University Business - September 2011 - (Page 34)

school’s board of trustees and to give term faculty more of a voice in Wisconsin and Ohio,” page 32). The Idaho State Board of Education, meanwhile, resorted to in the faculty senate and in university issues. Last June, the AAUP, which presents an annual shared gover- what the AAUP’s Nelson calls a “nuclear option” last February by nance award, recognized Georgia Perimeter College and its presi- suspending the Boise State University Faculty Senate at the request dent, Anthony Tricoli, for including faculty leaders as voting mem- of ISU President Art Vailas. The senate had opposed his proposed bers of the president’s cabinet and the president’s policy advisory changes to faculty governance, which would have put committees board. Georgia Perimeter faculty members also serve on ad hoc on curriculum, budget, research, and master planning under the direct control of the administration without faculty senate oversight. task teams to address short-term issues affecting the school. ISU Communications Director Mark Levine says the state’s acBut other recently published research suggests that faculty influence is not what it once was. In their book, The Still Divided tion came in response to a stalemate between the two sides. “This Academy: How Competing Visions of Power, Politics, and Diversity Complicate the Mission of ‘The newest chair at the table is government. In Higher Education (Roman & Littlefield Publishers, 2010), which surveyed more than 4,000 return for its loan guarantees and funding, the administrators, faculty, and students at four-year government will demand more results and efficiency.’ institutions—husband and wife Matthew and —Matthew Woessner, co-author, April Woessner write that only 17 percent of The Still Divided Academy: How Competing Visions of Power, Politics, and professors thought they had “a great deal of say” Diversity Complicate the Mission of Higher Education in college governance. (The number was considerably higher at schools granting only bachelors degrees—39 percent—than at doctoral-granting institutions—13 is only one element,” Levine explains, referring to the dispute over percent.) Another 47 percent acknowledged having “some say.” the changes in governance. “There’s been a contentious relationship Their experience is echoed by faculty and administration leaders between certain faculty members and the administration and they who admit that the landscape for shared governance has changed could not work out an agreement to reconcile their differences.” over the past 20 years, along with the backgrounds of university Levine adds that an agreement between the two sides for a administrators, the role of non-faculty constituencies, and the im- third-party facilitator fell through, and that Vailas has appointed pact of the troubled economy and new legislation. a provisional faculty senate to develop a new shared governance agreement, along with a constitution and bylaws that Levine says were lacking in the past. A Turbulent 2011 The events at Boise State bring to mind those four years earlier The past year dealt some sharp blows to the working relationship of faculty members and their administrators. Controversial new at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (N.Y.), where the precipitating laws passed in Wisconsin and Ohio greatly curtailed the collective issue was the faculty senate’s insistence that non-tenure-track clinibargaining rights of all public employees, including university pro- cal faculty have voting rights. The subsequent standoff with the fessors, who marched in protest this past February and excoriated RPI president led to the suspension of the senate. Earlier this year, AAUP investigators released a report charging their respective presidents for endorsing the changes. (See “Discord 34 | September 2011 universitybusiness.com What Ever Happened to Shared Governance? Salisbury University President Janet DudleyEshbach places a high premium on consulting with the school’s faculty. http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - September 2011

University Business - September 2011
Contents
Editor's Note
College Index
Ad Index
Behind the News
Viewpoint
Financial Aid
Money Matters
Internet Technology
Shared Governance
Acknowledging Achievement
Looking Back
Spotlight on Procurement
EduComm 2011
End Note

University Business - September 2011