January 22, 2025

To the trustees: Maybe it’s the case that all of you have a crystal-clear idea of what President Joyner’s plan is for the future of St. Norbert College. I can only speak for myself, as a rather interested bystander, and say that I certainly don’t have a clue—only a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Still, I suspect at least a few of you share my confusion and anxiety, judging from what I heard back from my previous note. That being so, I am taking the liberty of sharing here some updates, and a few observations, that you might find germane as you go into an unusually momentous February meeting. And make no mistake—if you authorize the drastic faculty cuts being proposed, you—the people entrusted with the long-term welfare of SNC—may instead be killing it.

Q: What is the scope of the proposed faculty cuts? A: As I think you know, the affected faculty have been notified that their positions have been recommended for elimination. As they furtively compared notes, a general sense emerged that there were 35 to 40, give or take a few. Given all the previous vandalism inflicted on the instructional staff there, I frankly haven’t a clue what percentage of the remaining fulltime faculty 40 jobs represents. But obviously it’s huge—crippling, without doubt.

As I’ve heard it, all of the art department faculty will be eliminated. All of the music department faculty. All of the theater department. All of geology/earth sciences. All (but one person?) in chemistry. All of physics. Most of history (all but two?) will be gone. So will plenty of other “one-offs” strewn around various other departments. Then, as we mentioned, there is maybe the most astounding stroke of chutzpah—proposing to eliminate the entirety of the Theology and Religious Studies department. At a Catholic college.

Q: Do we have actual names of the affected professors? A: I haven’t seen a comprehensive list. But just to give you a flavor of the caliber and character of the people we’re talking about, here are just a few of the targeted professors: Bridget Burke-Ravizza and Tom Bolin, theologians of national stature. Beloved geologists and earth sciences faculty Tim Flood, Nelson Ham and Becky McKean, who collectively have provided 70 years or more of outstanding teaching, research and student development. The longtime guiding spirit of the art department, Brian Pierman, and his irrepressibly talented young colleague, Katie Ries…gone. Philosopher Ben Chan—who charmed millions of Americans with his long runs on Jeopardy! and brought St. Norbert College untold positive publicity—gone. Imagine marching talent like that off your campus—then multiply by five. Of course, if I’m mistaken as to any of the above, I certainly invite President Joyner to set us all straight. Q: That all sounds very bad. What is this doing to the morale of the remaining faculty? A: Morale? There is no morale. Virtually every faculty member who can be on the job market is on the job market. Even as I was writing this, I received word that a star professor in one of your most popular majors will be leaving SNC for another liberal arts college. You are hemorrhaging talent.

Q: Does all this cutting put our HLC accreditation at risk? A: I don’t see how it can’t. If these cuts go through, SNC’s already precarious (given the slashing of the past year and a half) ability to staff its classrooms will be destroyed altogether. Accreditation 101 asks a simple question: Can you deliver the courses you’ve promised to your students, to ensure their timely progress to degree? No doubt President Joyner will be assuring you that even with these cuts, SNC will still be able to staff its course obligations. But the people in Academic Affairs who actually have to build class schedules have run these new scenarios and determined that you categorically cannot. Now, the president has privately asserted that we needn’t fret, that Norbertines will step into the classroom breach—kind of a charmingly quaint notion, I’m sure you’d agree. But as we know, most of the younger Norbertines are not qualified or trained to teach, and some who have already been approached have balked at the very idea. They are White Fathers, not white knights.

Especially impacted would be SNC’s general-education, or “core,” curriculum that is required for all students. And that makes sense. SNC’s core classes are deeply grounded in the humanities, but Main Hall proposes to dismiss most of the humanities faculty. Similarly, how can you deliver the courses to fulfill the college’s second-language requirement when you’ve kneecapped your foreign-languages faculty? And who will teach science requirements for non-science majors when you’ve fired your chemists and physicists?

As you know, the Higher Learning Commission also pays great attention to how, and whether, an institution is fulfilling its stated mission; thus, actions that appear to directly contravene SNC’s own stated mission will be of great concern to them. What do I mean? Well, SNC is a Catholic college, but how can it deliver a Catholic-based education with no Religious Studies faculty? You say you’re a liberal arts college, but how can that be so if you have no arts-related faculty? If your Bob and Carol Bush Arts Center is literally empty? If your always vibrant Pennings Hall of Fine Arts becomes a ghost town and the Walter Theatre is perennially dark? Quite aside from the deleterious impact this will have on current and prospective students, consider what a blow this would represent to a greater Northeast Wisconsin community you purport to serve. Dear old Dudley Birder is surely whirling in his grave.

