The Faculty Senate applauds the Social Sciences Implementation Committee for its systematic treatment of the college and school options that are laid out in its Interim Report. We also appreciate the Committee’s outreach efforts that were documented in the Senate presentation on November 13. The March , April , and September postings on the Social Science Website fostered conversations about the two options prior to the release of the report on November 18.
Despite this record of transparency we are concerned about a discussion timeline that reduces the pre-decision public commentary period to a few days during the busiest time of the semester. The report does a good job laying out the pros and cons and unresolved issues associated with the two options. The faculty should now be given an opportunity to discuss the report both in the Senate and online.
Three particular topics deserve more discussion than what is offered in the report. (1) What will be the global reach of the selected structure? (2) What will be its impact on policy researchers outside of PAM? (3) What will be its impact on CHE faculty outside of PAM?
In light of these concerns the Senate requests that the planned policy-structure decision be postponed from mid-December until after the next Senate meeting. Knowing that time is important, we are happy to schedule a special session for January 22 which is three weeks before the next planned meeting.
I support this resolution. In order for the Faculty Senate to participate and advise the central administration on this matter (which clearly comes under the Senate’s responsibility for education policy), we must first have a full opportunity to collectively deliberate on and discuss the report’s contents.