project managers who are in turn working with committees of volunteers—all working to convince trustees to reverse their vote and keep Randolph-Macon a WOMAN'S college. Our membership base has grown from students and alumnae to include faculty, parents, ex-trustees, trustee emeriti and even past college presidents.
I hope you've visited our website (www.preserveeducationalchoice.org). We have a new homepage and lots of new content. Please be sure to note and use our new support groups for students, parents and alumnae. PEC chairwomen of each of these groups are working hard to address issues within these groups.
There are many PEC efforts that you might not be aware of, and I'm sorry that PEC hasn't been able to announce publicly all of the details of our legal strategy and behind-the-scenes information campaigns. You know that much of litigation is about the element of surprise and making our strategy public would hinder our efforts to save the school. What follows is a brief summary of our work over the past few weeks.
PEC Timeline of Events
September 25: We accomplished the seemingly impossible. We recruited Jones Day, one of the largest law firms in the U.S. to work on two additional lawsuits on a pro bono basis. Jones Day worked feverishly on our cases for several weeks. However, the day we were to announce their involvement, Jones Day had to pull out due to an internal conflict of interest at Jones Day. It seems a retired Jones Day partner is married to an R-MWC trustee. We had another law firm of equal caliber step up and say they would take over the two lawsuits Jones Day was working on, but this law firm couldn't meet the expedited schedule that PEC required. So our agreement with DurretteBradshaw was extended to cover the two additional legal cases that will be filed if the trustees do not reverse their vote.
October 6th: PEC’s law firm, DurretteBradshaw, filed suit against R-MWC on behalf of nine students, claiming the college had breached its contract with the students. We are still awaiting a trial date for that case.
October 8-15: We continue to be amazed at the quality of work DurretteBradshaw produces and their undying dedication to saving R-MWC. In roughly a week this firm has spent untold hours getting our next case ready to be filed before the trustee meetings begin on October 18. While we are working diligently to attract another pro bono firm, it has not been possible given the expedited schedule required. Once our cases are filed, and the pace slows down, we have two more firms we're approaching for pro bono counsel, and we hope these firms will assist PEC. Having to pay for legal work is generating very high legal bills, but PEC saw no other way to meet the objective of reversing the trustees’ vote before Christmas.
October 10: A group of ex-trustees and trustee emeriti were organized to help PEC by calling trustees and discussing how the research presented in PEC's published reports should change their vote. PEC is unbelievably grateful to these former trustees for their support. It is their knowledge of college management that has been so successful in getting through to current trustees. They’ve done an unbelievable job.
October 12: PEC published two documents to educate and persuade trustees. Both of these documents can be found online at www.preserveeducationalchoice.org. The first document is titled "20 Reasons Trustees Should Change Their Vote: An Analysis of the Trustees’ Arguments Used for Coeducation" and the second is titled "What Every Trustee Should Know." Both have received kudos--even from the toughest audiences--for the depth of research presented. These documents have been pivotal in getting the conversation with trustees to focus on fact, and not simply emotion. These documents will also lay the groundwork for identifying operational issues that must be solved before R-MWC moves forward. Trustees are calling and emailing PEC board members, and we are having very productive conversations. We remain hopeful that these documents and conversations will help trustees change their vote. PEC has been asked by two trustees if we can present at this week's Board of Trustees' meeting. We hope this invitation will be formalized and that we can have a constructive conversation with the trustees. All of PEC's volunteers should be thanked for their work on the two published reports, because it took an army of volunteers to gather data, write, proofread and mail these documents. It was truly a PEC-wide effort.
This brings me to some very important news:
October 13: PEC has known all along that the September 9th vote taken by the trustees was not valid and that the trustees would have to ratify, or retake the vote, at its October meeting if it wanted to proceed legally in financing the implementation of the strategic plan. Knowing this has given us the drive to continue our work, but it has also necessitated that we were silent on this issue, yet working behind the scenes at a feverish pace to get all influences in place for the trustees' meeting this week. On October 13, PEC's law firm sent a letter to R-MWC's attorneys explaining why the trustees' vote was not valid. The letter is available on our website’s homepage. The letter explains that on September 9th, R-MWC's trustees first amended the articles of incorporation, then immediately took the vote to pass the strategic plan. By doing this, the trustees didn't follow Virginia corporate law (Virginia Code § 13.1-888) that requires R-MWC's amended articles of incorporation to be on file with the Virginia State Corporation Commission before a major business vote takes place. Filing the articles of incorporation takes 10 days. Because the vote is invalid, the vote must be retaken. This means that currently, the trustees have no authority to expend funds to implement the strategic plan. We believe trustees must retake their vote on the strategic plan at their next meeting on October 18-20.
Let me just say this: if the Board does fail to reaffirm its vote, then the only impact is that its invalid vote remains the only vote on the Strategic Plan. The longer they take to reaffirm their vote, the longer we have to convince trustees NOT to reaffirm it. Failure to affirm the vote does not change the fact that it was taken before the Board was authorized to do so.
October 16: DurretteBradshaw and our large group of pro bono attorneys worked hard through the weekend to get the second legal case drafted by today, before the trustees' board meeting in Lynchburg October 18-21. The drive and determination of these lawyers as well as the unreasonably late hours they've worked is nothing short of astonishing. No thanks or payment will ever be enough when this is all over. This new suit will first be given to trustees as a "courtesy copy." If the trustees do not reverse the vote, this new lawsuit will be filed early next week.
What You Can Do To Help
The trustee meeting this week, where trustees should re-take the vote, makes this week extremely critical. Here's what you can do: I ask that you all contact every supporter you know and kick up the email writing campaign to the Board at board@rmwc.edu one more time. Tell the trustees that you know that PEC has provided them with additional data from which to make their decision and that you know they will be required to revote--and that they must reverse their vote. If you know of a reporter who will cover our story, send them to the PEC website for all our documents and press releases or send the documents to a reporter yourself. It's time to bring all influence to bear.
With the speed at which PEC has been moving, the enormous amount of documents we’ve been producing, the hundreds of calls we’ve been making and the literally thousands of emails we’ve sent, we have not had the time to stop and ask PEC supporters for money. But the fact is, our lawyers are working tirelessly, knowing that PEC does not have the funds in its account to pay the bills. I would really appreciate it if you would send in a donation to PEC today. If you have pledged to PEC, please mail your pledge today. We currently need $35,000 in additional funds just to pay our current legal bill. If you want to pay via PayPal, you can do that online at our website.
Attendance at College-Sponsored Alumnae & Trustee Town Meetings
I’m sure you’ve all heard about the trustee meetings "coming to a town near you." It is imperative that you go and ask the pointed questions necessary to demonstrate to alumnae new to this coed fight that there is no strategic plan and that the budget for this plan will lead our school to ruin. The trustee meetings schedule can be found on the www.rmwc.edu website in the alumnae section under "events." Not sure where to start with your questions? Use the "20 Reasons Why You Should Change Your Vote" document available at the PEC website as a jumping-off point.
I encourage you to forward this email to other friends who want R-MWC to remain a women’s college, and it’s especially important that you send this letter to all alumnae who think the coed plan is a good idea. PEC has found that a good dose of PEC factual evidence helps others to see "that the emperor has no clothes."
Thanks again for everyone's support. Please forgive us for not coordinating and writing as we should---there just simply has not been enough time in the day. We will be better!
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