Magnanimity from the new UF president

We took great pleasure in reading this message from Dr Michels at the end of
the last semester. After hectoring Sue Shattuck for several weeks publicly for information he could have
obtained from a reading of the UF Constitution, the _Agreement_ between the UF and the District,
and making a couple of phone calls to Sue, Patti Acuña, or any of the three UF VPs (one of whom sat
across his office, CCC VP Pointer), Dr Michels here speaks in generic terms on the amount of work Sue did
over the past four years. That he does it in terms of "personal commitment" is revealing--suggesting his ignorance
of what political or union commitment might be. And that he ends with his confession that he is not saying all this "simply to be magnanimous" allows us that look into someone who knows that he is saying words in part so that he WILL be seen as magnanimous. Wonderful piece of work.
_____
...Now is the time to thank and congratulate
Sue Shattuck for her effective leadership over these years. She,
Irene Menegas, and the entire negotiating team and executive board
deserve our appreciation for what they protected and what they
accomplished during this difficult period.

Sue in particular deserves recognition for her personal commitment to
the faculty of this district. Not only has she worked tirelessly, she
has also worked not only for the benefit of the faculty as a whole,
for faculty at each of the colleges, for full-time and part-time
faculty, but even for individual faculty members. When there was a
problem that affected one person or a few people, Sue worked hours
trying to protect the welfare of that one person.

Whatever Monday-morning quarterbacking various faculty may do, we must
also acknowledge both the achievements and the dedication of our
out-going president. Whatever mistakes she made (as any of us make
mistakes), no one could have shown more persistence, more courage or
integrity in leading our union. I do not say this simply to be
magnanimous, but because I think it needs to be said publicly that
even we who have sometimes criticized the current leadership
understand the debt we owe them.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Michels