Two Boston University faculty groups that have been outspoken in demanding better internal governance from the BU Board of Trustees appear to be moving in different directions this week.
Just days after a BU fringe faculty group formally requested that the Massachusetts Attorney General investigate the board, the Faculty Council announced the creation of an ad hoc committee Tuesday to review the board’s governance without the help of outside officials.
Faculty Council Chair Herbert Voigt said in a phone interview Tuesday he was disappointed with the actions of the Faculty Committee for the Future of Boston University, an alternative faculty association created after the Board of Trustees rescinded its offer to former President-elect Daniel S. Goldin in October. While Voigt recognized the group’s vigorous reform efforts, he said reviewing the board should be an internal process led by members of the BU community.
FCFBU delivered a letter to the Attorney General’s office last Thursday outlining what they believe to be breaches of a 1993 agreement between the Trustees and former Attorney General Scott Harshbarger. Committee spokesman, Professor James Iffland, associate chairman of the Modern Foreign Languages Department, said the committee asked the Attorney General’s office to investigate business dealings between the university and companies in which trustees have an interest, but declined to discuss specific allegations made in the letter.
Attorney General’s office spokesman Corey Welford confirmed that the office received a formal request for an investigation from FCFBU, but refused to comment on when the committee could expect a response from the office, or if the office is considering launching an investigation.
BU spokesman Kevin Carleton said the elected members of the Faculty Council better represent the views of the university than FCFBU, which he implied may be making hasty decisions.
“There has only been one responsible voice for the faculty,” he said. “Only one that has been looking for information and takes the time necessary to make meaningful decisions.”
The Attorney General’s office investigated the board during the early 1990s and reached a settlement with the university after threatening to sue. The board agreed to adopt restrictions on investment practices, conflict of interest and executive compensation policies and board appointments and terms.
Under much national scrutiny in the wake of the Goldin decision, the Board of Trustees announced on Oct. 31 that it would establish a governance committee, comprised of trustees, to review its policies and procedures internally.
But while the Faculty Council and FCFBU may agree faculty should play a more important role in re-examining board governance, the two major reform advocacy groups on campus appear to be at a crossroads.
Voigt announced in a press release Tuesday that the Faculty Council created an ad hoc four-person Committee on University Governance, which will present the Board of Trustees governance committee with a list of expectations and recommendations for ongoing and improved relations with the Faculty Council. The Faculty Council voted to establish the committee at a meeting Dec. 3, according to the press release.
“We were faced with the greatest crisis BU has ever known in modern times, and never has the Faculty Council had more urgent and time-demanding responsibilities,” said College of Engineering Professor Theo de Winter, a member of a Faculty Council ad hoc committee on faculty communications.
But Iffland said in an interview Tuesday that FCFBU thinks the oversight from the Attorney General’s office will encourage the board’s internal committee to “bring about real change.”
“The Attorney General would be the one to determine how bona fide any changes proposed to the board might be,” Iffland said Tuesday. The Attorney General “would be able to determine whether the board is engaging in simply cosmetic changes – changes designed for appearances only – or whether we’re getting deep structural change of the type many feel is necessary.”
Iffland said an Attorney General investigation could require Goldin to reveal details of discussions leading to his settlement agreement, which a confidentiality clause currently prohibits him from doing. Some have speculated that the board’s decision to rescind its offer was related to Goldin’s plans to cut university ties with possible trustee business interests.
“In effect there is a kind of gag rule, and that’s a bit worrisome,” Iffland said. “What were those changes that he wanted to bring about and why did he want to bring them about? What appeared wrong to him?
“Now, of course, we will never know. Unless, of course, the Attorney General conducts an investigation,” he added.
According to the Faculty Council press release, the university governance committee will present its report to the Faculty Council Executive Committee within the next few weeks, and the council plans to vote on its approval before January 2004.
Members of the Faculty Council university governance committee include College of Arts and Sciences Professor Paul Blanchard, College of Engineering Professor and Faculty Council Vice-Chair Roscoe Giles, Medical School Otolaryngology Department Chairman Kenneth Grundfast and College of General Studies Professor Adam Sweeting, who is also chair of the Faculty Council Committee on Credentials and By-Laws.
“Forming ad hoc committees had been very important to Faculty Council this semester and our ability to form them quickly and effectively has been invaluable,” Voigt said Tuesday.
The Faculty Council also held the first meeting of its Committee on Communications Wednesday, but neither Voigt nor Iffland, a committee member, were available for comment Tuesday night. Voigt was in Washington, D.C. on a business trip and Iffland did not return calls to discuss the meeting’s agenda.
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.
