On Friday, Oct. 17, Wheaton College hosted its annual Board of Trustees luncheon. The previous Friday, on Oct.10, many students received invitations to the event, including GLAMs (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) student Ryan White ‘27.
White, along with a handful of merit-stipend students, received an email from Mark Kenyon, Director of Experiential Education and External Engagement in the Life and Career Design Institute, on the morning of Oct. 10. “Dear Students,” it read, “I wanted to reach out to invite you to participate in the upcoming Board of Trustees Lunch on Friday, October 17th. As a Wheaton College student who received summer funding, this is a wonderful opportunity to share your experiences with the Board and highlight the impact of their support.”
According to the email, the lunch would take place around 11:00 am or noon, and asked students to reply as soon as possible to secure a spot at the lunch. “If you are available and interested, please let me know as soon as possible, since we will need to communicate our participants’ names to the President’s Office shortly.”
White, who spent his summer funding working on metadata cleanup for the college’s syllabi repository and Wheaton Wire collection, jumped at the chance to attend the lunch and quickly replied to the email. After Kenyon’s email to students on Oct. 10, White replied, expressing gratitude for the opportunity and confirming interest less than an hour later.
White’s email to Kenyon wrote, “Good afternoon, I would love to participate in this Board of Trustees Lunch next Friday,” wrote White, “What would be the estimated end time? I have a class to attend at 1:00, but feel strongly about attending this lunch as well. It shouldn’t be an issue, but I’d like to know if I should make arrangements with my professor.”
A week later, White and a few other students who had received the initial email from Kenyon had yet to receive a follow-up email. However, a handful of students who had also received the initial “invitation” were sent an email expressing that although their interest in the invite was appreciated, the event had reached its capacity.
Therefore, students like White, who had received the initial invitation but not the email expressing regret that they wouldn’t have a spot at the lunch, assumed they would be attending the event. Between Monday, October 13, and Friday, Oct. 17 students were waiting for details about the time and location of the lunch. They had received no further information from Kenyon or any other Wheaton faculty. In the days leading up to the event, White made numerous efforts to contact Kenyon about the event, on one occasion even speaking to him in person.
“After receiving no response, I sent another email on the 15th,” White told the Wire, “I spoke to Mr. Kenyon in person on MAP day, the 16th, and he said that details would be sent out shortly, but after receiving no more information, I sent another email early the morning of the 17th.”
On the morning of Oct. 17, White thought he would be attending the event, he then received word from Kenyon.
“At 9:25 AM on October 17th, less than 3 hours before the trustees’ lunch would be taking place, I received an email from Mark Kenyon that while my name had been forwarded as a nomination, I had not been selected to attend,” White said.
“Not everyone nominated could attend ‘due to space limitations.’ There had been no indication before this point that we were nominated with the possibility of not being selected. I know of some other students who had received a notification much sooner that the lunch was already at capacity, so why was this decision made so last-minute? I was also concerned about the selection criteria, so within the hour, I responded to this email asking about this.” White had received no response as of Tuesday evening.
The Wire contacted Kenyon and Dr. Darnell Parker, Vice President for Student Affairs, regarding the nomination process for student attendees at the Board of Trustees lunch.
“Students invited to meet with the Board of Trustees were nominated by offices across campus, including Advising, the Life and Career Design Institute, Residential Life, Inclusive Excellence, Athletics, and SAIL,” Parker wrote to the Wire in response to a request for comment. “Each year, this process aims to include a diverse group of students representing a range of class years, majors, and campus involvement, while ensuring that new voices are included. The number varies based on student interest and space available. We’re grateful for the strong participation for the recent October meeting and look forward to additional student engagement opportunities in February and May. If any individual has concerns, we encourage them to reach out to me and I will gladly answer any questions.”
When asked specifically about the number of students who were able to participate in the event, Parker responded, “I am not providing the number of students that attended the luncheon. If there are students concerned, I am more than happy to meet with them as I always have an open door policy.”
Kayleigh Illingworth ‘26, who was able to attend the lunch, was able to recall a rough estimate of the student attendance at the lunch. “I believe there were around 15 students at the lunch,” she said.
When asked if he had any further comments regarding the Trustee lunch and student attendee nomination process, Dean Irish wrote, “I do not have any further comment at this time.”
“I feel that there is a very strong disconnect between decision-makers and the student body at Wheaton College, which is a shame given how strong I feel the student and faculty’s sense of community is at this school,” said White, “These decisions seemed short-sighted to me, and I was frustrated by the lack of communication and transparency on the part of the college.”