Then there’s the Norbertine piece of your mission. As most of you know, the accreditors already had a stern chat with Abbot Radecki, in their 2023 visit, about instances of the order’s overreach into the governance and administration of the college. Given that, the accreditors might want to know how eliminating the college’s theology faculty can possibly help undergird the Norbertine aspect of your mission—just as they might reasonably wonder (entirely hypothetically, of course) what it means if, mysteriously, a year from now some new bodies turn up in Religious Studies who just happen to be “bishop approved.” Would that suggest that this “elimination” of TRS was just a ruse all along? (And don’t kid yourself; unless I miss my guess, the positions you are being asked to “eliminate” are not really going away; they’re just being emptied of the tenured people who inconveniently occupy them now. Read the fine print. Theoretically a president could come back and use them as he or she liked.)

You get the idea. In the likely event that certain key constituencies—say outraged students or outraged parents or outraged alumni or outraged faculty (past and present)—decide to lodge a formal complaint with the HLC, the accreditors might well be inclined to come back for an emergency visit and ask a lot of awkward questions. Which is well within its rights to do. For one thing, it is almost unheard of for an outwardly healthy, respected institution like SNC to engage in the kind of radical self-harm it has undertaken this past two years. For another, SNC asserted certain campus conditions and intentions to HLC in 2023; if circumstances have deviated so dramatically, the HLC will be forgiven for thinking it’s been double-crossed by SNC on a whole host of fronts. Needless to say, if and when the HLC accreditors come back, they will be turning to you Trustees for answers—chief among them: Did you have a clear idea what you were doing with these draconian cuts? And to what purpose? Best to be sure of those answers now, I should think, rather than later.

Q: Staying with accreditation, will it matter to the HLC that since your 2023 reaccreditation, SNC suddenly has more paid consultants running its key divisions and departments (e.g., Business and Finance; Development; Communications and so on) than actual permanent vice presidents? A: Indeed it will. Perhaps the most important accreditation standard involves institutional leadership: Are a school’s key executives qualified, working to fulfill its goals and mission, functioning effectively as a team? Accreditors consider it a giant red flag and a sign of ongoing instability when a college is routinely replacing its permanent key executives with “hired hands” whose only fealty is to the president personally. (By the way, they also consider it a major red flag when they encounter a president who resolutely refuses to let his or her key executives interact with Trustees—and tries to tell Trustees who they can, and can’t, speak with on campus.)

Related, given that the main issue at SNC is financial, the accreditors might wonder why the current administration is doing virtually no fundraising. As I understand it, the only substantive gift that President Joyner has secured is a commitment from the Norbertines that Abbot Radecki was—to be blunt about it—holding hostage from Brian Bruess (and then from me in my interim year). This was in regard to its expected commitment to the Support What Matters campaign, and here I would remind you that St. Norbert College is the De Pere order’s primary apostolate. Put another way, SNC is essentially the abbey’s only reason to exist. Yet instead of being financially supportive of the campaign, like virtually every other sponsoring order in America, the De Pere Norbertines have been essentially extorting the college to get their way. Norbertine values, indeed.

Q: Okay, but aren’t we in this dire financial crisis? A: I in no way want to downplay the seriousness of the financial crunch there. SNC is operating in a brutally challenging environment, and by now you’re all sick to death of hearing about the demographic cliff and spiraling discount rates that are plaguing so many liberal arts colleges. Obviously, the college has needed to respond with responsible budget cutting (including shrinking faculty and staff), market analyses, outsourcing where practical, evaluating student demand for certain majors, and other steps. Many of you will recall that even in my interim year, we were doing a lot of that, and in fact we spent that full year investigating the enrollment environment and shaping an academic vision precisely to help the college (and its incoming president) be better positioned to respond as it moved forward.

The problem is, the administration keeps coming back for more, and more, and more, and it never stops. And while we know enrollment is still dropping, the scale of cutting she seeks now seems to far outstrip the severity of the enrollment slide, at least up to the present. More startling yet are the president’s characterizations of outlying years, which we all know are crapshoots even in the best of times. Even conceding the ongoing disruptions following Covid, **the projected deficit numbers we’re hearing from Main Hall seem so random, and so untethered from previous experience (not to mention common sense), as to be preposterous. ** Indeed, a skeptic might consider it all one big scare tactic, a manipulation from someone in whose interest it would be to make campus believe utter calamity was imminent. Why? Well, the better to get a free hand from her Trustees to create whatever “alternative” version of SNC she might have in mind—say, Ave Maria University North, or the prettiest little vo-tech campus you’ve ever seen, or some unholy hybrid of same. I’ve heard all sorts of things and, well, your guess is as good as mine. But whatever President Joyner’s SNC of the future does look like, to make it a reality you can bet she intends to draw on those faculty lines she now wishes to forcibly vacate.

