Faculty Senate president discusses plans, concerns for coming year

Amitava Bhattacharjee

fyi: What have you been planning for the senate’s agenda for the year?

Bhattacharjee: The Senate is, first and foremost, the voice of the faculty. As elected representatives of the faculty, it is our responsibility to articulate that voice. So I have written to every faculty member asking them to give me their thoughts on what the senate should be doing this year. I am looking for proactive involvement of the faculty in the activities of the senate. In response to my e-letter to the faculty, I have received a number of interesting suggestions already this summer, and I plan to act on them.

fyi: What are some issues that stand out?

Bhattacharjee: One issue that appears to be foremost in the minds of many faculty (including myself) is how to preserve excellence in a public university in the face of budget shortfalls. The faculty are asking searching questions on what resources it would take to sustain an excellent public university without sacrificing the access to public education that has been Iowa’s pride for a long time. Tuition has been low here, compared with our peers in other states, but now with the budget cuts, it’s quite clear that’s going to change. We will have to balance excellence and access, and the faculty and the students should play a leading role in formulating strategies. This summer we have held discussions with leaders of the UI Student Government, and we plan to follow up with concerted activities next year.

If we are unable, due to lack of resources, to sustain excellence, we will not be able to attract and retain strong faculty. Consequently, we will not be able to attract and retain good students. We cannot compromise on quality. The challenge then is to maintain quality and at the same time preserve access for the citizens of Iowa.

There are other issues. If our faculty size is reduced due to budget cuts, and enrollments go up, we will compromise the quality of instruction we offer. This is already happening in some of our courses, where we have more students and fewer instructors and consequently, we are beginning to ask less of our students. Vice President David Skorton and I have discussed that the Faculty Senate officers will meet regularly with him and the Research Council next year to discuss these issues.

Not only must we guard against a loss of excellence as a result of budget cuts, we must do all we can on all fronts to enhance and honor excellence. I would like see the senate help establish an Academy of Teaching to celebrate the achievements of our teaching award-winners as lifetime members. A previous proposal was discussed in the council, and the senate and voted down. In its previous conception, many faculty felt that such an entity was going to make work for outstanding teachers by asking them to do even more. The new proposal is different—it is a pure celebration of the achievements of our award-winning teachers.

fyi: Most of last year’s sessions were consumed with discussions of the unfitness policy. Where has that gone now?

Bhattacharjee: It was a difficult issue for many faculty, but finally the senate did pass a version, which will probably go to the Regents this year. There are still some minor technical wrinkles, but I believe that these can be ironed out relatively easily. I hope that the issue will be wrapped up early next year and that we will move on to other things.

fyi: Are there other issues continuing from last year?

Bhattacharjee: The Faculty Council held a retreat in May with senior administrators. Two issues served as the foci of our discussions. One has to do with diversity on campus. I am pleased with the national attention the University recently received for the strides we have made on this matter. And yet, I believe we have a distance to go. Over the years we have built and nurtured programs that promote diversity. However, we have to realize that diversity is not an issue that can be localized in an office. Diversity should be part of our thinking at all levels, from central administration to deans to individual departments and programs. More can be done to build that culture at all levels.

Article by Charles S. Drum