Service a part of faculty responsibility
Under the Faculty Code, all of us must engage in a triumvirate of scholarship, teaching and service. It is no secret that most of us put research and teaching first, and it is appropriate, given the mission of the University, that we do so. Similarly, it tends to be true that most of our University service is performed within our departments or schools. Many of us “think globally; act locally.” I write, however, to ask you to consider broadening your notion of “local” and to consider service on a Faculty Senate council or committee.
Recently, every faculty member was sent a Faculty Senate council and committee nomination form. Before you consider tossing it away, or it becomes lost in the middle pile of paperwork, please think about the ways in which your colleagues sitting on faculty councils and committees have vitally and significantly affected your work environment and the future of the University in the last year:
This is a partial list of the many changes that began with the work of dedicated faculty in Senate councils and committees. Next year will be no different. Among the issues that the Faculty Senate and its committees will face include:
All of these issues, as well as others not mentioned, present avenues for faculty involvement in areas that may be of interest to you. And in the process, you will have an opportunity to meet colleagues from other disciplines, and understand the mindset of others in differing units of the University.
In 1956, the faculty and administration drafted a policy that expressed a clear and enduring vision of shared governance that would be expressed in the Faculty Code. This is embodied in Section 13-21 in which the President delegated to the faculty “to share with him and the academic deans responsibility for the formulation of rules for the immediate government of the University....”
At the same time, the drafters of this statement acknowledged that this responsibility must be approached in a relationship of “spirit, mutual respect, and good faith” as well as flexibility. That was true then, but it is urgently necessary now as we face the monumental task of reinventing the University of Washington. The stakes in this endeavor are incredibly high for never has the scrutiny of the University and its mission been so probing and so skeptical.
Please consider volunteering your time and talents for a Faculty Senate council or committee. Your service will benefit the entire faculty and the University community. Shared governance has meaning and legitimacy only if it is undertaken by all members of our community. Whether you are happy or disgruntled with recent Faculty Code changes, your views can be effectuated only if you choose to become involved. If you want more information about the Faculty Senate and its councils, please look at the newly designed Faculty Senate Web page at http://www.washington.edu/faculty/facsenate/. Or, you may contact me with questions and comments at my e-mail address: secfac@u.washington.edu. Thank you. ¶
Lea B. Vaughn, Secretary of the Faculty
University Week
The faculty and staff publication of the University of Washington
uweek@u.washington.edu
March 9, 2000