2008 Woodie Awards
On responding to faculty polls
Tom Jones
Issue date: 2/6/08 Section: Opinion
On Responding to Faculty Polls
by Tom Jones, Professor of European Cultural History
After soliciting faculty advice with its Oct. 18-22 poll as to "which actions the Academic Senate should pursue," on Dec. 4 that same Academic Senate chose to spurn the statistical majorities of the up-or-down votes from that poll (including 75 percent opposed to taking no action at that time, 61 percent approving a resolution admonishing the president, and 72.2 percent calling for a vote on the issue of no-confidence), and instead pass five toothless resolutions whose net effect was to take no action at that time nor anytime in the near future.
The first three resolutions established an ad hoc committee to look into the reasons for faculty lack of confidence, directing it to construct a Bill of Particulars (including suggested solutions), drawing from (but not limited to) comments and concerns that faculty recorded on their ballots, and to present it for senate approval by Feb. 26.
The fourth stated that the senate would "request" meetings with the president "to develop formal agreements to resolve the issues in the approved Bill of Particulars."
The fifth resolution stated that if the president approves formal agreements to resolve the issues in the Bill of Particulars, there will be no need of a no-confidence vote; and, conversely, if he does not agree then the senate would consider such a vote.
These do-nothing-at-this-time resolutions were accompanied by a rationale that pretended urgency while simultaneously explaining away its procrastination by a need to educate the faculty:
"Rationale: The Information Ballot… highlighted a number of serious concerns held by the faculty members with regard to President Rollin Richmond. The severity of many of these concerns and issues require that they be addressed seriously and in a timely fashion. However, there has as yet been no attempt to explicitly state, in a single document, the specifics and details of these concerns, as well as suggested solutions, in a form that is accessible to the faculty members as a whole."
by Tom Jones, Professor of European Cultural History
After soliciting faculty advice with its Oct. 18-22 poll as to "which actions the Academic Senate should pursue," on Dec. 4 that same Academic Senate chose to spurn the statistical majorities of the up-or-down votes from that poll (including 75 percent opposed to taking no action at that time, 61 percent approving a resolution admonishing the president, and 72.2 percent calling for a vote on the issue of no-confidence), and instead pass five toothless resolutions whose net effect was to take no action at that time nor anytime in the near future.
The first three resolutions established an ad hoc committee to look into the reasons for faculty lack of confidence, directing it to construct a Bill of Particulars (including suggested solutions), drawing from (but not limited to) comments and concerns that faculty recorded on their ballots, and to present it for senate approval by Feb. 26.
The fourth stated that the senate would "request" meetings with the president "to develop formal agreements to resolve the issues in the approved Bill of Particulars."
The fifth resolution stated that if the president approves formal agreements to resolve the issues in the Bill of Particulars, there will be no need of a no-confidence vote; and, conversely, if he does not agree then the senate would consider such a vote.
These do-nothing-at-this-time resolutions were accompanied by a rationale that pretended urgency while simultaneously explaining away its procrastination by a need to educate the faculty:
"Rationale: The Information Ballot… highlighted a number of serious concerns held by the faculty members with regard to President Rollin Richmond. The severity of many of these concerns and issues require that they be addressed seriously and in a timely fashion. However, there has as yet been no attempt to explicitly state, in a single document, the specifics and details of these concerns, as well as suggested solutions, in a form that is accessible to the faculty members as a whole."
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