Eastern Mennonite University - Shenandoah Yearbook (Harrisonburg, VA)

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TRUSTEES and PRESIDENT 20

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EMC is — including students and all staff members from custodian to secretary, class president to college president — over a thousand people. It takes genuine effort for a thousand people to achieve a total community. But in the total community are other smaller communities. Isn’t it possible that, for some, this year at EMC did mean genuine community? For others it meant lack of community. And it all depended on what you were looking for — and found or didn’t find. — faculty John King, Janice Weber 19

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President and Mrs. Augsburger For many students, the trustees are an anonymous blur with no personality. One student commented, “‘It is an impersonal word with no meaning for me.” Another student stated, ‘I hardly know they exist.” But despite their obscurity in the eyes of many students, the trustees are the core of the legal organiza- tion of EMC. The college is owned and operated by the thirty-two trustees who represent seven Mennonite District Conferences of Eastern United States. Virginia Conference elects sixteen of the trustees, giving it repre- sentation and power greatly out of propoftion to the number of Virginia Conference students at EMC. The remaining members are elected by the trustees themselves from nominations submitted by the District Conferences. “The trustees are all men,’” a student pointed out. One administrator predicted that there will be a woman trustee within the next two to four years. “Power” was one student's first impression of the trustees. It is true that ultimate responsibility and power for the running of the college are in their hands. Howev- er, on a practical level, the trustees’ power is invested in the president of the college. The president, employed by the trustees, is their delegate on campus to carry out policies and make decisions. A member of the administration described the trustees’ association with the president as “a relationship of trust.” The trustees are organized into a series of working committees designed to involve them more intimately with the actual running of the college. The committees — development, finance, religious welfare, academic affairs, and student affairs — work closely with corre- sponding divisions within the college community. The chairmen of these committees, with the exception of religious welfare, make up the executive committee of the trustees which meets monthly. In addition to their immediate responsibilities for hiring faculty and approving budgets, the trustees are concerned with the future of EMC. This year, they com- missioned the Committee on the Future of EMC to look objectively at goals and philosophy of EMC for the next ten years and beyond. 21