The time for courtesy and diplomacy has ended with the moment that Stephen Gross decided to stay longer as a chairman of the Board, against the OLS By-Laws (last updated on October 6, 2015), which were limiting him to 3 terms of two years.
This was not a problem to him or his buddies; they just voted through the amendments to the By-Laws.
One amendment was to extend the term of the Chairman of the Board of Regents and the second was to remove the clause that the chancellor of OLS should be a priest.
Yet, to this day, new By-Laws were not communicated to anybody outside of the Boards of OLS. Are we correct on this? Or is there a possibility that you “Regents” still have no copy of this new document?
We want to remind you that according to the By-Laws, any decision made by the Executive Committee should be communicated to the “Board members” within the week of the change.
Now we will elaborate on the Term extension for Mr.Gross:
Let’s consider the example of the President Schools of the United States. He decides that he is interested in being the President for the third term. Suddenly he is pushing through the legislature, “using his knee”, a new law, which will allow him to serve the third term. Would this be possible in this setting? The answer is NO.
Yet, in the setting of Orchard Lake Schools, it was possible with the silent agreement of all of you “Regents”. Ask yourself a question, will you be accountable for sitting silently and doing nothing, when basic Ethical Rules are broken by the chairman of your Board?
If we have a Theft in progress and you would be witnessing it, what should you do? Stand silently and let the burglary go on? If your answer is YES, you will be considered as an accomplice of the thief.
On the basis of this story, we can clearly tell you that you are responsible for what is happening within this institution and how the Board of Regents, with its Chairman, is governing itself and the institution.
Section 13, describing liability of the Regent or a Trustee, will not protect you from your liability coming out of your actions or lack of action. We will pursue this section to the deepest possible level. We will prove that you were acting not in good faith and not in a manner when you would believe your action would be in the best interest of the Corporation. This will include going after you in regards to the All-Ethical Norms you broke. This probably will hurt you even more. Why, you built your image, business, and reputation, and as you know, it will take way more effort to create something than to destroy somebody’s reputation. Then as a consequence, since you do not understand what the term “Business Ethics” means, people who are cooperating with, outside of the Board of regents, in your everyday business life may reconsider future cooperation with you.
In the light of the above discussion, we want you to consider the following:
Since OLS is registered under The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, it is a church organization that should be governed with the highest ethical standards; during the next Board of Regents meeting, you should include into the business order of the meeting the following:
1) Vote on removing any recent changes made to the By-Laws (extension of term for the Chairman, and removing the clause about non-priest Chancellor).
2) As a consequence, removing Stephen Gross from the position of the Chairman and removing him permanently from the Board of Regents. (Due to his Ethics Violations while holding the position of the Chairman).
Polskie Lobby
Polish- American Community Group