tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7187403837913738089.post2386385130142974163..comments2023-12-15T02:26:43.878-06:00Comments on CSU Faculty Voice: Shared GovernancePhillip Beverlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05105319296231539370noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7187403837913738089.post-40696021179480357592011-09-25T11:32:42.774-05:002011-09-25T11:32:42.774-05:00Thanks for reminding us of the AAUP statement on s...Thanks for reminding us of the AAUP statement on shared governance and the Iowa documents. <br /><br />Let's not forget about the presidential arm reaching down to the insist on the removal of a certain department chair even though the faculty had voted to retain that person and the direct prez influence in moving around administrators in Nursing without even that dean knowing about it. In some cases, I am told, decisions relating to faculty and curriculum are made without even the Provost as part of the discussion. When we start listing these administrative actions (which we will) the list will be very long indeed. <br /><br />What I think we have at CSU is a faculty that wants shared governance but a university administration that does not buy into that idea because we are unionized and hence we are "workers" and they are the "bosses" (they hire and fire/we do the work and in their ideal universe don't complain about it because we get raises with new contracts). <br /><br />On the other hand, the Administration (all those Ed.D. degrees up there--i.e. if they have advanced degrees at all) believes in and tries to practice a corporate model for managing the university which of course is a top-down model that puts power in the hands of "management" and expectes buy-in to its policies and actions from its "workers" without need to consult--remember the sneering comment a few years ago by an administrator who said "there is administrative knowledge and faculty knowledge?" Corporations have no use for workers who question let alone oppose its policies. Since most faculty resist this model (see numerous critiques of this as a model for a university) especially those who come from disciplines where we are trained to think critically and to question actions, debate, and discuss and consider implications before decision-making, the administration gets no buy-in to its fiats from the faculty along with a lot of grumbling but perhaps not enough outrage. <br /><br />So, the disconnect between faculty and administration over governance is quite wide. Can the leadership of the university--the President, the Trustees, and the two institutions that the faculty have at their disposal--the UPI and the Senate-- hammer out something different? The last presidential search was a chance for change, and a lot of people were optimistic about the potential for it, but old ideas, old political connections and cronyism rallied and we got no change in university governance. As they say with drug addicts and alcoholics, nothing is going to change until we hit rock bottom. One shudders to imagine what that will be for CSU.Cordayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11407012136671501643noreply@blogger.com