Finally on this point, I remind you what I told you back in 2023, and reiterate now: among Midwest liberal arts colleges, SNC is uniquely positioned to weather these challenges. For starters, it has an enviable endowment that the two-year bull market presumably has only fattened. It has enjoyed a sterling reputation, a national ranking that has risen for fifteen straight years, a low debt ratio, and a state-of-the art campus with very little deferred maintenance. Which is to say, you still have considerable resources, most of which SNC’s direct competitors do not.

You also used to have a nationally recognized leader in enrollment management, Ed Lamm, overseeing your student recruitment. How peculiar then that, at a college facing enrollment challenges, President Joyner elected not to meet with Ed in person—literally, no face time with him—in his last two months before, in despair, he gave his notice. Now, think about that a minute. The situation would make no sense whatsoever—unless you have a president who was not actually interested in solving her enrollment predicament at a “status quo” SNC.

Q: So what are we supposed to do? A: I guess I should direct this in particular to the board’s Executive Committee members, as I gather that, more than ever, you do the debating of action items that are then more or less presented to the rest of the Trustees as a fait accompli. For what it’s worth, you should know that this rankles some of your Trustee colleagues. Also for what it’s worth, be aware that “freezing out” broad swaths of a board can be another serious accreditation issue, as it is a flagrant abrogation of best practices in governance. Regardless, the president is about to ask you to take your most rash step yet in her retrenchment plans. So at the very least, I’d take a breath. As the physicians say, first do no (more) harm. Then, if I were in your shoes, I would pick up the phone and call former CFO Eileen Jahnke, who still lives there in Green Bay. I’d retain her for two months or so, to scour the ledgers and accounts, and report back to you with her best independent judgment as to the state of SNC’s financial picture—now, and what she estimates for the next year or two. Eileen knows the college inside and out, and as most of you know she has utter integrity. Of course, I have no idea whether Eileen would want to insert herself back into what has become the veritable hellscape of Main Hall. But if she was promised a free hand—that is, absolutely no interference from the president or anyone else—I suspect she might. Anyway, once you had Eileen’s report, you’d certainly be much better positioned to evaluate these or any other dramatic budget proposals.

Q: Obviously the Medical College of Wisconsin is a vital partner for us. Do we know what they think about all this? A: You should know that for more than a year, 88the dean of the Green Bay-area campus of MCW, Dr. Matt Hunsaker, tried repeatedly to sit down with President Joyner—even just to be introduced to her. But she consistently rebuffed him, insisting to others that she didn’t need to deal with him, despite the overriding importance of the MCW-SNC partnership and how much it has fueled our institution’s advances. ** When apprised of this absurd (not to mention demeaning) situation, Board Chair Patti McKeithan graciously engaged Matt herself in a long discussion, which he greatly appreciated and used to express his concerns—and also the observations of a “friend of the court” about Main Hall. Subsequently, President Joyner did finally agree to meet with Matt. When the appointed time came, she arrived ten minutes late and didn’t even remove her overcoat. The message was crystal clear—she could barely be bothered, she was only there under duress. Matt knew immediately that it would be a useless meeting, as indeed it proved to be.

Thus I suggest you ask Matt about the situation yourselves. Besides his great interest in making this successful partnership continue, he has a great affection for SNC. He is also a longtime observer of higher-ed administration and politics, at a variety of respected institutions. You might find him concerned that, say, SNC is proposing to core out its science faculty, which also helps train MCW’s doctors-to-be. But don’t take my word for it. Matt’s all of a three-minute walk away.

Q: And what are other colleges saying about us? A: Especially in the world of Catholic higher education, SNC has fast become a source of great curiosity, pity, bafflement—and, increasingly, derision. SNC is quickly squandering the great reputation and respect it’s built up over decades. Theology circles, particularly those at the most highly regarded Catholic universities, are gobsmacked about the proposed elimination of the TRS department, but in truth, the chattering goes far, far beyond that.

Just the other day, for instance, we heard from an administrator at the University of Notre Dame, who simply asked, “What the hell is going on at St. Norbert College?”

