Presidential "Listening Tour" To Be Followed by "Ignoring Sessions"

To the adulation of hundreds of lighter-waving faculty wearing “Ransdell Tour 2009” t-shirts, The Western™ President Gary Ransdell announced that he will embark on a “listening tour” of the campus next month. During the Tour, he will meet with each academic department on campus to discuss the current and future direction of The Western™.

“Faculty input is always a crucial component of the university’s strategic planning process,” joked Ransdell. “I plan to give as much weight to faculty input on these issues as I have with all major decisions in the past few years. Division I-A football, for example.”

Public relations officer Robbin Taylor explained that President Ransdell will also host a BSA Consultation Summit (Friday, 10/2/09, 5-5:15pm, South Campus Vending Area) and form a Spirit Master Blue Ribbon “Future of The Western™” Commission, whose report will be due on August 25th.

“We figure that the President will talk at each department for 58 or 59 minutes, which will leave him a minute or two to ‘listen’ to faculty concerns,” Taylor noted.

She concluded, “By December, the President will have gathered scores of valuable, thoughtful suggestions to ignore when he sits down with the Athletic Director to flesh out the design and financing of the new football stadium expansion.”