Faculty Council denies two schools representation

By Jaryd Wilson

Published April 24, 2007

Jaryd Wilson

Staff Writer

After the MU Faculty Council ended its debate about which schools and colleges should have representation in the council, it was decided that some schools and colleges would not have faculty members represented. The council also debated the number of faculty members necessary for representation from each school or college.

After a lengthy discussion, the council passed the original Council Representation Motion, which was reconsidered from the Feb. 22 Faculty Council meeting.

According to Faculty Council representative Sudarshan Loyalka, a substitute amendment was proposed because some members of the council thought it would be better to have all schools and colleges represented on the council. It also had provisions under which faculty groups from unrepresented schools could combine to form a separate division. It also called for annual reviews of representation to keep up with the changes such as names and reorganizations on the campus.

But when the substitute amendment was presented on Thursday, not all council members agreed with it.

"A substitute to this amendment was proposed as several members were critical of the provisions under which faculty groups could form separate divisions for purposes of representation," Loyalka said. "This substitute removed this provision from the original amendment."

Loyalka proposed the removal of the part of the substitute that allowed faculty members to form their own divisions to be represented but the annual reviews of representation would remain. The substitute passed with an 11-10 vote.

Loyalka said he thinks the motion that was passed is flawed because it changes the nature of representation from academic division to representation through deans and does not give representation to the School of Natural Resources or the College of Human Environmental Sciences.

"In my view, the original motion is dean-centric rather than being academic- or faculty-centric as the substitute amendment had intended to do," Loyalka said. "The amendment would have helped the university by bringing forth more open viewpoints and concerns of smaller faculty groups with clear and distinct academic identities and shared views, and encouraging greater academic and intellectual diversity."

At the meeting, Chancellor Brady Deaton addressed issues that would make the campus more secure, including locking residence halls at all times and installing cameras in areas such as parking garages.

"We will be taking a close look at the cost of those emergency sources," Deaton said. "We are going to do what we feel needs to be done to make this a safe campus."

Deaton also addressed a 1 percent cut in the MU operating budget that will be used to make staff salaries more competitive. The cut will be about $4 million.

"We are finding ways to reshape the university, so we can be more competitive with faculty salaries," Deaton said. "We want to recruit the best faculty in the world."

He said auxiliary services including athletics would continue to get support, but only to the extent MU feels they contribute to the academic mission.

Deaton closed by addressing interim UM system President Gordon Lamb, a man whom he said he feels will do a good job.

"I have had the opportunity to work with him in the past, and I not only feel comfortable with him as interim president, but I feel very positive about his name being there," Deaton said.

Laura Schopp, the council's observer to the UM system Board of Curators, said the curators voted in favor of increasing tuition costs by 3.8 percent as opposed to 3.2 percent.

Council representative Doug Abrams also drafted a council resolution regarding the Virginia Tech shootings. After council chairman Rex Campbell opened the meeting with a moment of silence for the events of last week, Abrams read the resolution.

It expressed the sympathy of the council toward the victims and their families, as well as students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni and friends of the university and was delivered to Virginia Tech on Friday.