FACULTY GOVERNANCE | Back to King's College | Back to Faculty Governance

The Academic and Professional Affairs Committee has continued some of the work begun by the ad hoc Committee of the Faculty Meeting on Faculty Governance. 

History and status of Faculty Governance Reform

Revised Faculty Council | Union | Meeting | All College | Faculty-Administration Interaction

Models of Faculty Governance 
Developed by the Academic and Professional Affairs Committee for review by Faculty Council
Spring 2003

The following models of faculty governance have been brought together for use as further study as requested of the committee by faculty council. It is hoped that this report and description of the models can lead to further discussion on how we govern ourselves at King’s College. 

The following models have been gathered from information collected from numerous colleges and universities that are similar to King’s College. A generic model of each description has been provided along with what the committee feels are its strengths and weaknesses. Following these descriptions we have included a Models of Faculty-Administration Interaction section which discusses possible channels of communication between faculty and administration. Finally, we have given our recommendations for some general points that should be considered. 

I. Revised Faculty Council Model

Key points: 

• One faculty representative from each division, plus one at large representative to maintain the same size of Council

• 2 student representatives for 2 yr overlapping terms

• Faculty Council Chair is a member of senior staff and/or A-team

• Faculty Council Chair is a voting member of the Academic & Professional Affairs Committee of the Board

Advantages over current system:

• Every division is represented at Council

• Provides for an increased leadership role for the Council Chair 

• Board may have better interest in and access to the academic life of the college

• Increased faculty voice 

• Eliminates voting groups system

Disadvantages over the current system:

• Uneven representation in some divisions

• There may be a burden on smaller divisions to pick a representative each time

• There will be an increased responsibility on the Faculty Council Chair

II. Union Model

Key points: 

• Includes all full-time teaching faculty
• Part-time & adjunct faculty. May be included as well
• According to the Peer Review of the AAC&U 40% of colleges are represented in this manner. This is a very popular model. 

Advantages over current system:

• Gives faculty greater power/voice
• Greater security individually and for the departments
• Faculty wages, and benefits may be improved

Disadvantages over the current system:

• Possible adversarial relationship between administration and faculty
• Provides for potential conflict between Union interest and academic interest
• Loss of individual flexibility

Revised Faculty Council | Union | Meeting | All College | Faculty-Administration Interaction
Suggestions for King's Revision

III. Faculty Meeting Model

• All full-time teaching faculty attend regular faculty meetings.
• There is a set scheduled community time each month when no classes are scheduled so that faculty is free to attend these meetings.
• A small Executive Committee is elected by the faculty at the meeting, or is comprised of the chairs of the various subcommittees or heads of departments
• There is elected faculty representation to the Board.
• If many issues are presented at a meeting the large group could be broken into smaller sub-groups for discussion and then regroup to present findings. 

Advantages over current system:

• Increased frequency of faculty discussion
• Increased frequency of opportunity for faculty to have input into decisions for all faculty
• Broadens communication between faculty and senior staff so that it is not dependent on the communication style of one person

Disadvantages over the current system:

• Active participation by faculty is required
• Requires greater time commitment across the faculty
• Certain faculty may dominate the meetings
• Potentially large and unwieldy.

IV. All College Model

• Body that represents all of the college. There is representation of the faculty, administration, staff and students
• Meetings run by the President of the college
• There are set scheduled common meeting times
  

Advantages over the current system:

• All relevant parties are heard and involved.
• There is an increased voice of the staff and students
• There is a broader prospective of what is going on in other realms
• Student government is more relevant
  

Disadvantages over the current system:

• Too many issues presented to only one group. Some representatives in the group may feel some topics are a waste of time because the topic does not apply to their group
• Faculty voice/power is watered down
• Priority of issues will be difficulty to agree upon with such a diverse group

The following section details what we feel are possible components of faculty-administration interaction. How any one or combination of components from any model helps to best achieve this goal for governance should be looked at with an eye towards the best method of communication of faculty voice to administrative ears. The following are models of this interaction. 

Models of Faculty-Administration Interaction 

a. Faculty council chair, elected by faculty consults with the president, example – King’s College 

b. Executive Committee: Executive committee regularly meets with the president, example – Drake University

c. Associate Dean: Associate dean/deans 

1. current faculty member
2. can be appointed or elected
3. One per division 
4. Call the faculty meeting

d. Faculty Representative/s Attends Board Meetings

1. faculty or committee
2. voting or non-voting 

e. Faculty Representative on Senior Staff 

1. voting or non-voting 

f. Union representation with the Administration

g. Department chairs meeting with key administrators

Revised Faculty Council | Union | Meeting | All College | Faculty-Administration Interaction
Suggestions for King's Revision

Discussion Points

1. Set time aside every month so that faculty can meet. There should be no scheduled classes at this time. 
2. Faculty voting representation on the Board and senior staff. 
3. Two student representatives on Council for 2 year overlapping terms. 
4. Encourage the use of email and a bulletin board system to discuss issues before and after meetings. 
5. In whichever model is chosen, it should be defined who is considered to be a member of the faculty, how they are represented and how they are able to participate.

