After voicing their opinions without restraint Monday, the Faculty Senate overwhelmingly passed a resolution to slow down implementation of Provost Paul DeLuca Jr.’s proposal to restructure the University of Wisconsin graduate school.
Developed by the UW Sociology Department, the resolution “opposes any action to implement such a plan … until the administration provides a fully developed and written plan … which has been reviewed and approved by the University Committee and the Faculty Senate.”
The proposed reforms would decrease the duties of the dean of the graduate school by adding a vice chancellor for research, which would require $600,000 to $800,000 more per year to fund the salary.
The proposal has come under scrutiny from faculty and staff at recent town hall meetings.
Robert Hauser, professor of sociology, said the resolution was not a “knee-jerk” reaction to the proposed changes but a way to increase faculty involvement.
“Should faculty and staff place their trust in a sketchy proposal that offers no details about the role of shared governance in its realization?” Hauser asked.
Hauser also thought the restructuring of the graduate school was an effort on the part of the administration to evade external pressures posed by outside sources such as the federal government.
“University administration has gradually drifted away from its traditional role necessitating day-to-day and year-to-year activities to an excessive concern with meeting external demands,” Hauser said.
Howard Schweber, UW professor of political science, said he thinks there have been flaws in the way the restructuring process has been approached.
Andrew Bent, UW professor of plant pathology, said the feeling among his colleagues was that Chancellor Biddy Martin and DeLuca have let down faculty, staff and students.
“There is a widespread feeling … that [Martin and DeLuca] did in fact act irresponsibly and that faculty governance, shared governance … is a real matter of the order of business,” Bent said.
Martin said she was not opposed to the resolution but felt the two committees previously established have already decelerated progress.
She added the reforms came as a result of complaints about the current structure of the graduate school and that the restructuring is a work in progress focused on benefiting UW.
“We all want an outcome that serves all of us — nothing less, nothing more,” Martin said.
The resolution passed with one dissenting vote, assuring the restructuring of the graduate school will be reviewed by an ad hoc committee, which will present its findings to the University Committee at the end of December.
From there, the University Committee will work with DeLuca to develop recommendations that will then be brought before the Faculty Senate.