---------------------- Forwarded by Phillip M Love/HOU/ECT on 10/23/2000 
03:32 PM ---------------------------


"Love, Dianne" <love@cl.uh.edu> on 10/23/2000 01:19:30 PM
To: "'plove@enron.com'" <plove@enron.com>
cc:  
Subject: FW: Auburn Alumni Board Disaster




> -----Original Message-----
> From: Perdue, Grady
> Sent: Monday, October 23, 2000 12:56 PM
> To: Love, Dianne
> Subject: FW: Auburn Alumni Board Disaster
>
> Do you know anything about all of this stuff?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Flores-Olson, Linda
> Sent: Monday, October 23, 2000 12:15 PM
> To: Perdue, Grady
> Subject: FW: Auburn Alumni Board Disaster
>
> UHCL is not the only one...
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ott, Resa
> Sent: Monday, October 23, 2000 11:08 AM
> To: Flores-Olson, Linda
> Subject: Auburn Alumni Board Disaster
>
>
> This is from the Chronicle of Higher Ed
>
> Resa
>
> As Accusations Fly, Judge Orders Auburn Alumni Association to Hold New
> Election
> By COURTNEY LEATHERMAN <mailto:courtney.leatherman@chronicle.com>
> An election for new members of the Auburn Alumni Association's board
> turned so ugly Saturday that first the voting was postponed and then,
> after a state judge was called in, the whole thing was scrapped. The judge
> ordered the association to hold a new election in two weeks.
> Voting for a new slate of alumni leaders is traditionally a low-key
> affair, but it turned into high drama when an alternative slate of
> candidates was put forward at the last minute and at least 150 people
> showed up to vote. Beneath all the accusations -- that proxies were
> improperly collected and that fax machines were jammed to prevent opposing
> votes -- is the real issue: Next month, voters in Alabama will decide
> whether to amend the state constitution to change the way that Auburn's
> trustees are elected. If the referendum passes, as it is expected to,
> leaders of the alumni association will have a say in the selection of
> trustees.
> The amendment calls for the creation of a nominating committee consisting
> of the governor, two trustees, and two directors of the alumni
> association's board. Currently, trustees are appointed by the governor.
> On Saturday, seven nominees -- a new president, vice president, and five
> other members -- were to have been elected to the association's board. The
> slate, which was put forward in July by the association's nominating
> committee, included some people who have pushed for changes in the way
> that Auburn's trustees are elected. The proposed changes on this year's
> ballot include a measure that would establish term limits for Auburn's
> trustees and that would allow alumni who live outside of Alabama to serve
> as trustees, as well as involve alumni leaders in the selection of
> trustees. That's the legislation that will go before voters.
> Less than a week before the alumni association vote was to take place, an
> alternative slate for all the posts but president was put forward by the
> nominee for president, Golda McDaniels. Ms. McDaniels could not be reached
> for comment, but critics of the new slate believe that Ms. McDaniel was
> nervous about whether she would really be elected and sought proxy votes
> in her behalf from many alumni, including a controversial and long-time
> Auburn trustee, Robert E. Lowder.
> Mr. Lowder has opposed efforts to change the way trustees are selected,
> and his critics speculate that he saw an opening when Ms. McDaniels asked
> for his support: He planned to get her to put forward a whole new slate
> for all the other posts to be elected by proxy votes. The suggestion is
> that Mr. Lowder wanted to "take over" the alumni association so he and his
> allies could maintain control over the Board of Trustees.
> "We failed to realize the steps that Mr. Lowder will go to to not allow
> any alumni involvement in the election of trustees," said Andy Hornsby, a
> nominee to the alumni association's board and an outspoken advocate of
> changing the trustee-selection process.
> Mr. Lowder called the charges "ridiculous." He said his only involvement
> was that Ms. McDaniel had asked for his proxy vote and he had agreed to
> give it. "I was just trying to help the lady," he said, noting that she
> would be the first woman elected president of the alumni association. "I
> get blamed for everything over there," he said. Mr. Lowder accused the
> supporters of the original slate of improperly adjourning the meeting
> because they didn't have enough proxy votes to win.
> While Auburn's homecoming game against Louisiana Tech was going on, alumni
> leaders were meeting in Lee County Circuit Court, where Judge Jake Walker
> denied Ms. McDaniel's request to reconvene the election meeting and her
> request to end the period for proxy votes. Instead, the judge told the
> alumni association to hold a new election.
>
> Resa M. Ott
> Community Relations Coordinator
> University of Houston-Clear Lake
> Phone 281-283-2016, FAX 281-283-2017
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
>