Shimer Updates 3/26

This is the first of what will hopefully be a regular series of updates.

Things everyone should know:
- At the last Assembly, a new mission statement was affirmed unanimously.*
- The threat to the faculty is very real. Further details on this will hopefully be made public shortly.
- Shimer is facing what is likely to be a very challenging accreditation review next year (2011). This will absolutely require the united and dedicated efforts of the faculty in the current year. For even a single senior faculty member to be fired, or for the faculty to be distracted by month after month of ongoing turmoil, will place the school's continued accreditation -- and survival -- in grave peril.
- The composition of the Board will change in June. This will be to the advantage of the wrecking crew unless their less-attached members can be persuaded to resign or drop their support for Lindsay.

How you can help:
- Sign the petition calling for Thomas Lindsay's immediate resignation. Please use your real name. Over 200 Shimerians have already signed, including prominent alumni such as Young Kim and Dr. Sydney Spiesel. This petition makes an important and public statement about the position of the community.
- Know the facts, and share them. Here is a summary of events in Lindsay's tenure at Shimer that has been widely vetted.
- If you are willing to help in any capacity, please fill out this form.


More than anything, we desperately need people who are able to make at least a semi-daily commitment of time to help organize and direct the broader effort. This can even be done from the comfort of your own home... Please contact concerned.shimerians@gmail.com if you might be able to help.

*However, pending the formal adoption of that statement by the Board, the only legitimate mission statement of Shimer College remains the one that has been in effect for many years:

The mission of Shimer College is education —education for active citizenship in the world. Education is more than the acquisition of factual knowledge or the mastery of vocational skills. It is the process leading away from passivity, beyond either unquestioning acceptance of authority or its automatic mistrust, and towards informed, responsible action.