I apologize for the pain my post yesterday has awakened in so many. I hope they can believe me when I say that my objections to the charge to the interim presidents of the Unitarian Universalist Association would have been greater if it mandated the removal of all hiring goals before the new president takes office.
Note added April 24, 2017: My second sentence would have clearer and more true to my beliefs if I had written: I hope they can believe me when I say that my objections to the charge to the interim presidents of the Unitarian Universalist Association would have been greater if it mandated the abandonment of the commitment to a multi-racial culture before the new president takes office.
— Mel Pine (Urgyen Jigme)
Melting-Pot Dharma 
Good luck to you. You said little, really, and some folks read a lot into that and decided to be angry. Perhaps you could be more specific?
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Thank you. I’ll be posting again and will say more about white privilege, but UUs are a small percentage of the readership of this blog, so I failed in yesterday’s blog post to make clear what I was trying to say. My issue is not over what segment (faction) is calling the shots. It’s over the charge to the interim presidents. With just 10 weeks until a new (elected) president takes office, I think she (whoever she is) should be given a chance to work in collaboration with the trustees, BLUU, CUUPS, etc. to formulate the hiring plan. After all, she’ll be the one overseeing it for the next six years. I would feel that way even more strongly if the charge to the interim presidents was to do away with any hiring goals.
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“I apologize for the pain caused by my post yesterday.” (Mel, I couldn’t fix your heart so I fixed your “apology” statement instead. You’re welcome).
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Lisa, perhaps that is exactly what he meant. Why did you feel you needed to ‘fix’ another’s statement?
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Someone or ones need to go to Apology School. Simply state the apology “I’m sorry” without the excuses. Also, I didn’t feel I needed to do anything, it was a courtesy extended.
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What does he have to apologize for? He said he would rather see the next elected UUA President make decisions about hiring policy, not a board-appointed interim team. It’s not even clear that the UUA Prez makes such decisions. But it’s certainly OK for a UU congregant to express opinions on his personal blog. The fact that someone picked up on it and decided to overstate his statements and blast him is what should concern us.
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Thank you for your comment. The president doesn’t make the decision but will spend six years carrying it out, so it seems appropriate that she have the opportunity to work with the Board of Trustees, BLUU, etc. as they formulate it.
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I assume you intended to apologize, but you express an objection to the UUA Board’s response. And you do not withdraw your inflammatory accusation that there was “a coup led by a faction.”
First, there was no coup. A coup even in your non violent definition would assume concerted intention. As a signer of the Religious Professional’s of Color letter, we responded to a concern raised by a DRE colleague.
No Religious Professionals of Color asked for anyone’s resignation. That was the choice of those who resigned, and I think they would have made a more constructive contribution by working to solve the problem rather than vacating their posts.
In our by-laws the Board oversees the executive in setting goals and holding the executive accountable to goals. All three candidates are committed to more equitable outcomes in the hiring process. The Board did not close their options.
Mr. Pine, this was a complex situation, and your over simplistic “analysis” conjuring conspiracies, factions and coups does nothing but divide us.
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