EMU President Susan Martin backs out of scheduled speaking engagement about 'personal trials and triumphs'
The March event Eastern Michigan University President Susan Martin was scheduled to speak at about personal trials and triumphs she’s faced in her career has been canceled.
EMU President Susan Martin
EMU vice president of communications Walter Kraft confirmed the cancellation and said Martin just “wasn’t available” for the event, which would have taken place Monday.
The cancellation comes just a month after EMU spokesman Geoff Larcom said the event had been confirmed by the university.
“We had told them about a month ago that she wasn’t available and they had been working to find another speaker,” Kraft said.
The event, "Trials and Triumph of an American Woman," was going to be hosted by the EMU student organization B.L.A.C.K., Black Leaders Aspiring to Critical Knowledge.
B.L.A.C.K. hosted a similar event last year, when former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick spoke during its Second Chances and Redemption Series event in 2011.
The event would have followed an incident that occurred last year in which Martin got into an argument with an alumnus after consuming alcohol. The regents reprimanded Martin in a May 17 letter and the board's executive committee threatened to fire Martin if she did not control her drinking.
Martin told AnnArbor.com in February she didn't plan to "focus" on the incident, but was willing to address it if she received questions about it.
"My board gave me a letter and I respect them and I don't have anything further to say about it," Martin said. "I'm happy at my job... .I won't focus on that."
The event originally was slated to be called, Second Chances and Redemption-- Trials and Triumph of an American Woman, but the name was changed as a stipulation of the university, said B.L.A.C.K. President Jovan Kennard.
Kennard said the name "conflicted" a few things, so the group agreed to change it.
Kraft said the topic of the event was not a factor in the decision and the university did attempt to help the group secure another speaker.
“Unfortunately, the person the guys identified informed us last week that he could not speak because of prior engagements,” said Reggie Barnes, Director of Diversity and Community Involvement. “They haven't been able to find someone else, so we thought it was in their best interest to reschedule for next semester.”
Kraft couldn’t say whether Martin would be available at a later date to speak at the same event.
“I don’t know, I’m not sure what they would be looking for,” Kraft said. “ They would have to make a determination about who they might want.”
Katrease Stafford covers Ypsilanti for AnnArbor.com.Reach her at katreasestafford@annarbor.com or 734-623-2548 and follow her on twitter.
Comments
whatsupwithMI
Sun, Mar 10, 2013 : 2:26 a.m.
This article follows an event a couple years back, in which the Ann Arbor News had to close down due to lack of subscriptions. Locals were rumored to have said they would be happy to pay for unbiased, accurate publication of news events.
Audion Man
Sat, Mar 9, 2013 : 8:43 p.m.
Mary Sue Coleman does not get this level of scrutiny or insinuation. Funny that.
Audion Man
Sat, Mar 9, 2013 : 9:25 p.m.
Buzz Buzz- the article on the trip to India was from The Michigan Daily- and regurgitated here. Nobody at the Ann Arbor.com would write anything to bite the hands that feed them. And salary info is also printed in the Michigan Daily. Bashing EMU, however, is well within their purview.
Buzz Buzz
Sat, Mar 9, 2013 : 9:15 p.m.
Sure she does. I've recently read on annarbor.com about her salary, the impending trip to India. I think annarbor.com is quite "fair." EMU gets its fair share of "bad reporting," but whose fault is that?
Buzz Buzz
Sat, Mar 9, 2013 : 7:33 p.m.
@ lumberg48108, speaking of "agendas," do you have one? Given that the event was President Martin discussing "personal trials and triumphs," and given the fact that she has had many during her tenure as EMU President, and given the fact that she is paid by the State of Michigan ... it's news. She wasn't speaking to the Math Club. We all would agree ... *THAT* isn't news.
lumberg48108
Mon, Mar 11, 2013 : 1:24 p.m.
"everyone knows" is not news - its speculation and nothing more and you know that
Buzz Buzz
Sat, Mar 9, 2013 : 9:12 p.m.
She didn't "change her schedule." Please. There's always more to the story @ EMU. Everyone knows this was a PR disaster waiting to happen. And, guess what! It is. "Objectivity in news"? That went away a long time ago. Who cares. It's information sharing.
lumberg48108
Sat, Mar 9, 2013 : 8:52 p.m.
yes i do have an agenda - to seek out objectivity in news and its ongoing paid by the state of michigan ---- so what? everyone who works for EMU and all other schools are paid by the state - what is the relevance? cause she is paid by the state she cant change her schedule? i dont think "all" agree about anything anymore - every single thing that happens to anyone no matter how trivial is now front page news - when a decade ago this would have barely been a mention, much less a headline story
Buzz Buzz
Sat, Mar 9, 2013 : 7:29 p.m.
