UEA President: Michael Pfau
Members of the UMD community with institutional memories that span several decades or more tell a story that links the origin of our current governance structure to the creation of the University Education Association, our faculty union.
According to this
story, after faculty voted in the union they were expelled from the larger system-wide University governance structure centered around the Twin Cities, necessitating the creation of a governance apparatus specific to the Duluth campus.
If the expulsion from University governance was a way of punishing faculty for unionizing, the resulting governance structure on the Duluth campus could also be seen as a form of punishment for faculty.
While many complaints are possible, what is perhaps most disturbing about the place of faculty in governance at UMD is the fact that if you count up members of the Campus Assembly (the central governance institution), faculty seats comprise less than 50 percent of the total seats.
Given the minor place of faculty on the ultimate governance body, it should come as no surprise that during the last several years our Campus Assembly has passed a series of policies that infringe on faculty academic freedom and micromanage faculty and their instruction on several levels.
Excessively prescriptive policies mandated what excuses faculty must accept for absences, specified the character that final examinations are to take, and perhaps most egregious of all stipulated that every syllabus on campus must conform to no fewer than 15 requirements.
Some faculty voices, informed by values like academic freedom, opposed these policies. However, since faculty hold less than 50 percent of the seats on Campus Assembly, even if faculty were unanimous in their opposition to such policies, their position would be untenable in the face of non-faculty votes.
And since faculty are rarely unanimous about anything, the faculty voice on our current Campus Assembly (when it is able to get a quorum, that is) is dilute indeed.
Fortunately, the new structure proposed by Chancellor Black restores faculty to the proper place as one of many voices on most issues, but the ultimate arbiters of their own affairs in several respects.
First, under the new structure, faculty are defined in much the same way as they are for the purposes of our bargaining unit – as those holding a teaching appointment of 35 percent or greater time whose primary status is that of faculty member.
Second, the proposed structure includes a Faculty Assembly and Council that together provide a space for faculty to discuss issues together and to provide advice to administrators.
Third, while under the proposal faculty continue to share governance responsibilities with non-faculty and students across the spectrum of most committees, the proposed Academic Policy and Procedures committee is one on which only faculty exercise voting privileges.
While the advice of students and non-faculty is welcomed in the form of ex officio members, this committee returns control of matters of curriculum and classroom management to the faculty. For all of these reasons, the new system is one that is much better for faculty, even as it retains the voices of all members of our University community.
If you are a voting member of Campus Assembly (in other words if you currently serve on one of the campus-wide standing committees specified by the Constitution and bylaws), I ask that you vote in favor of the proposed reforms.
And even if you are unable to attend the assembly meeting in person on Tuesday March 5 at 2 p.m. in the Kirby Ballroom, balloting will take place outside of this particular meeting (please consult your ECCA representative for details).
Even if you are not a voting member of the assembly, all members of the campus community are welcome to attend and express their opinion.
Faculty turnout is often lower than other members of the campus community, so the presence of all interested faculty members is greatly appreciated as we confront this opportunity to restore faculty to their rightful place in our governance system.