Suggestions for Revision of Faculty Governance 
Developed by the Academic and Professional Affairs Committee for review by Faculty Council
November 2003  Click Here for a Visual Model of the Changes

Faculty Meeting: 
The body that unites and represents the faculty as a whole, and serves as a forum for communication, deliberation and resolution of important matters from and concerning various policies, institutions and offices of the College.
Meets two-three times a semester
Chaired by Faculty Chair (FCr)
Used to review and discuss faculty matters from other committees, administration, students, staff, and individual faculty members that has not been delegated to C&T or A&P
Approves and ratifies decisions of C&T and A&P as appropriate
Although attendance should be a mandatory obligation of a faculty duty and responsibility, a quorum is 25% of full-time faculty members with the rank of Instructor or above
The FCr shall appoint a secretary from the faculty for each meeting who shall provide minutes for general distribution after approval by the Triumvirate. 
May have administrators present for part of a regularly scheduled meeting, but if they need more time than 20 minutes, a special meeting should be scheduled. 
A petition by ten faculty members, a vote by the meeting itself, or a request by the FCr may put an item on the agenda. 

Faculty Chair (FCr):
Two course reduction; annual election? Bi-annual?
Ex officio member of A&P and C& T
Chair of ad hoc committees, Faculty Benefits Committee, other?
With chairs of A&P and C&T (the Triumvirate) represents the interests of the faculty to the President, Senior Staff and the Board of Trustees
Manages elections, counts the votes with other members of the Triumvirate
Should one member of the Triumvirate be unable to serve for any reason, the other two may appoint a replacement from any member of the faculty for a limited time or until the next election of the FCr; should two members at the same time be unable to serve, members of C&T and A&P shall choose replacements from the faculty who shall serve until the next time for election of FCr. 
Concerns of individual or groups of faculty shall be brought by the FCr either directly to Senior Staff, the Faculty Meeting, or assigned to the agenda of either C&T or A&P. 

C&T:
Chair of committee selected from membership, with FCr and Chair of A&P (the Triumvirate) represents the interests of the faculty to the President, Senior Staff and the Board of Trustees
Select members become members of Advisory Boards of centers and institutes
Through Advisory Board members to CELT responsible for improving the quality of learning and teaching
Primary responsibility for the maintaining the quality and coherence of the CORE curriculum and general College curricula, admissions policies, degree requirements, the library, etc. 
Departments should report changes in major requirements to C&T, so that news of significant alterations may be disseminated to the faculty.
(e.g., admissions policies, degree requirement, the academic calendar, academic departments and divisions, the library, etc.) and professional (e.g., promotion, tenure, , sabbatical leave, leaves of absence, etc.) matters.

A&P:
Chair of committee selected from membership, with FCr and Chair of C&T (the Triumvirate) represents the interests of the faculty to the President, Senior Staff and the Board of Trustees 
Deals with general professional issues, relations between administration and faculty, etc. (academic freedom, policies about sabbatical leaves or leaves of absence, general policies on promotion and tenure, academic calendar, faculty organization and governance, institutional resources, etc.)
Handles duties of Grievance and Procedural Committees; Summer Research Benefits
Some members become members of Faculty Benefits Committee and also faculty representatives to the College’s Budget and Planning Committee.

Faculty Benefits Committee:
Members selected from A&P and elected by general faculty
Several members shall also serve as faculty representatives to the College’s Budget and Planning Committee
They shall annually review the various benefits and compensation (e.g. salary scales, merit pay, market supplements, health insurance, retirement, life and disability insurance, government related insurance programs, education benefits for spouses and dependent children)
They shall, as informed by proposals and consultation with other faculty, make suggestions for improvements in current benefits or the addition of such other benefits as from time to time are considered useful and possible.
Before the administration may make any changes or delays to current benefits, it must provide such changes in writing to and consult with the committee, which may share and discuss the information at the next Faculty Meeting.

CELT:
Responsible for improving the quality of learning and teaching
Advisory Board drawn from C&T, Education Division and faculty
Director ex officio member of Project Teams for Information Literacy, Assessment, Moral Reasoning, others?

Advisory Boards:
Focused on specific institutes and programs
Some members from C&T, others elected from faculty
As ad hoc committees are needed, administration or Triumvirate selects some from C&T others elected/chosen/volunteered from faculty

Project Teams:
A. CORE project teams tied to courses, membership is faculty who teach relevant courses they elect chair from their membership
B. Theme project teams tied to learning goals and skills not tied to specific CORE courses but to be encouraged across the curriculum (assessment, moral reasoning, information literacy, etc.), Director of CELT a participant and coordinator.

General Points: 
Alternate Representatives form a stand-by pool of elected faculty who may be chosen by the Triumvirate to choose on C&T, A&P or other committee when a conflict of interest, inability to serve, or other necessity arises. 
Compensation for chairs and members of some committees can be done through the credit bank with equivalents for independent studies.
No faculty member may serve on both C&T and A&P at the same time. 
Ordinarily a faculty member may serve on only one advisory board, how many ad hoc/sub-committees, project teams?
Some committees (e.g. Catholic Identity) shall be chosen by both election and appointment by the VPAA

Unresolved, yet important, issues:
Elections by what means?
How do elections guarantee broad and effective representation of diverse interests of the faculty (including part-time?)?
Who represents faculty as a body to the students?
Who represents faculty as a body to the communities outside King’s College?
Faculty Judiciary?
Promotion and Tenure Committee?
Senior Promotion Committee?

Revised Faculty Council | Union | Meeting | All College | Faculty-Administration Interaction

History and status of Faculty Governance Reform