It was a ridiculous idea to begin with and apparently the EMU muckity-mucks finally figured this out.
Lovaduck
Sat, Mar 9, 2013 : 2:55 p.m.
I wouldn't want to speak in any series that had featured Kwame Kilpatrick (though I'm not saying that why she cancelled) either!
Ralph
Sat, Mar 9, 2013 : 1:50 p.m.
This is not news!!!!
lumberg48108
Sat, Mar 9, 2013 : 4:06 p.m.
Your logic continues to remain suspect unless annarbor.com covers every student campus event or conference the same otherwise, you are cherrypicking this item because annarbor.com helped create this nonsense in the first place and you feel obligated to keep pouring gas on red coals if it was so important to let your readers know - an update news brief would have sufficed, similar to an announcement in a business publication Update: Speaker ***** will not be speaking at Event X due to XYZ reasons that is all that was required - so I dont think you are being honest with the readers
Katrease Stafford
Sat, Mar 9, 2013 : 1:59 p.m.
Hi Ralph, It's news because we reported on the original announcement of the scheduled event and we also planned on covering it this upcoming Monday. Since it is now canceled, it was necessary to let readers and potential attendees know. I was told by event organizers that a lot of EMU students were planning to attend the event.
lumberg48108
Sat, Mar 9, 2013 : 1:16 p.m.
I read this story thinking it was a simple story of speaker cancellation which happens all the time; especially someone as busy as a university president Then, 1/2 way down, the author brings the over blown, over sensationalized, and over covered alcohol story of last year and the subsequent board of regents over reaction. "The event would have followed an incident that occurred last year in which Martin got into an argument with an alumnus after consuming alcohol." Well, everything since "would have followed that incident" based on the calendar, right? There seems to be an attempt to connect the two but only insinuation by the author, no real evidence. In other words, this story was sensationalized for its own sake. If if was the authors attempt to connect the two, why? What news value is there is rehashing old, unconnected news? That story is over and done with (except for annarbor.com who cannot wait for a chance to bring it up again, knowing it gets clicks.) If the two are related, make the case for it, don't insinuate. My guess is this was an agenda-written story. Once the cancellation of the speaker was announced the author was told to connect the dots - even if connecting them had zero news value - and bring up last years news.
lumberg48108
Sat, Mar 9, 2013 : 4:01 p.m.
"in February she was willing to address the situation if students asked her about it during the Q&A portion of the event." and????????????? your point? I am sure she would answer other questions if asked as well, including, you know, real issues like a homicide of a student that remains a somewhat cold case. You are trying to connect dots that are not in a straight line. Anyone who reads this story (who does not know better) has the same takeaway - that the president backed out because she did not want to deal with this incident that "follows" an event from May 2012? even if your insinuation is correct - so what????? why is it news that she might not want to drag up the past at a student event how this qualifies as news beyond the campus community remains baffling
Katrease Stafford
Sat, Mar 9, 2013 : 2:44 p.m.
Hi lumberg48108, Thanks for your comments. If you look at the original story I wrote, the students reached out to Martin for the event partially because of the incident, which is why I tied it into the story. The president of the student group wrote this to Martin: "Since taking over as president of Eastern in 2008, you have had to rebuild our reputation, restore confidence in us as an institution and even battle your own personal challenges with the board, alumni, the media and members of the local community." They were hopeful she would talk about the issues she's faced. Martin told me in February she was willing to address the situation if students asked her about it during the Q&A portion of the event.
Youwhine
Sat, Mar 9, 2013 : 2:30 p.m.
Initially, I thought the connection between her canceling the engagement and the alcohol issue was tenuous also. However, when you look at WHAT the topic of discussion was to be, and the name of the series (both before and after it was changed) I think it is actually quite relevent. The engagment was to be about seconds chances, trials, or triumphs for women. It is normal to expect that perhaps she was invited to speak due to the trials and triumphs she has endured as university president. One of these was an odd incident in which she was allegedly drunk and acted inappropriatel. She was given a second chance. I would say that, given the subject matter and her lame reason for pulling out and avoiding a future date for the same topic, it makes sense to mention her past history.
Craig Lounsbury
Sat, Mar 9, 2013 : 12:07 p.m.
The event, "Trials and Triumph of an American Woman," ....originally was slated to be called, Second Chances and Redemption-- Trials and Triumph of an American Woman, but the name was changed as a stipulation of the university, " Nit-picky censorship in academia? My my. And who, in this case, is the "university"?