The Statutory Faculty Assembly ratified the University’s constitution Wednesday afternoon to cement a stronger role in determining decisions with the administration and the Oregon University System (OUS).
In a meeting housed in MacArthur Court, faculty and staff convened on the hardwood floors for the second time in two weeks, discussing the future direction of the University following the firing of President Richard Lariviere. Despite a sparse turnout relative to the Nov. 30 meeting featuring OUS Chancellor George Pernsteiner, Wednesday’s agenda was actually packed with greater significance.
Before discussing constitutional changes, Senate President Robert Kyr said in his opening remarks that the University has, in the last two weeks, shown considerable growth transpiring from Lariviere’s termination Nov. 28. Kyr met with Pernsteiner and Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber as recently as Tuesday to discuss the hiring of an interim president and expects to have a decision by Friday at the latest.
“Although we deeply regret the firing of Richard Lariviere, we’re finding new relationships with each other,” Kyr said. “Based on the strengths of those relationships, we can move forward in a way that says to the world that this university is strong (and) on a path toward increasing excellence.”
Kyr said that the ratification of the constitution epitomized that growth. The provisions solidify the Senate’s law-making abilities and attempt to increase communication between constituencies and the administration.
One significant new ability is the review of all university-wide policies decided upon by the administration, which prior to Wednesday was not guaranteed to the faculty. University professor John Bonine expressed the importance of this new right.
“I came into this recently because I kept seeing things that are going wrong …  for example, the policies that seem to float out of the administrative air of Johnson Hall,” Bonine said. “We should be able to look at them before they get adopted; up to this point, we have had no method to do that.”
The constitutional changes also created additional senate procedures following a presidential veto, allowing in particular for online votes from the Statutory Faculty Assembly. A third major change will be a reevaluation of student representation on Senate committees, which Kyr said will be a subject of an ongoing conversation with the ASUO.
Faculty voiced some concerns over the new constitution, saying that more may need to be done to balance power at the University if the higher education landscape continues to change. University professor Randy Sullivan worried a receding OUS Board may create a more powerful president, and thus a need for a more powerful Senate, specifically one with a direct override of a presidential veto.
“As we move toward institutional governing boards,” Sullivan said. “It seems to me there is a possibility that the balance of power might be weakened.”
Another faculty member, University professor Deborah Healey demanded more be done to include the voices of adjunct instructors in the legislative body.
“A lot of undergraduate instruction is done by people who may be on nine month contracts … and teaching full-time,” Healey said. “They are fully committed to the University. They probably spend more hours than a lot of tenure-track faculty. And they do not count as people.”
Kyr and others on the executive committee recommended that Healey bring the matter up in the next Senate meeting.
This sentiment falls in line with a recent wave in support of better working conditions for non-tenure-track faculty, a movement seen in the unionization efforts by United Academics. The organization has presented its case in past Senate meetings, and plans to launch an initiative next term to create a faculty-wide union.
Whatever the case, Kyr reiterated the need for faculty and administration to “stand together” in pursuit of higher education ideals.
“I believe that our greatest strength is shared governance,” Kyr said. “We need to understand it and realize it through action. Words are cheap — action is what we need.”