The question pretty well sums it up, I’d say.

       *     *     *

I know you want to be responsible stewards, that you’ve tried to do the right things in supporting your president in a situation that must seem impossible. But you know as well as I do that no competitive organization can just cut its way to prosperity. After doing all the appropriate “right-sizing,” at some point it has to draw the line, recommit to its strengths, protect its product and get back in the game.

But while you contemplate your course, please understand this: **Something has gone terribly wrong at St. Norbert College. The place is broken; its people are broken. The so-called values SNC still blithely advertises in all its materials, such as communio, are as distant as Abbot Pennings’ cigar box. **

I recently heard from a faculty member who was hired on my watch, the kind of person who is exactly what you want in your classrooms: brilliant, inspiring, student-centered, a team player. Also, relentlessly optimistic. Sad to say, that is not true anymore. For the vast majority of their time at SNC, this person told me, “it was the best place I ever worked, with the best people, and some lifelong friends, and I'll probably be chasing that for the rest of my career. But I can’t work for these people. And in my limited view, I don't think it matters who the president is today or tomorrow. This will go on as long as the Norbertines want it to. It's sad to say, but in good conscience, I could not and would not recommend to a parent or young person to come to SNC now or anytime soon. I certainly would have no interest in my own kids going there—and that was never true until recently. I hate to say it, but I genuinely can't wait to get out. It's horrendous.”

I wish I could tell you that this person was an anomaly or a crank, or was just having a bad day. On the contrary, what they told me is what I hear, in one form or another, from literally every SNC employee I speak with these days—whether they are still there or, increasingly, have already fled.

Again, I’m not sure what President Joyner’s plan is. I mean, I know she has a plan, because even in the transition period, before she came to campus, it was clear from her conversations with us that she had deep cutting in mind and some pre-formed notion of where she wanted to take SNC, and it surely didn’t comport with the path SNC had been traveling, very successfully, for generations. That’s why I’m so confident her apocalyptic projections are altogether calculated. I’m just not sure to what end.

Now, if you are—and if you are absolutely, positively confident that is the right direction—then by all means, give her the green light. But if you have any serious qualms at all—if you worry that you, even with the best of intentions, might be snuffing out the light on this 127-year-old jewel of an institution—then take a breath, back off these dire proposed cuts, and insist on getting more facts. You can always resume cuts on this scale later. But you can never undo them, if you’re wrong.

The fate of a great college hangs in the balance.

my husband and I are looking to go out for fish tomorrow but he really wants fish and beer battered cheese curds. Does anyone know where we could find both of those things at the same place that isn’t River Street Pier? Bonus if it’s one of those hole in the wall places that also serves rye bread, award winning cole slaw, and 3,000 calories worth of tartar in a plastic basket. You know the vibes?

We are starting a Wisconsin Jigsaw puzzle association chapter! We started a subreddit to share any and all things puzzles. https://www.reddit.com/r/wijigsaw/

Hi! Can anyone recommend a general contractor or a flooring installer that has done high quality work on your house?

I’m looking for the Volkswagen club or people that may have access to the software for VW. I have a 03 tdi and I need to get into the programming of it. Thanks!

Can anyone concretely confirm or deny if Sammy’s on Oneida actually makes their pasta “homemade” which to me, implies, from scratch?

Just very curious; not trying to start anything!

I am looking for opinions on the best places to shop for dresses. I am plus sized and am wondering where the most variety will be. Also wondering what places to avoid too...

Open to going to Appleton area to shop too.

Title - Looking for an artist in the area or surrounding areas who does good blackout work.

Bonus if they have a studio website with their portfolio.

Hey guys,

Given the size of the city, how do NFL players keep to themselves? Or do they not and it's understood that if you play in Green Bay, you are part of the community, going to the same grocery stores and bars and every other person in the city?

By the same token, what's it like for visiting teams? Is it their arrival super conspicuous? How do visiting teams keep to themselves?

How do NFL players tend to occupy their time? Do they spend all year in the city? Tend to live elsewhere? Commute from whatever other city they might live in x days a week or y days a year?

With the NFL Draft bringing extra attention and visitors to the area this spring, we're looking to create connections between local employers and our amazing job seekers with disabilities.

I work with an organization that helps people with disabilities find meaningful employment in our community. Our Green Bay team helps clients have diverse skills and abilities, and they are eager to contribute to local businesses.

