pennswoods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
pennswoods) wrote2025-09-02 10:45 am
pennswoods) wrote2025-09-02 10:45 am
Entry tags:
The Constraints of Leadership
The organization I am president of just had its first monthly board meeting of the new academic year this morning. It was good seeing everyone again. Lots of decisions to be made and plans for next steps including our spring elections. I am not planning to run as president again, unless no one steps into the role. I intended to be vice president so I could offer continuity and support to our new president.
Anyway, one of the non perks of being a president is being responsible for more than the average member and also having my choices reflect the valuations of the organization and not just my own. This is about Israel.
In the spring, we had a long discussion and voted that the board would need to approve the organization partnering with entities that did or did not meet the organization's values. By democratic vote, it was decided that individual members could affiliate or partner with whomever they want but if they were doing it on behalf of the organization or as a representative of the organization, then this would need to be agreed to by the board. Such a situation has come up. There is a sort of European grant application going in that requires inclusion of a network. Last fall, I joined the network and listed my affiliation as UNICollaboration based in Belgium. The application did not get funded but it being resubmitted.
The challenge is that the grant application is being headed by two colleagues, one from a Spanish university, and one from an Israeli university. The board voted that I could not join the network as a representative of UNICollaboration because the Israeli university is one that is not aligned with our organization's values. In other words, I can join the network but I will need to list my US university as my affiliation. I am not sure if I can be a member with a non-European (or European adjacent) affiliation.
I now obviously have to tell my two colleagues this, both of whom are members of the organization I am president of. I don't feel good about this and I am not looking forward letting these colleagues down and also probably alienating the Israeli colleague from the organization. My friendship with the Spanish colleague has already been tested by other decisions made by the majority vote of the leadership of this organization and I think he will be leaving this organization and no longer supporting it, even though he was its founding president.
I am writing this to process. I feel icky and spineless and also sad. Like I said, this does not reflect my all of my values. I guess it reflects some of my values. Unlike the asshole in the White House, I am not an autocrat and I do believe in the democratic values of the organization I am a part of. I'm not interested in throwing down and doing what I want and waiting for a court order or something to force me to stop (like being voted out for violating the statutes). So I am in fact acting within some of my values.
Anyway, one of the non perks of being a president is being responsible for more than the average member and also having my choices reflect the valuations of the organization and not just my own. This is about Israel.
In the spring, we had a long discussion and voted that the board would need to approve the organization partnering with entities that did or did not meet the organization's values. By democratic vote, it was decided that individual members could affiliate or partner with whomever they want but if they were doing it on behalf of the organization or as a representative of the organization, then this would need to be agreed to by the board. Such a situation has come up. There is a sort of European grant application going in that requires inclusion of a network. Last fall, I joined the network and listed my affiliation as UNICollaboration based in Belgium. The application did not get funded but it being resubmitted.
The challenge is that the grant application is being headed by two colleagues, one from a Spanish university, and one from an Israeli university. The board voted that I could not join the network as a representative of UNICollaboration because the Israeli university is one that is not aligned with our organization's values. In other words, I can join the network but I will need to list my US university as my affiliation. I am not sure if I can be a member with a non-European (or European adjacent) affiliation.
I now obviously have to tell my two colleagues this, both of whom are members of the organization I am president of. I don't feel good about this and I am not looking forward letting these colleagues down and also probably alienating the Israeli colleague from the organization. My friendship with the Spanish colleague has already been tested by other decisions made by the majority vote of the leadership of this organization and I think he will be leaving this organization and no longer supporting it, even though he was its founding president.
I am writing this to process. I feel icky and spineless and also sad. Like I said, this does not reflect my all of my values. I guess it reflects some of my values. Unlike the asshole in the White House, I am not an autocrat and I do believe in the democratic values of the organization I am a part of. I'm not interested in throwing down and doing what I want and waiting for a court order or something to force me to stop (like being voted out for violating the statutes). So I am in fact acting within some of my values.