University of Virginia Library

Faculty Resolution Recommends
University Senate Implementation

— Ed.

By Peter Shea
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

A resolution being distributed to the
Faculty of Arts and Sciences will ask that
body at its November 18 meeting to form
a committee to draw up
recommendations for the implementation
of a revitalized University Senate.

If the committee were to be formed, it
would follow a student group which has
been studying such a reform and it would
replace an ad hoc group of faculty
members who first initiated the reform
movement.

The resolution, which has already
been signed by at least 18 faculty
members, gives a number of reasons why the
present University Senate is inadequate and
thus needs to be revamped.

The resolution states that the increasing size
and diversity of the University necessitates a
body through which "the opinions of the
University community may be expressed,
communications improved, and new ideas
brought to bear on the problems of a
University-wide nature."

The resolution adds that such a body
"should function as an elected body representative
of the entire University community," and
that the current University Senate "could be
revitalized for these purposes."

If formed, the committee is expected to
study the Senate structure at other schools
around the nation. The student group which
also has been conducting studies about the
proposed reform has carefully scrutinized the
Senate structure at five other schools, Columbia
University, the State University of New York at
Binghampton, the University of Maryland, the
University of New Hampshire and the University
of Kansas.

The University Senate at Columbia University
was reformed on May 13, 1969, one year
after the university was shut down by student
protests.

Senate Duties

As the body presently functions, the
Columbia Senate has three major duties: "(a)
To report to the Trustees its opinion as to any
exercise of power proposed by a Faculty; (b)
To submit such proposals to the Trustees or to
the President or to the several Faculties as in its
judgment may serve to increase the efficiency
of University work; and (c) To consider any
question that may arise as to the conduct or
efficiency of any officer of administration or
instruction, and to report thereon to the
Trustees through the President."

As the statutes of the Columbia Senate
require, "the Senate shall be a policy-making
body which may consider all matters of
University-wide concern, all matters affecting
more than one Faculty or School, and all
matters pertaining to the implementation
of agreements with the other
educational institutions that are now or may
hereafter become affiliated with the University."

The statutes, under its General Policies
section, lists ten functions of the Columbia
Senate although the Senate is not limited to
only those enumerated.

The body is specifically charged with
working on the long-range master plan for the
physical development of Columbia, reviewing
policies to govern Columbia's relations with
outside agencies for research, instruction and
related purposes as well as relations with the
neighboring community and developing plans
to strengthen Columbia's educational system.

As adopted last May, the Columbia Senate is
a "unicameral body" composed of administrative
officers, faculty, students, staff members
and alumni.

The administrative members include the
President, Vice President, Dean of Faculties,
Deans of Faculties of Political Science,
Philosophy and Pure Science, Dean of Columbia
College, and five members appointed by the
Fifty-seven faculty members sit on the
body, 42 of whom must be "officers of
instruction having an appointment without
stated term as professor or associate professor."

In order to make the Senate representative
of the entire University, 21 students are also
appointed to the body. The memberships are
apportioned by the Senate itself amongst the
various schools at Columbia, according to their
size, however, each school elects at least one
student member.

The student members, who serve two-year
terms, can be either chosen by a direct election
of the students in the school or by the
governing student body of that school.

SUNY

At the State University of New York in
Binghampton, a Commission was formed in May,
1968, to "evolve a structure by which the
active question of communal governance for
the University could be explored."

The University Assembly which was ironed
out by March, 1969, was adopted and,
according to persons familiar with the situation
at Binghampton, has been well received by both
students and faculty.

The Commission's recommendations asked
that the body consist of between 50 and 100
members and that it be composed of
Faculty-Students- Administration in a 5:3:2
ratio.

For the purposes of voting for the student
members of the University Assembly graduate,
undergraduate and non-curricular students are
represented for voting on the basis of full time
equivalent students.

The graduate student representation is
appointed by department and the undergraduate
representation is set by the undergraduates
themselves. Undergraduates first set as many
at-large delegates to the Assembly as they deem
necessary and the additional representation is
apportioned by academic schools, again with
the provision that each school be represented.

The Binghampton Commission recommended
that six committees be designated as Standing
Committees of the University Assembly. The
functions of the individual committees would