Several members of the University of Wisconsin Faculty Senate voiced a call for further investigation into an ad hoc committee’s report that defines the roles of the Athletic Board and outlines faculty authority in intercollegiate athletics.
The report is the result of the committee’s investigation into allegations last fall of power abuse and harassment, and includes an outline of the authority of the Athletic Board over the Athletic Department.
Faculty members voiced concerns about inconsistencies between the operational procedures of the Athletic Board and Faculty Policy and Procedures in the report. Currently, FPP says faculty must approve coaches’ contracts, but the report issued by the ad hoc committee only mentions that the faculty will advise the athletic director about contract decisions.
Bruce Jones, a faculty senator and professor of agriculture and applied economics, said these discrepancies need to be addressed.
“That may be the signal that we need to change Faculty Policies and Procedures. All I’m saying is we’ve got an inconsistency,” Jones said.
Jones made a motion that the University Committee appoint an ad hoc committee comprised of seven or nine non-Athletic Board faculty members to review the Athletic Board under FPP.
“My purpose in offering the motion was to get the debate going, and if it’s the will of the Senate that we don’t need to change anything, at least we’ve had a chance to say something,” Jones said.
Of the 108 faculty senators needed for a quorum, only 65 were present, so Jones’s motion died. The motion may either be reinstated during the next meeting or be abandoned.
The Faculty Senate also discussed Chancellor Biddy Martin’s Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, which proposes a supplemental tuition increase over the next four years to provide more need-based financial aid and increase academic resources available to students.
According to a university publication, UW awarded $5.7 million in need-based grants to undergraduates for the 2006-07 academic year, the lowest need-based financial aid of all Big Ten universities.
Martin said the practice of using tuition for financial aid is standard at other universities and thinks the initiative would help the university continue to provide high-quality education at an affordable price.
The initiative would raise tuition $250 each year for the next four years for in-state undergraduate students and $750 for out-of-state undergraduate students. Those students who qualify for need-based financial aid and whose families make less than $80,000 per year would receive grants to offset the tuition hike.
An Associated Students of Madison survey distributed to students last week showed that most of the students who are aware of the initiative learned about it through Martin’s e-mail.
“Not nearly enough students know enough about it,” Martin said, encouraging professors to talk to their students about the initiative. “I think students need to understand fully the benefits of the plans we’re making and those benefits are not a luxury…”
