Ever since the announcement that Rensselaer’s faculty governance system will be reviewed, the public discourse has been dominated by strong opinions. Such a reaction is not surprising; faculty governance is at the heart of our academic mission. By providing advice to the administration, the governance structure helps shape what students learn while they are here, who teaches them, and how faculty members are promoted. Faculty participation in governance at the committee, departmentmental, program, and school levels is important to provide the wisdom and advice of the faculty in stewardship of the institution, and helps to nurture future generations of academic and institutional leadership.
While we should all be pleased at the level of passion some faculty feel about this topic, we also should work toward the kind of rational decision-making we will require as the review process continues toward its recommendations.
Rensselaer has evolved quickly as a national research university in recent years, demanding clarity with regard to the leadership and advisory roles of the tenured and tenure-track faculty. Faculty governance is important for curriculum development, the hiring of new professors, and the promotion and tenure of faculty. Given our growing emphasis on the symbiosis between our teaching and research functions, the role of the tenured and tenure-track faculty in advising on these matters is increasingly important.
It is the importance of that role that prompted the Board of Trustees to engage in the discussion last year that led to the decision by the Board to define the faculty as active tenured and tenure-track members of the academic community. While all members of the Rensselaer community are vital participants in the ongoing transformation of the university, and all professors play an important role in the education of our students, the tenured and tenure-track faculty have a special status and responsibility.
Tenured and tenure-track faculty have a career-long commitment to them from the Institute. This affords them a special role as stewards of Rensselaer’s core mission of teaching, research, and service. With this privilege comes important responsibility, including that of advising the senior administration on academic matters. The future development of Rensselaer’s academic stature, the development of an ever-stronger faculty, and the delivery of academic resources to an exceptionally talented student body all demand the attention of a group of faculty who are, in fact, the stewards of our mission.
The Board action of December 2006 on the definition of the faculty led to a re-examination of the documents that guide us as a faculty. Many inconsistencies were discovered within the Faculty Senate Constitution and the Faculty Handbook, between those two guiding documents, and between them and the bylaws of the Institute. The faculty governance review process seeks to resolve these discrepancies with the input of as many members of the faculty as possible.
It is critical that the review take into account the full range of possible governance structures without undue influence of a specific structure. Some institutions do not utilize faculty senates, but nonetheless have university-level promotion and tenure committees, curriculum committees, and other faculty groups that advise on academic matters. At Rensselaer, much faculty governance activity occurs independently of the Faculty Senate, at the academic program, department, and school levels.
In June, since the Faculty Senate had not conformed faculty governance documents to satisfy the Board of Trustees’ definition of faculty, the Board asked the administration to develop a process to implement the Board’s directive. Given the need for a full objective review of faculty governance, given the Board’s request of the administration, and given the fact that the faculty governance system was compromised by a Faculty Senate election last spring that allowed voting by people no longer eligible to vote, I decided to recommend to the President a process for faculty governance review, which would include a state of transitional faculty governance. That meant that the Faculty Senate would have no formal role until the review was completed. The President approved the overall process and sent it to the Board of Trustees for review. The Board of Trustees endorsed the process I outlined and specifically approved the proposal that the Faculty Senate be suspended during the governance review.
The transitional faculty governance structure the Board approved, in fact, preserves all key aspects of faculty governance by ensuring participation from the faculty in decision-making on curriculum development, promotion and tenure, and other matters at the department, school, and university levels. During the transitional period, the members of key faculty advisory groups and faculty representatives to Board committees, who were in place during the 2006-07 academic year, will have their terms extended. Should any members of these groups be unable or unwilling to serve, they will be replaced by faculty nominees appointed by the Provost and approved by the President. The Board of Trustees now wishes for this review to move along expeditiously.
In moving to the next phase of the Board-approved process, we are now assembling a Faculty Governance Review Committee composed of prominent faculty members from across the Rensselaer community. The members of this group will take on an important task on an ambitious timetable, and I know they will reach out actively to their faculty colleagues to ensure a broadly participatory process that captures our best ideas about faculty governance.
The committee will work in consultation with the academic deans and tenured and tenure-track faculty to develop a plan for faculty governance which ensures the participation of a substantial majority of tenured and tenure-track faculty, which is consistent with the definition of faculty established by the Board, and Institute bylaws. After the conclusion of the review, the FGRC will establish a process to transition to the modified faculty governance. The goal is for the faculty, the administration, and the Board to reach clarity on the role of faculty governance in the university.
Even though I know there are strong feelings among some faculty, I am confident that we will reach this goal and emerge from the review process with an effective faculty governance system and enhanced unity, in pursuit of our shared vision for an ever-stronger Rensselaer.
