Representing the faculty and bringing issues of concern to administrators is not always the easiest job around, according to Faculty Council chairman William Skocpol.
Any student or faculty member will tell you that there are issues of concern at Boston University. But aside from the obvious challenge of representing BU’s enormous faculty, Skocpol, a physics professor who is in his second year as council chairman, said he often encounters a lack of interest from faculty members themselves.
‘It is pretty difficult to achieve a quorum of the faculty at a specific meeting,’ Skocpol said. ‘The chancellor has gleefully pointed out for many years that there never is a quorum at a meeting.’
Some colleges even have a difficult time find faculty members willing to serve as representatives to the Faculty Council, Skocpol said.
Faculty members sometimes treat the representative jobs as assignments. Although faculty members get credit for serving, he said recruiting willing faculty members is sometimes like pulling teeth.
But despite the organizational challenges, recent changes in BU’s top administration and a lingering uncertainty of the BU’s future, as top university officials and Board of Trustees members search for a new president, the council is still addressing long-term issues while maintaining an influential voice on campus, Skocpol said.
‘We have not suddenly developed a feeling of powerlessness or lack of influence,’ Skocpol said. ‘We help raise issues, so we have influence.’
The council does, in fact, raise many issues that are derived from faculty concerns, he said. Often the council has questions about some area of the university. By bringing light to the specific area of interest, the council acquaints other parts of the university with faculty concerns, he said.
In the past, the Council has addressed campus safety and the student health issues involved in alcohol consumption, Skocpol said.
The Faculty Council also addresses and interjects their opinion on policies that pass through the University Council, BU’s centralized governing body for both faculty members and administrators.
The most prevalent issue the Faculty Council is currently concerned with is staff cuts and salary freezes to help fund BU’s building projects, Skocpol said.
At the last Faculty Assembly meeting on March 3, Skocpol made suggestions to administrators on how job cuts should be made, if necessary.
‘We are attempting to have something to say about each of the potential ways that things might be done,’ Skocpol said.
Chancellor John Silber told faculty members at the assembly’s last meeting that salary freezes and possible cuts are being made to ensure that BU can keep pace on the school’s many building projects, even in tough economic times.
Some options are not as savory as others, though none are preferable, he said. The council does not fully support the idea of not renewing non-tenured positions, he said.
‘Our statement is that we don’t think this is a good way to go because of its impact on moral and fairness or perceptions of fairness,’ Skocpol said. ‘Even if it is a contract and can be legally terminated, people feel they deserve some stability in their lives, particularly after a considerable period of service and good performance.’
The council has greater support for mutual benefits packages, or deals mainly intended for tenured people who foresee retirement in their near future, Skocpol said.
‘I know a number of faculty who have had discussions with their department chair and have resulted in packages,’ Skocpol said.
Termination for cause is not common at all, Skocpol said. The Faculty Council does not advocate the idea, but Skocpol said he wanted to address the issue at the Faculty Assembly meeting to ensure that all possible options were addressed.
While the council wants to protect faculty rights, Skocpol said he feels allocating money for building projects is still a legitimate cause.
‘You can’t just start and stop buildings,’ Skocpol said. ‘Something new comes up, and it makes sense so you try to do it.’
Certain colleges beyond those scheduled for remodeling also need new buildings, Skocpol said. Some faculty members are faced with inadequate teaching circumstances due to lack of space. They deserve to benefit from new facilities, he said.
‘So the colleges are waiting we hope they don’t have to wait too long,’ he said.
Overall the faculty does not need to be concerned with the present situation, Skocpol said. They should be tending to student concerns and ‘keep … research funds flowing,’ he said.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
