"Tenure Mistake"?????

see the lower left kitteh?  Yeah, that's me.

Here's an email that one does not wish to read just a few months before one applies for tenure (emphases are mine):

I have been pondering K___ H____’s strongly worded suggestion to discuss the tenure mistake as a Senate, so please let me bounce some thoughts off of you.  
 
I was thinking that since the PPC must review the tenure process each year anyway (as required by the handbook), since Dr. ____ is on the PPC, and since I chaired the tenure committee in question; that the PPC is the ideal Senate committee.  I propose that Dr. ____ (or I) would just summarize the history of the mistake (avoiding the young person’s name) and what will be changed to avoid type of tenure mistake happening again; then we could field any questions.  This would be done just for information purposes, not so that the senate could mount a protest or seek a different remedy.  It must be done soon—a student told me about it today after hearing about it from a maintenance worker.  It may soon be spreading like wild fire, so I’d suggest the PPC discuss the topic at its first meeting to limit the number of crazy rumors.  Secrecy can breed distrust, so let’s be open about it and get it over with.  
 
A couple of you are asking yourselves “tenure mistake?”  Just get a hold of me, or Janet, or the appropriate maintenance worker , and we can give you a brief summary.     
 
The problem with my plan is (1) that the PPC meets before the executive committee, so if you as a committee want something other than just a presentation of the facts and proposed process changes, then I should either wait or at least mention that the executive committee has yet to discuss this.  And (2), it is my plan.  This is a problem because I’d rather be following another’s plan at this time (and I am not sure what I may be overlooking).  I just ask that whatever the plan is, it must respect faculty voice, recognize the Senate’s role in guarding the tenure process, and realize that this would make too big of a lump to sweep under a rug.
 
We got time, but when you’ve thought about it, let me know what you think…

 I am the only non-tenured member of the Senate Executive Committee, and though I know that this doesn't have any direct bearing on me, it does feel a little like looking across the park and seeing that big black dog in the bushes.  *gut check*