The University Faculty Senate convenes for the first time this year to discuss the upcoming Oregon special election, preview the 2003-04 legislative session and discuss other business at 3 p.m. today in 123 Pacific.
The University meeting comes in the wake of a Oregon State University Faculty Senate meeting Thursday in which the school’s governing body passed a resolution 46-16 condemning a U.S.-waged war in Iraq. A similar University Senate effort in December failed to even be approved for discussion on the floor — the motion to consider debate on the subject was voted down 29-8.
OSU senate member and bioengineering Professor John Selker, who introduced and helped craft the successful resolution, said the group took a lesson from the University of Oregon’s meeting when writing their resolution.
“The measure failed at the University of Oregon (because) they failed to make an academic case on why the University should take a stance,” Selker said. “The key is to look at the relation between the war in Iraq and ideas. Questions like, is it justified for the U.S. to break international law?”
Selker added that if OSU — a school with a track record of taking more conservative stances on issues — can pass such a resolution by making it an “academic question,” the University of Oregon might be able to find success using similar tactics.
Right now, University biology Professor Emeritus Frank Stahl, the architect behind the failed December measure, is trying to rouse campus support for convening a University Assembly meeting to discuss taking a stance against a future war in Iraq.
According to the senate’s charter, the assembly is made up of all “officers of instruction, librarians and officers of administration,” and can be convened with “full legislative power” if 33 percent of its members sign a petition to do so. Stahl said he’s been frustrated in petitioning because the University doesn’t keep a comprehensive list of who’s in the assembly or how many signatures would equal 33 percent. He plans to bring up the issue with the senate at today’s meeting.

— Brook Reinhard
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