Minutes of the 1st ever PUC Meeting, 5/12/2004

Members Present: President Thames, Ms. Wanda Naylor, and 15 of the 18 nominated faculty, staff, and students.

Guests attending: Deans Doty, Exline and Gandy; 12 or so assorted faculty and students.

10:00a.m. Meeting called to order by Dr. Thames, who pointed out that USM has many thousands of employees who come from all walks of life.  Communication, therefore, is vital to becoming a world class university.  Dr. Thames then pointed out that he was contacted by Ms. Wanda Naylor, and Training Coordinator in the HR Department at USM.  Ms. Naylor requested that she run the meeting, and Thames said "by all means."  He then turned the meeting over to Ms. Naylor and said everyone was to follow her instructions for the remaining 2 hours.

10:10am: Ms. Naylor took over.  She instructed everyone that "no issues" were to be discussed.  Dr. Fraschillo replied "goody!".  Ms. Naylor indicated that several lessons about change, authority and "trust building" would take place instead.

First on the agenda was reading time.  Ms. Naylor read the story: "5 little monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell off and bumped his head.  The mama called the doctor and the doctor said, 'no more monkeys jumping on the bed.'  Four little monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell off and bumped his head.  The mama called the doctor and the doctor said . . . . . ."  She then asked members what the lesson was of the story.  Dr. Greer replied "counting backwards from 5."  Ms. Naylor responded, "no, not quite..."  Dr. Fraschillo responded eagerly, "we should always respect the authority of those above us and never question it," to which Ms. Naylor responded, "exactly, Thomas...good boy..."

At about 10:45am Ms. Naylor showed a management training video.  At this point Dr. Butko go up and left, saying that he was opting for home schooling instead.  That left the PUC with 14 people.  The video showed the several stages of adapting to change, including "grief."  Ms. Naylor pointed out that "grief" was the stage USM faculty were currently experiencing.  Dr. Green raised his hand and innocently asked, "Ms. Naylor, what happens to professors when they get suspended or fired?"  Ms. Naylor responded, "Well Dr. Green, they get to go home and spend lots more time with the people who love and care for them.  It's a good thing, believe me."  Dr. Green smiled with satisfaction.

11:00am Ms. Naylor indicated that it was milk time.  Dr. Fraschillo volunteered to collect the orders, which were 5 chocolate, 6 white, and 3 indicating they were allergic to dairy products and weren't allowed to drink them.

11:15am  After milk time, Ms. Naylor passed out crayons to the group to draw squares and rectangles.  Ms. Naylor put some soothing music on (in the background), and all the PUC members colored in between the lines nicely.

11:30am  Ms. Naylor attempted to adjourn the meeting early, and without scheduling any further meetings.  David Johnson, graduate student of social work, pointed out that no issues had been discussed and that no future meetings had been scheduled.  Ms. Naylor tried to calm him down, but Mr. Johnson was insistent.  Ms. Naylor placed him in "time out" for 10 minutes and excused everyone else.