The Staff Council Officers, in collaboration with the elected leadership of the Faculty Senate and Student Government, are calling an emergency joint meeting of the Faculty Senate, Staff Council and Student Government for Monday, January 30 at 3:30 pm in the Terrace Room of the IMU.
Faculty, staff and students have expressed concern to their elected leadership, based on widespread newspaper reports, that the Board of Regents is planning a search process to replace President Skorton that departs significantly from the procedures followed for decades. Feedback and advice from elected Senators and Councilors on plans for addressing the issues facing the Board of Regents and the University, prior to the Board meeting on February 1 and 2 in Ames will be addressed at the meeting.
Time is of the essence. The UI has a long and valued history of shared governance which has served the University and the State of Iowa well for over 40 years. Now is the time to defend the tradition of shared governance, which benefits all staff, faculty and students all daily and directly. We urge everyone to attend.
Support is sought for four principles to guide the search process:
1. The elected Faculty Senate, Staff Council and Student Government leadership must have meaningful participation in the planning process for presidential searches, in collaboration with the Board or Regents.
2. The search needs to be University based. That is, the process and search committee should be housed on campus and should include a majority of faculty, staff and students.
3. Senior and well respected faculty members with a record of excellence in each of the University’s major missions should make up at least half of the search committee.
4. The search committee should be chaired by a faculty member.
This meeting, like all Faculty Senate, Staff Council and Student Assembly meetings, is open to the public.