McCall forum plans for next year
Kelly McGee
Issue date: 2/26/09 Section: News
With the Tom McCall Forum officially postponed until next school year 2009-2010, the focus has turned from looking for speakers to creating a business plan that will potentially form a more stable outline for organizing the Forum.
In previous years the Forum has been coordinated by politics professor emeritus and founder of the Forum, Russ Dondero, who retired last year. While it was obvious that he played a major role in putting on the event, his tasks were never put into writing for whoever would take his place when he left.
"Russ ran that for 25 years and I think a lot of people underestimated all the details that Russ attended to." said Phil Akers, vice president of University Relations. "It's a much bigger undertaking than most people understand."
Without a plan to follow, the state of the economy, the high price of speakers, and other contributing factors, it was decided that the Forum should be postponed. Akers also said that aside from having a plan to assist in coordinating the event, it was time to establish a clear vision for what the event should be. This vision would help in communicating with potential sponsors and supporters, whose contributions fund a majority of the Forum's expenses.
"They want to see what the business plan is, what's the vision, what's the mission, what re the goals, what are the expenses, so if we are asking someone to be a major sponsor or a major supporter of the event, they need to have more of a business sense of how it supports their needs and wants as well as ours. That is what we need to put together."
Aside from stating that a business plan is needed, Akers said they have not set a date for next year's Forum and have not considered any speakers. He said that the business plan will help to determine this, but they have not yet set a date for the business plan to be finished.
The student run Politics and Law Forum, known as PLF, was originally responsible for the Forum, however, as the size and popularity of the event increased in popularity, University Relations took on a significant role in running it. Akers said that the amount of PLF's involvement in next year's Forum will also be determined by the business plan.
Akers also denied previous rumors that Robert Reich, the Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton from 1993-1996, and a professor at the University of California in Berkley, was being considered to be a speaker at the Forum before it was postponed.
In previous years the Forum has been coordinated by politics professor emeritus and founder of the Forum, Russ Dondero, who retired last year. While it was obvious that he played a major role in putting on the event, his tasks were never put into writing for whoever would take his place when he left.
"Russ ran that for 25 years and I think a lot of people underestimated all the details that Russ attended to." said Phil Akers, vice president of University Relations. "It's a much bigger undertaking than most people understand."
Without a plan to follow, the state of the economy, the high price of speakers, and other contributing factors, it was decided that the Forum should be postponed. Akers also said that aside from having a plan to assist in coordinating the event, it was time to establish a clear vision for what the event should be. This vision would help in communicating with potential sponsors and supporters, whose contributions fund a majority of the Forum's expenses.
"They want to see what the business plan is, what's the vision, what's the mission, what re the goals, what are the expenses, so if we are asking someone to be a major sponsor or a major supporter of the event, they need to have more of a business sense of how it supports their needs and wants as well as ours. That is what we need to put together."
Aside from stating that a business plan is needed, Akers said they have not set a date for next year's Forum and have not considered any speakers. He said that the business plan will help to determine this, but they have not yet set a date for the business plan to be finished.
The student run Politics and Law Forum, known as PLF, was originally responsible for the Forum, however, as the size and popularity of the event increased in popularity, University Relations took on a significant role in running it. Akers said that the amount of PLF's involvement in next year's Forum will also be determined by the business plan.
Akers also denied previous rumors that Robert Reich, the Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton from 1993-1996, and a professor at the University of California in Berkley, was being considered to be a speaker at the Forum before it was postponed.
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