Faculty Caucus Minutes
September 13, 2006
(Approved)
Call to Order
The
Faculty Caucus was called to order by Chairperson Lane Crothers immediately
falling the Senate meeting.
Approval of
Faculty Caucus Minutes of August 30, 2006
Motion: By
Senator Riegle, seconded by Senator Parette, to approve the Faculty Caucus
Minutes of August 30, 2006. The minutes were unanimously approved.
Senate Chairperson Position Discussion
Senator Crothers: I wanted to start talking about the succession of
Senate leadership, since my applications for sabbatical are in and I won’t be
returning next year as Chair of the Senate.
I wanted for you to begin thinking about the position of Chair. There
are a few benefits. You get a half-time buyout from your department, which
means that the university transfers half your salary for half your time. You
are looking at 1:1 loads for teaching typically, so we are talking about real
reallocation. You do get a month’s pay in the summer. You have stunning access
to the policy makers of the institution. It is a rare day that I don’t chat
with the Provost. The Senate’s fourth-floor location in Hovey Hall is important
to its proximity to the administrative offices.
I spend most of my time in committee meetings or in planning committee
meetings or thinking about the discussion I am going to be having with various
policy makers. That said, there is still plenty of time for research. It is
worth pointing out that I have written three books since I became Senate Chair.
You do have to learn to work like an administrator sometimes in that if you
have an hour between meetings and you have a project you have to work on, you
have to learn to work within that hour. The truly busy times were one, when Dr.
Boschini resigned and we had to put together the election process for getting
people on the search committee. The time when we were working to find a new
Provost was very significant because, for the first time, this caucus chose to
participate indirectly, but formally, in the process. We wrote a Faculty Caucus
statement about who we thought the Provost should be and why. That required a
lot of coordination. Finally, during the revisions to the General Education
Program, not only did the Academic Affairs Committee work very hard, but there
were many conversations going on in my office.
There are a few committees that I spend a fair amount of time on. Once
a month, I attend the Provost Advisory Committee meeting. You are a guest there
and not really expected to participate, but it is important to go. The Academic
Planning Committee is a committee that does program review. I tend to spend a
great deal of time on that committee. I think that it is very important.
Depending on the year, it can occupy less time. Last year, we only had eight
program reviews. The year before, we had 31. The Council of Illinois University
Senates was established by Professor White. The membership is the Senate
Chairpersons from all public universities in
There are a few others that don’t take much time. The Diversity
Committee has largely gone away. The Enrollment Committee I resigned from
because I felt that it was not doing anything meaningful. The Team Excellence
Awards meetings are fairly enjoyable. You meet once, you pick winners and then
you leave. The Campus Communications Committee makes a statement from the
university community before each Board meeting and also does some planning for
the 8:00 a.m. discussion hour with the Board. I tried to get that shifted to
more of an educational moment. Also, you lead the faculty procession on
Founders Day.
Other things that I was involved in were the Athletic Director Search
and the Family Campaign planning. I once served for a semester on the Student
Health Board. I also served on the Alcohol and Drug Task Force. I attended a
meeting in which I was involved in the NCAA changing its rules and I did one
public service involving trying to get them to build the hotel downtown.
A lot of the responsibilities that I have taken are the social
responsibilities; that is, being there. You get more invitations to the
President’s house. You will get invitations to sporting and other social events
and you end up developing personal relationships with the President, Vice
Presidents and the Trustees, as well as elected officials, which, I hope, aids
the shared governance processes. You do meet on a bi-weekly basis with the
President and Provost. I try to regularly have lunch with Mark Walberg,
Technology, and Vice President Steve Bragg. I was once meeting on a regular
basis for lunch with the Vice President for University Advancement and the Vice
President for Student Affairs; those broke down over time, but it is not a bad
idea to continue them.
Part of the ‘being there’ is being available for consultations that
might arise. Those issues can range from “We have run out of this.” to “Do you
think the faculty will object if we do that?” to personnel matters or other
crises where they need to get feedback. It leaves you in a position in which
you have to be discreet. A lot of it is rules interpretation. Faculty will call
the Senate Chairperson as the first point of contact asking about the process
for getting something done. Finally, the fundamental thing is some level of legitimization.
. It is different sometimes when the Chair of the Academic Senate says
something and when the President says something. Faculty, in particular, tend
to be more willing to trust the President if the Chair of the Senate backs the
President up. I have chosen to make it a cooperative relationship. Also, there
is the access benefit to the President and Provost at your bi-weekly meetings.
Senator Borg: It is an important, visible symbol and I would
encourage someone to take it on. There is one revision in the constitution that
permits the Chair of the Senate to call a meeting of the general faculty. It
used to require a petition. It is an important option.
Senator Wilkinson: What is the nomination process for this? Could you
have a completely new member of the Senate serve as Chairperson?
Senator Crothers: The nomination process will be held at the last
Senate meeting of this year in April. There will be a caucus before the Senate
meeting in which the new and continuing faculty senators will nominate a
candidate. The election of the Chairperson will involve the full Senate at that
Senate meeting following the caucus. I will conduct that meeting because I am
not running for the position. As for a new person serving as Chair, unless they
are an old guard person returning, they are not going to know the institution
or the issues well enough to do the job.
I just wanted to raise this for consideration. If anyone has any
questions, just e-mail or call me and we can talk about it.
Adjournment