Faculty Code change, response
to bill in Legislature on agenda

In the past two weeks, the Faculty Senate has made two highly consequential decisions. One of these concerns a legislative action being taken with respect to our own Faculty Code. The other concerns an action being proposed to the State Legislature that has the potential to change the legal structure under which our faculty is governed. I shall comment on each of these, starting with the most recent.

1. In its Feb. 3 meeting, the Faculty Senate took one further step in a careful, deliberative process for a change in the Faculty Code that would increase the transparency of the promotion process (Volume Two, Part II, Chapter 24, Section 54). It would increase the opportunity for a faculty candidate for promotion to review the arguments being made by the department in relation to the candidate’s promotion case. The text of the proposed legislation can be viewed on the Faculty Senate homepage at http://www.washington.edu/faculty/facsenate/. I encourage all faculty to review this legislation and communicate your views about it to your Senator.

The openness in promotion legislation is an example of the kind of excellent work that can be done when our faculty uses its established process of governance. This legislation originated in a faculty council and has been reviewed for a period of nearly a year in an intensive and extensive process of deliberation, bringing in all interested parties. The result is legislation that has been repeatedly refined and improved, such that the Senate voted overwhelmingly in support of its passage.

Now, as with all class a legislation, there is a process of further consideration. The legislation must be reviewed again by the Senate Executive Committee, the Advisory Committee on Faculty Code and Regulations, and the President of the University. Then it will be submitted to the Senate again on March 2 for a second reading. If the legislation receives support at all of these points, it will be submitted to the voting faculty for final approval. This legislation holds the promise of making us a better faculty and this a better university. The final decision will be in the hands of the voting faculty.

2. In its Jan. 27 meeting, the Faculty Senate deliberated for two hours, resolving how it should respond to the events and circumstances surrounding Senate Bill 6346, a bill that would enable the faculties of state universities in Washington to decide whether to organize and engage in collective bargaining

Senate Bill 6346 was introduced in Olympia on Jan. 12 without the Faculty Senate or the elected faculty legislative representative having been given an opportunity to review it, although various parties had hoped the Senate would express support of the bill when it was in the process of preparation. On Jan. 10, anticipating that the bill would be presented without the opportunity for Faculty Senate review, the Senate Executive Committee unanimously adopted a complex resolution to respond to a complex situation.

The result of the Jan. 27 Senate deliberations was an overwhelming affirmation of the resolution that the executive committee had earlier adopted. On one hand the Senate affirmed its support of the principle that the Faculty should have the right to bargain collectively. On the other hand, the Senate affirmed that it cannot support any particular enabling legislation bill unless and until the Faculty Senate has reviewed fully such legislation. The Senate directed its legislative representative, Professor JoAnn Taricani, to communicate this complex statement of resolve to all interested parties.

The concern that prompted the actions of the Senate Executive Committee and the full Senate is, in my view, that we could be affected by a bill that had not had the kind of careful review that our faculty typically provides with regard to consequential actions affecting its work. To affirm a policy that could create the possibility of a major change in the way the faculty is governed without this kind of careful review would have been, in my opinion, an act of carelessness that is uncharacteristic of this faculty.

Now, Professor Taricani has called meetings of the Special Committee on Legislative Matters. The committee will not only review SB 6346 but will also examine examples of enabling legislation that have been crafted specifically for universities and specifically for major research universities. Professor Robert Holzworth, Chair of the Faculty Council on Faculty Affairs, has called that council to work on the issues involved, such as whether and how to proceed with an effort to develop enabling legislation that this faculty can support.

The work of these groups will proceed in the best tradition of University of Washington faculty governance. Their deliberations will be open. They will be careful. The groups doing the deliberation will be broadly representative of our faculty. And these groups will report to the Faculty Senate, which is the most broadly representative group of faculty members this university has. ¶