Suppose I consider myself an expert on the issues at hand and I’m not picked for a Task Force – how should I feel?
Very lucky. You may or may not get invited by the Task Force to contribute your ideas, but if you do, when the Task Force report comes under fire during review (and it will), their names are on it, not yours. And, if you’re expertise isn’t used or you think you see things in the report that are wrong, you’ll be free to “snipe” at the report without having the burden the Task Force faces of trying to solve all the complex and conflicting goals and technical issues. But you shouldn’t feel too comfortable – it is likely that the campus will have to repeat this exercise about every two years, so the next time around there is a good chance you’ll be “lucky” enough to get picked.
