Faculty Senate sets game plan for addressing changes
Matt Wilhelm
Issue date: 11/12/09 Section: News
While emotions had tempered from the previous meeting, Faculty Senate's latest assembly still drew strong feelings from the assembled professors. The critical item on the body's agenda was to formulate a plan to review the proposed changes in Saint Louis University's administrative organization. Biondi put the changes on hold after the Senate's last pair of meetings produced criticism and resolutions directed at the Administration's supposed failure to meet the standards of faculty review stated in the faculty manual.
"I think one of the greatest ills of anybody is apathy, and what we showed [last week] was anything but apathy," Faculty Senate President Joanne Langan said.
In the Nov. 10 meeting, the Senate voted to form task forces to gather feedback from the faculty at large, and to report back to the Senate during a future meeting. Following the Senate Executive Committee's suggestion, the issues relating to the decentralization of the graduate school should be resolved before the issue of the provost requirement, as it is fiscally sensitive and the Senate Executive Committee hoped that the issue could be resolved in time to be included in the budget process that is currently underway.
"If the Senate makes a decision to accept or reject, and an alternate [organization plan] is offered that needs resources, [and] if you are beyond budget deadline, you will not be able to apply for funding for the following year," Langan said.
In response, one Senator criticized the plan's time frame, saying that the faculty members were rushed after being ignored by the Administration. Senator Ian Redmount pointed out the need to include in clear language that the task force would report to the Senate body, and not just to the executive committee.
"By contacting the executive committee, [the Administration] thought they [were meeting] the requirements of the handbook, which they were not," Redmount said.
Several friendly revisions, which do not require the Senate's vote, were added to the plan, including a request to the Administration for a complete proposal that will detail its cost and administrative impact. At the end of the meeting's scheduled time, the task-force plan passed with a unanimous vote.
"I think one of the greatest ills of anybody is apathy, and what we showed [last week] was anything but apathy," Faculty Senate President Joanne Langan said.
In the Nov. 10 meeting, the Senate voted to form task forces to gather feedback from the faculty at large, and to report back to the Senate during a future meeting. Following the Senate Executive Committee's suggestion, the issues relating to the decentralization of the graduate school should be resolved before the issue of the provost requirement, as it is fiscally sensitive and the Senate Executive Committee hoped that the issue could be resolved in time to be included in the budget process that is currently underway.
"If the Senate makes a decision to accept or reject, and an alternate [organization plan] is offered that needs resources, [and] if you are beyond budget deadline, you will not be able to apply for funding for the following year," Langan said.
In response, one Senator criticized the plan's time frame, saying that the faculty members were rushed after being ignored by the Administration. Senator Ian Redmount pointed out the need to include in clear language that the task force would report to the Senate body, and not just to the executive committee.
"By contacting the executive committee, [the Administration] thought they [were meeting] the requirements of the handbook, which they were not," Redmount said.
Several friendly revisions, which do not require the Senate's vote, were added to the plan, including a request to the Administration for a complete proposal that will detail its cost and administrative impact. At the end of the meeting's scheduled time, the task-force plan passed with a unanimous vote.
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