After almost two months without faculty senates, the board of trustees unanimously approved to bring them back.
Several board members expressed their support for reestablishing faculty senates during the Oct. 16 meeting. Trustee Shannon Wood said she wanted to be invited to the first meeting of the faculty senate and praised the work of those behind the proposed changes.
“This is huge for the faculty,” Wood said. “I’ve gotten numerous phone calls, numerous emails. And it just makes my heart proud that you did it this quick.”
The last time the issue was on the table, the board didn’t take any action.
Former Joint Consultation Committee Chair Madelyn Bowman, who wrote and presented her proposed changes to the board during the Aug. 21 meeting, said morale has been low since the faculty senates were dissolved.
“Right now, we don’t have one voice that’s saying, ‘Hey, this is what happened,’” she said. “We’re getting information, but it’s coming from several different sources. And so it’s not as it’s not as easy to parse.”
Senate Bill 37, which went into effect Sept. 1, limits faculty senates at higher-education institutions to being an advisory body of 60 members and for their meetings to be recorded. The bill also requires regular curriculum reviews and establishes a way for individuals to file complaints against those who are found to be in violation of the law.
The bill also requires the chancellor to be the one to appoint the faculty senate president, vice president and secretary, along with one representative from each campus.
SE Campus President Andy Bowne presented the latest proposed changes to the board and said the members of the Policy Review Committee, who oversee the rewriting of board policy, were encouraged to read the bill.
“The good news is the observations of everyone involved is that this recommended policy change directly aligns to the statute,” Bowne said.
The PRC comprises Bowne, Vice Chancellor and Provost Shelley Pearson, the heads of almost all departments and one faculty member from each campus, who are rotated on and off the committee.
South history professor Lee Snaples, a member of the PRC, said the committee frequently has to make revisions as state laws change.
“When the state passes new laws, then TCC has to adjust policy, because we will comply with state law,” he said. “My role there is simply as a faculty member to try to raise concerns or circumstance where the policy may affect our students or faculty that I am aware of, so that we have a full view of what’s happening before we change policy.”
According to Pearson, the faculty senate will begin meeting after details about the meetings are worked out, such as how to livestream the meetings.
Bowman said she is hopeful about the future of the new faculty senate.
“Our board of trustees appointed the chancellor because she is so competent. She’s really good at her job, so we’re just gonna have to trust that she has our best interest at heart,” Bowman said. “Again, we didn’t have a choice. They didn’t have a choice.”
