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Mary Flannery, DC
esserboo@hotmail.com

I've been getting a lot of phone calls and questions about what has transpired over the last 
few days here in Davenport, so I thought I'd try to spread the most up to date news and 
cut down on the rumors. Obviously, this is my accounting of what has happened and may 
not be completely accurate, but I have really tried to gather all the information I can as 
fairly and accurately as possible.

On Friday, the news spread around the Palmer campus that Guy had resigned.  We were 
able to talk to Vanessa (Guy's daughter) and confirm the news that he had resigned and 
that it was not totally voluntary.  We had spoken with Guy regarding the previous email 
that had gone around explaining how the Board wanted to strip Guy of his power and 
keep him as a figurehead to attract students and alumni support.  At that tine Guy said he 
was planning to fight the change.

Yesterday, the students picketed at the school to show support for Guy and to ask for 
answers as to why this happened.  The Board has appointed Dr. Don Kern as their interim 
president and he has been responding assumably as the board directs him by saying: "We 
didn't fire him. He chose to leave. The reasons are confidential and we will not discuss 
them.  He won't be coming back." Needless to say, this lack of response to their valid 
concerns really began to enrage the student body.  

Last night, Guy held a meeting at the First Baptist Church, near campus.  The meeting 
was standing room only and was probably 95% student body with a few alumni and 
administrators and faculty present.  Here is the general message of his remarks:

He said first of all that the students and the profession should maintain their integrity and 
professional demeanor as they act however they see fit in this crisis.  He asked that the 
students not leave Palmer and that alumni not withdraw their support of Palmer.  He said 
that the rift was not based on philosophical difference and that the Palmer tenets and long 
range plans remain.  Palmer still provides the premier Chiropractic education. 

He said that he is not recommending any specific course of action for the students (and 
alumni) but that they should act as their consciences demand and do what they know is 
right.  He said he does not know what exactly people should do but he is fielding 50-100 
call and e-mails daily asking how they can help and offering him jobs and opportunities.  
He has committed to doing nothing for the next 30 days and being available to speak to 
the board if they should choose to communicate with him.

According to Riekeman, the Board severed almost all communication with him shortly 
after he was named chancellor.  They decided (!!?!) that he was no longer allowed to 
communicate directly with any individual member of the board and that all information 
had to be funneled between him and the chair (Vickie).   He was asked several times why 
that happened.  He basically said he didn't really know why they would do such a crazy 
thing and that there was no single event that precipitated this change.  He said this change 
caused a great deal of problems for him and fostered an environment of confusion and 
turmoil.  (I read between the lines here that a major power struggle was born and this was 
clearly an attempt to pull power away from Guy and to the chair and select parties within 
the Board)  Although this change really made him frustrated, he honored his relationship 
with the board and told no one of what was happening.

Recently, in efforts to better oversee (read: micromanage) what was happening on 
campus, the Board appointed a consultant (I believe the consultant is Larry Patten (!!?!) 
but am not sure) to supercede all power of the administration at Palmer's campuses in 
order to allow the board direct access to the information and decision making process.  
They were no longer interested in working with Dr. R and wanted to bring in their own 
man.  Guy said he found this development intolerable, as the consultant would be 
interceding in every administrative decision made and completely disrupting a normal 
working environment.

Dr. R said he had hired a management consultant, an expert from Harvard's school of 
management to evaluate his administrative team only, to try to better the way his team 
worked and to address any problems they were having.  He did this to try to clear up 
some of the problems of the administration for the board, in lieu of their input on what 
was causing them to make all these changes.  The expert had prepared a report that 
addressed not only some changes the administrative team could make but substantial 
input on how the board could better function, including communicating directly with 
their chosen CEO, Dr, Riekeman.

Dr. Riekeman prepared a letter with all of this information and a personal appeal for 
reason and better communication.  He stated that their intention to strip him and his team 
of any decision making power was not in the best interest of Palmer and if it continued he 
would be forced to resign.  He then broke his agreement to only communicate with the 
chair and sent the statement to every member of the board.  He went to Florida to the 
Board meeting.  They asked him to wait in his hotel room for several hours and then 
called him into the boardroom where within 15 seconds they announced to him that the 
board had accepted his resignation unanimously.  He was asked to leave. Period, no 
discussion.

I asked, at the student meeting: How does someone become a board member, and to 
whom are they accountable?  Guy answered that they elect each other and are 
accountable technically only to each other.  He said he believes there are members of the 
board who are not in totally accord with the others but that they have a policy that once a 
decision is made by the board, they all re-vote so that the decision will be unanimous.

Every alumnus of the school should be asking themself right now: To whom does Palmer 
College of Chiropractic belong?  Does the Board we support with our energy and 
passion, student referrals, and monetary support, owe us a satisfactory explanation as to 
how this could have happened?  What can we do to ensure that this accounting happens?

The Palmer Alumni Foundation president, Dr. Kirk Lee, was quoted in the Quad City 
Times on Friday, Feb 6th, as saying that the association supports the college and the board 
of trustees in its decision.  „The president will come and go, but the alumni will always 
be there,¾ said Lee, who practices in Albion, Mich.

I know I have paid my dues every year and while I do not expect to be personally 
consulted, I would hope that our Alumni association would discuss an issue this serious 
with the alumni at large before issuing such a statement.  I do not believe that statement 
accurately depicts the reaction of the alumni and perhaps we need to let our elected 
representative know that that.  You can reach Dr. Lee at kaleedcccsp@hotmail.com or at 
his office: 404 East Michigan, Albion, MI 49224. Phone: 517-629-5505.  You may also 
want to contact your state alumni representative.  Please feel free to forward this 
document as needed.

We, as Guardian of the Sacred Trust of Chiropractic, cannot sit by while players in an 
ugly power struggle threaten to dictate the direction and voice of Palmer College, the 
Fountainhead of Chiropractic.  It¼s wrong and I disagree.  How about you?

Mary Flannery, DC
esserboo@hotmail.com