Back in 1954, Dwight D. Eisenhower said that "politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free men." I think his sentiment is still very valid today (though perhaps I would have preferred the use of a more inclusive language, but Ike lived in a different era).
Inspired by Eisenhower’s words and perhaps by this memorable scene from The West Wing (where President Bartlett quotes Margaret Mead), I decided to run for the Law Faculty Council this year against the prudent advice of most - if not all - of my friends/colleagues. It turned out that only 4 staff members (including myself) actually signed up to serve on the Council, which had 5 open seats. While I am happy to serve my faculty for the next 2 years in this capacity, I found it a tad disheartening to know that people generally do not care (that much) about who presides over these councils. My sneaking suspicion about the cause of this apathy is that people do not care enough to engage because: 1) they are already over-burdened with multitudes of other tasks, 2) they are cynical about the impact that these councils actually have, and/or 3) the combination of the two.
University politics - much like politics in general - does feel like a breeding ground for cynicism and disgruntlements. It’s a lot easier to avoid it all together, while throwing the occasional shade from the sidelines. I for one did this for many years, often just complaining about the things I didn’t like or how someone in charge was “messing up” without really having a full grasp of what is going on or doing something tangible to change it. But a few years back, I realized that this really gets us nowhere, so I decided to engage more actively with matters that impacted all of us.
During my last few years of so-called engagement with university politics and molding of its policies, I have been fortunate enough to meet a group of like-minded, hard-working colleagues with a strong set of values and vision. We’ve gotten together to create the LEAD Party (Leadership for an Equitable Academic Democracy), which is an interfaculty group of academic and support staff, striving to make our university a more supportive and inclusive community.
So while I was spared the burden of campaigning for myself during this election cycle (which kicked off today), I would like to campaign on behalf of my wonderful party members running for University Council. They are all wonderful, dedicated staff members interested in making our University a better place. There are important challenges that lie ahead, from the internationalization debate to implementing Recognition & Rewards and creating a much safer working environment for everyone in the UM community. I would trust each and everyone of these candidates to selflessly dedicate their time and effort for the betterment of all of us here at the UM. With that in mind, I ask - for the UM staff members amongst us - to vote for one of them by following this link. Even for those outside of the UM, I hope that my vaguely disguised virtue signaling serves to remind you of that Edmund Burke quote (which I feel like Mead paraphrased): “Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who does nothing because he could do only a little."*
*(Seriously, these old white folks with their male-dominant pronouns. This would be one of those issues that if you vote for LEAD, we will work towards addressing in a constructive, non-militant manner).