March 1982
COLUMNS
Page 3
Trustees prepare to discuss important matters of Louisburg College.
A
Trustee
Is...
Columns: What is a trustee?
Dean Eller: A trustee is a person who
is entrusted with the business of
the college. That is to say, a trustee
is a person who makes up the full
board of trustees. Those trustees
prescribe broad, general policies for
iDuisburg College. They are the
only individuals who would have
the authority to do certain things at
the college; like, they are the indi
viduals who establish the budget
on a year-to-year basis. They are
the individuals who determine what
buildings are going to be built.
They are the individuals who,
essentially, prescribe what our rules
and regulations are in broad terms.
Of course, the Methodist Confe
rence owns Louisburg College, but
the Methodist Conference has
established that there will be a
Board of Trustees in whom the
power resides. Of course, the
trustees then are businessmen and
professional people who have their
own concerns. They hire indi
viduals such as the President and
myself to attend to the day-to-day
activities.
Columns: So the Board of Trustees
actually answer to the Methodist
Conference?
Dean Eller; If they answer to anybody,
they answer to the Methodist
Conference. Their position is such
that they are the ultimate party
here at the college.
Columns: How is a trustee's position
filled?
Dean Eller: There is a nominating
committee on the Board of
Trustees which seeks out, finds
individuals who share a strong
abiding interest in higher educa
tion, specifically a strong interest in
higher education as it pertains to
Methodism and want to do
something to help assure that
young people as they come along,
evei-y generation of young people,
still have a Louisburg College to
attend if they want.
Columns: So these are the qualifi
cations?
Dean Eller: That's how they are
selected. Now, once they are
nominated on that basis, then the
Board of Trustees themselves
actually, vote on new members.
What prescribes the characteristics
of a trustee? 1 suppose you can say
they are broadly varying. But those
characteristics I mentioned: ones
with a very strong interest in
education, particularly Methodist-
related education, and a strong
desire to help young people get
that education, I suppose they are
the two main qualifications. Now
other things we are looking for in a
trustee are a good sense of fiscal
responsibility; we want tp diversify
thinking on the Board. We want
businessmen. We want political
leaders. We want church leaders.
We want educators. We want
administrators. We want a broad
spectrum of people across the
board because that way we can
keep Louisburg College viable.
Columns: How do Trustees work with
the faculty and with the students?
Dean Eller: You mean the actual
mechanics of how they work with
them? The trustees have their own
committees. For instance, there is a
Student Affairs Committee. Mr.
Paul Barringer, who is the president
of Coastal Lumber Company, is the
chairman of it. Let's assume, for
instance, that there was something
going on in student activities that
required trustee input or approval.
Let's assume that the students and
the S.G.A. wanted to extend
visitation hours. What they would
do is submit this proposal to me. 1
would approve, disapprove, or
maybe send it back requesting
changes. Once it reaches me in the
state that I can approve, 1 will then
take it to the President. The two of
us would approach Mr. Barringer
saying that we have something
here that we want the Student
Affairs Committee and the Board
of Trustees to look at, consider,
and hopefully accept our recom
mendation. Then he will get the
committee together to discuss this.
I will be a part of that committee.
Probably we will invite in the
president of the S.G.A. to discuss
the matter. If the Student Affairs
Committee of the Board of
Trustees approves it, then they will
take it as a recommendation to the
full Board, which only meets twice
a ysar. The proposal will be
approved, disapproved, or sent
back to the committee for further
work.
Those are the channels. The
same channels will work in any
area, whether they are academic
affairs, finance, or whatever. There
is a committee on the Board of
Trustees to work through the
individual problems of Louisburg
College. When the full Board meets
their job is to approve or
disapprove the committee's rec
ommendations.
Columns: How long is a trustee's
term?
Dean Eller: Four years.
Columns: Since the Trustees set forth
the policies concerning the college
and its students, how much weight
does the S.G.A. carry if they would
like to challenge a policy?
Dean Eller: Well, I think the weight of
any organization, particularly the
S.G.A., is directly relative to the
amount of logic and reason that is
behind the proposal, and whether
or not that proposal fits in with the
broad, general policies of Louis
burg College. So it is very difficult
to say what any particular proposal
would do with the Board of
Trustees and how much weight it
would carry with them.
Columns: Would you care to
comment on the Board of Trustees'
outlook? Is it liberal, conservative,
or in between?
Dean Eller: Louisburg is certainly not
an ultraconservative college even
among the Methodists. As a matter
of fact, we are more liberal than
either of our two sister institutions
which are both four-year colleges,
Wesleyan or Methodist College. On
the other hand, we are not as liberal
as say our big sister, Duke
University, which is also a
Methodist College. We are some
where in the middle.
Columns: Would you care to
elaborate a little bit on the Board of
Trustees' involvement in the Third
Century Campaign?
Dean Eller: Sure, I'd be glad to. The
Board of Trustees is basically
responsible for the success of the
Third Century Campaign. It's
gratifying to attend a Board
meeting and realize that these men
and women, sitting around you, are
so concerned with the well being of
Louisburg College that they them
selves have contributed well over a
million dollars to this campaign.
Columns: That's a lot of money.
Dean Eller: When you think of this
coming out of a small group of
people, it gives you some idea of
just what their concern is. These
people aren't paid a dime for the
giving of their time and energy to
sit on the Trustees' Board at
Louisburg College. They, in fact,
are givers, not takers. They give to
Louisburg College, and it's been a
real, almost an inspirational kind of
experience for me to see the kind of
effort these Trustees have made to
insure the success of this cam
paign. Not only do they give
personally, but they contact people
that they know. You see, these are
businessmen and leaders of their
communities and they come from
all over the South. They are not just
local people at all. We do have
some very fine local Trustees who
give their time, money, energy, and
ideals. We've got other people who
are from Raleigh, Eastern North
Carolina, and all over the place who
drive to Louisburg, who get
involved and go back home to their
own towns and cities and talk with
their friends and other business
leaders in their communities to get
them excited about Louisburg
College. They do it because they
are interested in young people,
people just like yourself.
Columns: In a summary, you can
almost say that a trustee is an
invisible friend to the student?
Dean Eller: Unfortunately they are
invisible to most students, or if
students think of them at all, it's
the way I use to think when I was a
student: that these people really
had no direct relation to the
college. Yes, they are an invisible
friend with the accent on friend.
They are very much a friend to
Louisburg College and to the
students at Louisburg College.
Chuck Satterwhite
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