Why does the University have a Faculty Senate? What is its purpose?
“Well, the Faculty Senate was established around the beginning of the 20th century when the faculty of the University had become so large that it was not feasible for the entire faculty to meet. Prior to that time, the faculty, which of course started at the size of like, eight, would simply meet together in a room to reach decisions. But by the beginning of the 20th century, it was clear that the faculty, which was then approaching 100 in size, was too large a group to meet, and so the Senate was set up as a representative body to speak for the faculty as whole.”
What kinds of faculty members serve in the Senate, and how are they chosen?
“I guess all kinds ... The faculty senate consists of 80 members with representation from all the schools, which is portioned by faculty size, so the biggest group of senators is from [the College], the second is from the Medical School, and the numbers are assigned to each school, and the schools then run the process by which their particular senators are selected.”
Is there a certain length of term for the senators?
“Yes, the senators are elected for four years.”
How long have you been a member of the Faculty Senate?
“I think five years, this time ... I was also a member in the 1980s, for four years.
Have things changed since then?
“Very similar; [President John T. Casteen, III] was [University] President both of the times I was on the Senate.”
How would you describe the responsibilities of your position as Chair of the Faculty Senate?
“My responsibilities are basically to act as a convener, to schedule and arrange meetings, establish agendas, and get people together to talk to each other.”
What are some of the key issues the Senate is currently addressing?
“Well, we have a task force which is reviewing the status of what the University now calls non-tenure track faculty, formally called general faculty. We have a significant number of faculty who are academic faculty and engage in research and/or teaching, but have this non-tenure track faculty status [yet] make an important contribution to the University ... so the task force is kind of reviewing the University’s relationship with that group and is going to make some recommendations about their status and position. Then we’re following and attempting to assist with the implementation of the report of the ... Commission on the Future of the University; quite a number of people in the Senate also put considerable time and effort into that planning project, and so we’re very concerned about how the recommendations are followed up on and implemented. And we have a [Committee on] Planning & Development ... which is working very hard to try and position the faculty to assist with the campaign, both in terms of planning initiatives and assisting in making the case for philanthropic support. And we have an Academic Affairs Committee; one of its responsibilities is to approve new degree programs or change existing degree programs. Last year, that committee was involved in approving the new [Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy], and there are always various proposals for new degrees. And of course we’re following the budget reduction process, and we’re trying to keep informed about its impact on the various schools ... I’m expecting to create a task force to look at the whole question of copyright in scholarly works, [looking at] the problem of increasing library acquisition costs for journals; the universities both write the scholarly works and pay for them when they acquire the journals and the expense of that has been rising very rapidly. So that project would kind of look at what adjustments should be made and the handling of copyright. The Senate has a grievance committee, which is available to all faculty members in the event that they feel they’ve been mistreated, and we are in the process of reviewing our grievance process and considering some changes to the grievance procedure.”
How many Faculty Senate meetings are there in a year and/or semester?
There are four [meetings] a year; [they are] two hours long each. Sometimes [there is] an additional retreat, which gives the senators a chance to get to know each other a little better. The timing for the meetings is set by the president’s calendar.”
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