What We're Looking For:

- Employers interested in meeting potential employees during draft weekend

- Part-time or full-time positions in various industries

- Opportunities for job shadowing or workplace tours

- Businesses willing to learn about the benefits of inclusive hiring

What better time to showcase how our community supports everyone, including those with disabilities? Plus, many businesses will be extra busy and might need additional staff.

Benefits for Employers:

- Access to motivated, reliable employees

- Support from our job coaches during the training process

- Potential tax incentives for inclusive hiring

- Opportunity to increase workplace diversity

- Free consultation on workplace accommodations

We Can Help With:

- Matching qualified candidates to your business needs

- On-the-job training support

- Accommodation recommendations

- Ongoing support for both employer and employee

If you're an employer or know someone who might be interested, please comment below or send me a DM.

Go Pack Go!

I am planning a bachelorette party in Green Bay in July and I am looking for the best things to do and the best places to go!

Most importantly looking for fun places to DANCE and party for our night on the town. We are staying across from Lambeau, so walking distance is best. Not sure if Uber or Lyft is common/available in the area. Any help or advice is appreciated!

Does anyone know where I can find a certified barber to do a straight razor shave?

There was a 19 year old female who posted on Sunday asking for help with food and now she’s gone. I purchased a big bag of cat food for her kitty and was going to give her some food for herself this afternoon too. She said that someone from that thread helped her with her cat yesterday- is this true? I hope she’s okay.

I'm looking to establish a new bank account in the Green Bay/Fox Cities area.

Do you have any recommendations? My primary bank doesn't have any branches in the area and I'd like a brick-and-mortar location to access.

Thanks in advance!

Been really in the mood for a good sub sandwich that isn't from a chain. Used to having good Italian delis, and small sub shops where I'm from, but can't seem to find one in the area that can compare

Someone told me there used to be a bar called the back40 and that someone was murdered there and the murderer was recently let out. They didn’t say when this all happened?

Any people in the area organizating protest ? Or want to?

UPDATE: Hey everyone, I wanted to thank you for the thoughtful (and not-so-thoughtful) comments on my original post. There’s a lot to unpack, so here goes:

First, someone mentioned the BLM protest in Green Bay. I was there. Honestly, it felt less like a protest and more like the city saying, “Okay, kids, get it out of your system.” It was peaceful, which I fully support, but also weak—it lacked the energy to feel like real change was being demanded.

I also want to clarify that I’m not looking to organize with any political parties. This isn’t about right or left; it’s about all of us coming together against a system that’s clearly failed us. A protest like that shouldn’t feel one-sided—it should feel like the people standing together. But I’ll admit, my thoughts might be a bit too radical for some. That’s okay.

After reading the comments (and the helpful links ONE of you shared—thank you!), I realize I have a lot to learn about organizing. Truthfully, I wasn’t looking to lead anything; I just wanted to join a movement I thought might already be happening. But seeing how resistant and closed-off this city seems to new ideas, I’m taking a step back to reflect and educate myself.

Also, shoutout to whoever reported my post to Reddit! I woke up to a MOD message that someone was “worried” about me, which honestly made me laugh. The fact that questioning the status quo makes people think I’m a danger to myself says a lot about why so many stay silent out of fear of judgment. This is exactly why we need spaces for radical thinkers to speak freely.

That said, I’ll be back when I feel ready. I’m considering creating a Discord group with an acceptance process to ensure it’s a safe space for people who share these ideas. If you’re tired of the “eat the crumbs, not the rich” mentality, stay tuned.

Thanks again for the dialogue—this is just the beginning.

Hi! I am looking for someone to do 2dz custom cookies for next month shortly after Valentine’s Day. Does anyone have any recommendations or can point me in the direction of someone who does cookies in this general area?

I live in Appleton and am willing to drive anywhere in the region if I would have to pick them up if shipping is not an option.

TIA.

Or any good restaurants, really. We're gonna be in the area for 3 days, so we'll be trying a few!

Does anyone know when it's going to be open??

I can't seem to find an exact date on when it's going to open...

Self explanatory, their taco meat is really good and I want more.

I moved here last year in march. I learned that the Libertine was a geat spot for nightlife. But it hasn't existed in like 4 years?

Why did it close and what are some good alternatives.

Also where was Hinterland before it is now currently?

I have a fairly interesting receiver built in the early 1970s that I would like to revive. I bought it new. It's, according to young folks interested in vintage electronics salvageable. The turntable I bought at the same time was a Bang and Olefson with a design that to this day sets it apart. Are there people that love this stuff like me in the GreenBay area?