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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 30, 1985)
Senate’s role may change after June Assembly vote After a year marked by poor attendance and apathy. University Senate members have proposed another change in the Senate’s role as a legislative body, stepping yet again toward resolving its historical identity crisis. “Senate X,” which will be voted on at the June S University Assembly meeting, would in crease the power of next year's Senate and make governance more effective, says Kappy Eaton, Senate president. Currently, motions are raised in the Assembly, the all-faculty governance body; they then go to the 54-member Senate for discussion and a vote, and later back to the Assembly for the final vote. But Eaton says because the Senate is a representative body, with its members voted in by the entire faculty, the new Senate would originate all motions and refer them if necessary to the Assembly to make faculty legislation more efficient. As developed by the Senate from six options presented by an ad hoc committee. “Senate X” would take on a variety of new functions, including; •Communications. Involving the publication of a newsletter with Senate minutes and ad ministrative and committee reports. •Hearings. Becoming a receiving group for committee reports at least annually so the more than 40 campus committees would have a com mon place to report to. •Timeliness. Meeting twice a month, instead of once, to act on motions initiatedin the Senate. The hew Senate would keep its current one third/two-thirds student-to-faculty ratio, it would, however, lose its traditional duty of choosing a faculty member to receive the • Distinguished Service Award, leaving this to another committee. Eaton says one of the reasons for the lack of participation by Senate members this year (of 54 members, the average turn-out each month was about 30) is that senators do not feel they play an . important role in faculty legislation. . Eaton also say.s it is increasingly difficult to attract active: faculty members to fill Senate posi tions because they perceive-the.Senate as being ineffective. The new Senate would- probably eliminate this problem, making'service on.the Senate of •greater importance. Eaton-says: She also says she would.like Senate service to count in tha.promotion/tenure system. Only a few departments andcolleges consider Senate-service tn determining a faculty member's promotion or 'tenure.- . ... This is hot the. first atiempt by- Senate , members to change its function' and structure. °’ J n 1983. a.governance task force, looking at how faculty governance cou|d become more 0 effective,'made a series of motions to the '’Assembly to change the Senate. . The task force' recommended no.t only inore power for the Senate.but also a.reduction in the • number of Assembly meetings, which was view ed by° some faculty members as a decrease in power for the faculty as a'whole. Oh the first vote, the motion passed by exact ly the two-third vote necessary to. make it effec tive, Then University President Paul Olum, who also chairs the Assembly meetings, expressed his dissatisfaction with the measure. Another vote was called because of the closeness of the first one. About six faculty members changed their minds, defeating the motion on the second vote. Although Raton feels Olum's comments were “probably inappropriate as the chair,” she says the current motion seems to be a more positive option because it does not affect the way the Assembly operates. W3 ut Olum says he did not mean to change the M3 outcome of the vote but was only trying to explain that, although he did not favor the motion, he did not want to vote and overturn the wishes of the majority. The Assembly chair has the power to vote when it would break a tie or make a tie. Although he says he is not completely familiar with the motion, Olum says he would like to take a close look at it before making a deci sion about whether he supports it. But he added that it seems like “they're do ing it casually, as if it were a routine thing.” Olum says his reservations stem from the idea of a faculty that maintains a sense of impor tance in University decisions “I cherish a little bit the notion of a faculty that meets once a month. . .that has a sense of control.” Olum says. But, “That doesn't mean I'm opposed to it.” And Raton says there still seems to be strong sentiment within the faculty for some more viable role for the Senate. Last spring, after being denied additional power, the Senate voted to abolish itself, but this move was rejected by the Assembly. "We've gone from a reasonable motion to strengthen the Senate to a motion to abolish itself and a few things in between," Eaton-says^ After sparring back and- forth on the issue, Eaton says it seemed appropriate to re-evaluate the role and future of the Senate. Raton says she hopes at least some of the changes are approved, although realistically she assumes there will be a typically low turn-out at the June Assembly meeting. Of the' more than 800 .eligible faculty members who could attend and vote at the Assembly meetings, Eaton says it is rare to have more than 90. at- a- meeting • * ' ... The University’s two-body governance system is rare among other institutions, Eaton says. . At most universities, the Senate is the power center, and about 90 percent of university Senates have no student* representation, Eaton says. • But she says this , is one of the criticisms faculty members have of the Senate/— there is too much student representation,.and students tend to vote in a block on many issues, “If students have rrtore members present," then the vote has greater Consequence," she says. Eaton .says she -would- never support eliminating students entirely from the-Senate, but she Would faVor having less representation, possibly between 20 percent and 25 percent. By Jolayne Houtz 5 BUY OME GET OME FREE* ' (with this coupon-18 years or older p.. ^se) LAZAR'S BAZAR j YOUR WATERPIPE HEADQUARTERS Scales, Clips, Tobacco 8t Posters 164 West Broadway, Downtown Eugene * this offer good on all pipes or clips* ■0" -0- -0- -0- -0- -0- -0— mj/aim isTRUE.. This spring don't misfire when you say good bye to your bunkies and friends. 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