Faculty Governance Ad Hoc Committee to Review Faculty Governance

History

Professor Payne introduced the topic of a review of faculty governance, which would be a good-faith followup to the Trustee self review and was also recommended by Middle States. The Faculty Council offered a proposal to constitute an ad-hoc committee (set out in an earlier communication): six elected faculty members, three of whom would be nominated by the current members of our five standing Faculty committees (Personnel, Development, Staff Planning, URC, and CAFT) and three nominated at large. One of the at-large positions would be for a non-tenured faculty member. This was seconded. Discussion clarified that the nominees need not be currently on the committees. Several people suggested that the committee include divisional representation, resulting in an amendment by Prof. Mitch Chernin to increase the at- large membership to four, one per division. This amendment was voted on and passed. The timetable includes constituting the committee in September 2004 with completion of the review by February 2005. This part of the proposal was then voted on and passed. The second part of the proposal involved the committee's charge: The topics the committee might wish to consider include but are not limited to the following: attendance at University Faculty meetings, efficiency of the governance system, the realization of the concept and goal of shared governance, the role of the Faculty Council, willingness of faculty to stand for election to committees, the role of the President in Faculty governance, voting privileges for non-faculty members. Prof. Ben Marsh made a motion to ask the committee to bring its own more focused charge to Faculty at its earliest convenience. This motion failed and the main motion passed.

NOTE: It is not possible to guarantee the representation called for in the motion that passed on the floor of the faculty. In enlarging the committee from 3 at-large members (with nominations coming from the Faculty Council and from the floor) to 4, with divisional representation, the ability to assure an untenured slot on the committee was lost. The Faculty Council will present a motion to remedy this at the September meeting of the Faculty. (MKL)

ADDITIONAL NOTE: In September the Faculty voted to add an untenured slot to the Committee structure that was approved in April 2004.

Relevant documents from the Middle States Review:

• The Middles States evaluation team suggested "[a] serious, substantial and self-critical review of faculty governance which we think essential to empowering the faculty to work effectively with the incoming leadership of the University in moving Bucknell to the next level of its potential." (This suggestion appears on p. 14 of the complete report.) Other governance suggestions relating to the Board appear on p. 8, and specific suggestions about the role of the President appear on p. 9. These include the following: "The President should chair faculty meetings, rather than be treated as a guest at those meetings; the President should be given the ability to review, and, if necessary, to change salary recommendations; and the Faculty Manual should be amended to give the President the right to reject a tenure recommendation, as is standard at institutions across the land."
• The University responded to the Middle States Commission by noting the faculty's vote to form the Committee to Review Faculty Governance, and commented that "In the course of this study, the Faculty will give full and careful consideration to the specific suggestions of the visiting team regarding the powers and authority of the President (e.g., the suggestions that the President chair meetings of the Faculty and have authority to reject tenure recommendations)." (This quote is from p. 3 of the complete response.)
• In June 2004 the Middle States Commission reaffirmed the accreditation of Bucknell, and "requested a monitoring report, due April 1, 2005, documenting developments regarding governance structures."

Committee Report

Committee Membership