Dear Vendor Policy Committee Members,
One of your charges from Elon’s Board of Trustees is to “conduct an independent study to respond to community concerns raised about Chick-fil-A’s presence on campus and its charitable contributions.” I understand that you are collecting and considering input through emails that are sent to vendorpolicy@elon.edu. While gathering input through email has many favorable qualities, I do not believe that email by itself is a sufficient method for gathering the thoughts of Elon constituents. I ask that the Vendor Policy Committee hold at least one public forum prior to submitting a summary report to the Board of Trustees.
An open and public forum reflects critical democratic practices that are necessary for gathering community input for the following reasons: (1) Deliberative decision making is aided by focused conversation and communication; email statements are qualitatively different from two-way, in-person communication. (2) Affective qualities of individual or group stories are often lost in written communication. (3) Open and public forums are standard practice for gathering input on policy decisions that impact the community. (4) Private emails lack transparency and effectively conceal accountability to Elon’s stated values. (5) Emails can be sent from anywhere in the world — perhaps favoring distant input from people far removed from campus who have little at stake.
I look forward to a robust public forum where vendor policy committee members listen to the concerns and experiences of Elon community members.
Sincerely,
Troy A. Martin
Associate Director of Academic Support and Advising