Group passes joint committee resolution
By JASON McFARLEY
News Editor
The Faculty Senate approved Wednesday a resolution to explore the possibility of creating a joint committee with the Academic Council to discuss the role of faculty governance at the University.
For a body that long has struggled with perceptions by administrators and faculty that the group was ineffective and powerless, the measure was seemingly a cautious first step to restructure itself.
Senators passed the resolution 15-4. As written, it provided that senate executive committee members would discuss with Academic Council officials the feasibility of a forming a joint committee between the two organizations.
Dissenting voters favored a bolder resolution that would have skipped discussion with the Academic Council and asked for a mandate from Provost Nathan Hatch to create the joint committee.
The adopted resolution essentially begins talks between the senate and Academic Council about a restructuring plan that would bring unprecedented changes to both bodies.
Drafted by a senate ad hoc committee last summer, the plan would cut the senateÕs membership by nearly a third, from 53 voting members to 37. It also would raise Academic Council membership from 40 to 44, the additional representatives coming from the senate.
"This was pretty well thought-out, but it's not the end of ideas by any means," senate chair Jacqueline Brogan said Wednesday.
Hatch and University President Father Edward Malloy were willing to form a joint committee and to consider the proposed restructuring, according to Brogan, who has met with the administrators in formal Academic Council sessions.
"[We] will actively pursue your collective desires and decisions," she said of senators who would represent the group on the joint committee.
But creating that committee — and even reconfiguring the senate — wouldn't address deeper concerns that have plagued the embattled group, according to some senators.
At issues, according to Richard Sheehan, was the faculty's — in particular the Faculty Senate's — role in campus governance.
"The fundamental question is why aren't faculty members willing to serve on the senate and on boards across the University," he said. "We need to have discussions with administrators about the role of faculty governance here."
For nearly a half-year, the senate has publicly debated its function at the University.
At an April 3 meeting, then-chair Jean Porter introduced a resolution calling for the group to disband.
Citing waning support from colleagues and a lack of respect from administrators, senators on May 2 passed the proposal that struck Section 3 of Article IV of the University's Academic Articles. The measure had the effect of dissolving the senate.
Following the vote at the last senate meeting of the 2000-2001 academic year, 2001-2002 members revoked the resolution.
Both votes essentially meant little.
The senate lacks official power to dissolve itself. University policy dictates that the senate may only recommend changes to the Academic Articles. Changes to the Articles require approval by the Academic Council, University president and Board of Trustees.
"Some people thought that the threat to dissolve was politically smart," Brogan said Wednesday. "My feeling is that it would be stupid to say we want to play political power games."
In other senate news:
* Members unanimously voted to drop the "acting" titles from the four senate leaders' positions: Brogan, chair; David Klein, vice chair; John Robinson, co-secretary; and Stephen Hayes, treasurer. The senate elected Kathleen Peterson its other co-secretary.
* Brogan announced that University President Father Edward Malloy would address the senate at its Nov. 7 meeting at 7 p.m. in the McKenna Hall auditorium.
* The group elected Marsha Stevenson as the senate's representative to the Campus Life Council.
* The senate elected Hayes to the University's Traffic Appeals Board. Nancy Poehlmann was elected as an alternate.
All News Stories for Thursday, October 11, 2001
