On Wednesday, October 25, 2023, the Stockton Board of Trustees held a meeting on Zoom to discuss their impact on the community.

The meeting opened with a statement from Trustee Nelida Valentin. “As required by the Open Public Meeting Act…a notice of this meeting and public hearing, the dates times, and locations of Stockton University Board of Trustees public meetings were posted on the university’s website, sent to the Press of Atlantic City, and the Daily Journal, and filed with the Secretary of State of New Jersey, Galloway Township clerk’s office and Atlantic County’s clerk office,” she announced.

President Joe Bertolino then read out the President’s Update, in which he commented on the success of his recent trip to Japan and South Korea and the unique experience of the Presidential transition. “We have received a number of questions about the transition. This is a new experience for the entire community. I think it’s important for us to remember that the last time a Presidential transition occurred at Stockton was actually 20 years ago. What is interesting here is when Harvey [Kesselman] became President, everyone knew who he was; he knew the campus, and so the transition, I think, was very, very different.”

Bertolino continued his update, saying, “I did have an opportunity to go to Asia with the governor and first lady…the goal of Stockton’s mission was to develop economic and educational relationships with institutions [abroad]. I was one of three university leaders on the trip.; the other two presidents were from Kean and NJIT. I think it matters that there were presidents present in the room…One, because it provided an opportunity for me to meet with some of my colleagues on the presidential level. It also gave me an opportunity to have some face-to-face time with the governor and first lady, the chief of staff…and other university leaders. I [also] signed an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding).”

He also announced the new date of his State of the University Address, stating that “The State of the University address, which I had postponed, will be next Monday (October 30) at 4:30 p.m. in the Campus Center. I am pleased to report that Osprey’s Day of Giving raised over $400,000.”

Valentin then read off the committee report. “In our September meeting, I had asked the nominating and governance committee to actually take on a review of our Bylaws. Part of the process for this special meeting is to call for a first reading, [and] we would have a second reading of this change at the December meeting.”

Trustee Madeleine Deininger then gave her report, which related to the changes to the bylaws. “How is it possible to give flexibility to the Board Chair and discretionary powers that have not previously been memorialized? The more I thought about it, the most important part of this rationale is to build flexibility for our new Chair, but also [for] the Chairs that follow.”

Trustee Timothy Lowry then spoke on changes to the bylaws, stating that “just for the Board’s consideration, we subscribe to the notion that good governance creates transparency for controls, decision making, and assists our leadership in its many decisions. It’s really designed to foster and align the interests of our stakeholders and many others for whom we, as Trustees, serve. We subscribe [to the] shared governance of our faculty, and believe that no one Trustee is more important than the other…we act as a board, a single voice. It’s a critical component of this. A board and its governance is a living, breathing vehicle that needs to reflect the present. The Board is now materially larger in size than it once was. Odd numbers allow for effective resolutions. We now have a new chair, a new president, and a new dawn before us.”

One of the key bylaws changes that the board discussed, aimed to clarify whether or not a former Board Chair can still serve on the board alongside a new Chair. This former Board Chair would not have voting power, but they would still provide advice and counsel to the new Chair. Valentin gave each member three minutes to provide their position on the new changes.

Bertolino offered the official reading of the bylaws, stating that he was “pleased to request a revision of the following policies recommended by policy administrators, I-9 Board of Trustees Bylaws: I recommended that the Board of Trustees conduct the first reading of the policies of the October 25th meeting, followed by approval of the recommendations for second reading and vote on the updated policies of the December 6th, 2023 meeting. The policy has been updated as follows: revised to include the expectations of accountability and the performance of the Trustee’s duties, revised to specify the Board may elect…[no] more than two vice chairs, revised to permit the chair to appoint to the executive committee additional members from the standing committee chair, deleted compensation committee as a standing committee the duties of this committee are performed by the full Board.”

Trustee Michelle Keates spoke on her view of the bylaws. “Nelida, when you called and told me that you wanted to increase the size of the executive committee to make sure that all relevant parties were at the table, there was no mention of removing the immediate past chair as a non-voting position. In 2018, the Board amended the bylaws to include the immediate past chair as a non-voting member. This was actually a formulation of an already existing practice prior to 2018. Why was this being done? The prior Board of Trustees understood that having an immediate past chair at the table, with their wisdom and comprehension of the challenges facing the university, benefited not only the executive committee but the full board and most importantly, Stockton.”

It was clear from Trustee Keates’ statement that she was in favor of having a prior chair as a non-voting board member. Trustee Nancy Davis and Trustee Stanley Ellis would later join her, citing that the experience of a past chair is beneficial and a past chair could help a new chair. Trustee Deininger brought up a counterpoint, questioning the possibility of whether a new chair and past chair could be at odds if this change does not pass.

Trustee Sonia Gonsalves also provided her insight on the bylaws: “I saw the opportunity of expanding the executive committee to include more members, I saw that as a positive diversity move. We are a bigger board and I would appreciate input from a broader set of voices. Rather than excluding the voice of the past chair, I saw it as an opportunity to include the voice of someone with new perspectives. The input from the past chair would always be accessible to the committee.”

Trustee Lowry then mentioned that “…We [the Board] are undergoing a significant amount of change. It’s precisely for those reasons, that in the committee’s mind, the chair needs to have the flexibility. This is not personal, nothing in the revisions is exclusionary. The point here is that as the board has increased in size, we need to give the chair the flexibility to put the right bodies in that room depending upon the issue to address it. Informal policies and procedures…can be a cancer to an organization, especially one that can be as complicated as Stockton.”

Trustee Kristi Hanselmann weighed in on the discussion, saying, “Serving on many committees and many boards, I really think, [while] Trustee Keates’ points were all valid…it’s really looking at it from two different perspectives. I think when we as a board elect our chair, we have to trust that that person is going to do the job that we elected them to do, as well as the vice chair and the secretary. We need to be able to give them the ability and their discretion to put the people in the room to help them succeed. As Tim pointed out, the past chairman is only a phone call away.”

After each board member who wished to make a statement did so, they began the voting process. The majority voted against the motion, meaning that a former chair will not be officially alongside an existing one in order to provide more flexibility and discretion.