Ethan Quezada, Contributor

The Augsburg Corporation’s annual meeting took place last Friday (9/13). In attendance were administrators, faculty, two students and representatives from four synods within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. They are responsible for electing members on the Board of Regents. The meeting started off with a welcome from President Paul Pribbenow and proceeded with a presentation by Jeremy Meyers, the Executive Director for the Christensen Center for Vocation. Meyers presented an update to plans, previously made by the Christensen Center for Vocation, that focus heavily on becoming a more engaged community through a “Public Church” framework

The second part of the meeting was dedicated to corporation business. On the agenda was the nomination and election of the 2020 nominating committee, which is responsible for nominating Regents to the Board.

 There was also the business of electing members to the board of regents. There were three members who were re-elected to a third four-year term and four new members that were voted in. After the official business, President Pribbenow began his update on Augsburg as a whole. The topics he covered ranged from Augsburg’s Sesquicentennial to the upcoming Human Rights Forum, but the most interesting topic that he covered had to do with the demographic makeup of the Board of Regents. The President mentioned the Board of Regents, according to Augsburg policy, must be 50% be ELCA Lutheran, and that, overall, two-thirds of the board need to be Lutheran of some kind or member of a denomination that takes full communion. President Pribbenow went on to say that he would like a review of this for next year, so that Augsburg might be able to better partner with others from a variety of social identities as well as backgrounds. With this statement, the President shows his commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity on campus, but it remains to be seen if such a change will come to be. 

I remain hopeful, but skeptical. An update on the proposed changes to the Augsburg Corporation’s bylaws will be given once the changes are discussed by the proper leadership. Stay tuned!

This article was originally published in the October 11, 2019 issue.