Forum explores options for Senate
By JASON McFARLEY
News Editor
A forum Wednesday didn't completely close the door on the Faculty Senate but instead opened discussion for ways of making the body more effective — or scrapping it altogether.
In the process, however, the hour-long meeting may have initiated the rumblings of a debate that will ultimately question the role of organized labor on campus.
About 70 University professors — including more than a dozen faculty senators — participated in the senate-sponsored forum. The forum came at the request of senate chair Jean Porter to discuss the group's future.
On April 3, at the senate's regular monthly meeting, Porter proposed a resolution to amend a section of the University's Academic Articles — a move that would signal the senate's end. The resolution would strike Article IV Section 3 of the Academic Articles and would have the effect of dissolving the senate.
"I'll ask the senate executive committee to endorse the resolution," Porter said Tuesday. "It's not because I want to see the senate dissolved but because I want to discuss and debate the consequences of its continuation."
The senate will consider the resolution at its May meeting.
On Wednesday, faculty members filled McKenna Hall's auditorium past half-full and began discussion about the role a powerful faculty-run body could play at Notre Dame.
Most professors agreed the faculty deserve an organized voice on campus but that the Faculty Senate — as it exists now — is not the most effective means of expressing it.
"The senate is not respected by the administration, and some might argue the lack of respect sometimes borders on contempt. Some would say the administration doesn't respect the faculty at large," said Dick McBrien, a theology professor and former faculty senate chair. "But the faculty also doesn't respect the senate."
Last month, when Porter proposed the resolution to dissolve the senate, she cited waning support from colleagues and a lack of respect from Notre Dame administrators. She said faculty members continue to express opinions that the group is powerless and too often disrespected by the University administration.
"It seems to me that in recent years the present president [Father Edward Malloy] and provost [Nathan Hatch] are particularly less willing to interact with us than previous administrators were," said Phil Quinn, philosophy professor and faculty senator. "As a result, the atmosphere of disdain and near contempt has gotten worse."
Many suggested unionization as the key to organizing power among University professors.
"I think a faculty senate and faculty union could co-exist. I believe in the effectiveness and appropriateness of both," said Kirsten Christensen, a foreign language professor.
Some questioned the feasibility of unionization.
Michael Detlefsen, a philosophy professor and former senate chair, said an organized labor movement among his colleagues is not a viable option right now because faculty members are "too well-fed and not tough enough."
"Once they saw how the real workings of a union operate, once they sat down at the negotiation table, they wouldn't want to do it," Detlefsen said.
If a senators vote in favor of the resolution next month, the move would serve only as a recommendation that would still need approval by the Academic Council, the University president and the Board of Trustees.
A new senate will be elected and hold office for the next few months, and that body could choose to revoke the resolution and continue the senate's existence.
All News Stories for Thursday, April 19, 2001
