![handle is hein.journals/novalr17 and id is 849 raw text is: Faculty Meetings: A Quorum Plus Cramshaw
Ron Lansing*
WHEN THE SIGN PAINTER put BEATRICE CRAMSHAW, HEAD
FACULTY SECRETARY on her office door, she told him to add MISS
before her name. When he painted MS. before her name, she told him to
change it at once. The sign painter complained to the Dean that she was
a crotchety ol' pisshead. The Dean was sympathetic but asked him to
please do whatever she says.
She had not always been Miss. For three years in the early 1940s, she
was Mrs. Cramshaw. But when she was widowed by the war, she wanted
it to be known that she was available even though she kept her dead
soldier's last name out of respect. At 64 years of age, that was no longer
her reason for being Miss-, she was no longer available. But she had al-
ways been known as Miss Cramshaw and that was that. Besides, she
found no liking for the modem Ms. nonsense.
As Head Faculty Secretary, Miss Cramshaw always rendered extremely
detailed minutes of monthly faculty meetings. Each dean had always told
her that she need not be so elaborate, that all she needed to record were the
votes and the actions taken and very brief recitals of announcements; dis-
cussion comments and her personal observations where [sic] unnecessary.
But Miss Cramshaw was not to be denied her way of reporting
minutes. She had always faithfully recorded as much of the happenings as
her aging hands would allow. Faculty meetings were, after all, her once a
month opportunity to share and hobnob at the top. Those meetings were not
open to anyone; only those who served could be there; it was an honor to
be included. Her detailed recordings were a way of demonstrating her
indispensable service to those meetings.
She held no use for modem word processing machines, calling them
lazy, televised nonsense. She succumbed to photocopying only when the
increasing size of the faculty taxed the platen in her Smith-Corona to the
point that it could no longer squeeze more carbons and onion skins.
In a day of dwindling workload, she took even more tender care with
the preservation of detailed faculty minutes. Recording the words that were
said was more accurate for her than summarizing meanings; meanings, after
all, have to be understood; words do not.
* RON LANSING, SKYLARKs & LECTERNs: A LAW SCHOOL CHARTER 28 (1983).
Reprinted with permission of Ron Lansing.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/novalr17&div=51
&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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