Internal Affairs...Round 3

Went to St Cloud with Jake for another IA meeting. This one was about 3.5 hours, and we actually got out of there on time...amazing for an MSUSA meeting. Had 6 of 7 campuses...Mankato opted not to attend, and instead sent an email stating that they were happy with the changes discussed two weeks ago, and trusted the rest of us to finish the job. Hopefully they sing the same tune when they see the revised draft of the Bylaws.

And they should. I wouldn't say too many of today's changes were particularly huge...most of those had already been hashed out. But I think we closed some gaps, and did it fairly efficiently. One thing I will say is THANK GOD we did today's meeting "live"...some had fought for ITV at the last meeting, and after sitting through an ITV meeting for the Rev Fund yesterday, I can say that an IA meeting via ITV would have been horrible. There is a lot to be said for sitting around a table together, especially for something like this...going through documents and designing changes that are huge for the organization.

In general, this experience thus far has been pretty cool. A year ago, campuses were at each other constantly, the big school small school mentality was raging, Board, delegation and staff morale were low, and the issues with the ex-ED were just beginning to hit the fan. The organization was a mess. If anyone would have told me then that we'd be sitting today together, trying to work things out, and that progress was actually being made, I probably would not have believed it....

Fast forward to today: new leaders, new staff, new ideas, and perhaps the best campaign the organization has ever run. And we sit together, not as 7 parts regularly bickering, but as a whole, working toward a common goal to improve things for everyone's benefit. We've all made compromises, and we've gained in return. We've been able to put aside our differences and reach some consensus for the first time I can recall.

It's really something to be proud of.