Recent comments by a high-ranking Republican legislator suggest the future of shared governance at the University of Wisconsin and the entire UW System may be in jeopardy.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, spoke as a panel member at a UW System Board of Regents meeting focused on regent governance and funding for the state’s public higher education system on Sept. 5.
In the meeting, Vos raised questions about what the role of faculty, staff and students at UW schools should really be compared to that of university chancellors.
“Does the role of allowing faculty to make a huge number of decisions on every campus help the system or hurt our ability to be flexible?” Vos said.
Vos added he does not believe faculty, staff and students always know what the best interest of the community is when they are making certain decisions under their governance control.
“I believe that as each campus creates their own community, sometimes they do so in a bubble without ever saying to themselves, ‘Well what does the rest of the world have to say about how UW-Whitewater’ – my own alma mater – ‘should interact with the rest of the world?'” Vos said. “I think sometimes the discussions among faculty, staff and students is so insular…and then legislators feel the need to step up and reassert their belief that someone is representing those who are not necessarily…spending time on the campus.”
Bill Tracy, UW-Madison department of agronomy chair, said he thinks some confusion exists about shared governance and how it works between lawmakers and those that participate in it at UW schools. Faculty members are more than happy to be involved in the conversation of how shared governance works, Tracy said.
Faculty members determine how they teach, create a certain academic culture on campus and determine what the academic mission for the students is, Tracy said.
According to state law, which outlines shared governance, faculty members have the right to determine parts of their own internal government, like faculty merit, Tracy said. Likewise, staff can make decisions about their own legislation, and students can do the same, Tracy said.
The confusion could come from a misinterpretation that the faculty is holding up budgetary and business decisions, which is not in its hands, but rather the deans’ and the chancellors’ hands, Tracy said. He added deans and chancellors consult the faculty on certain aspects of the budget as it pertains to the academic mission of the university.
If UW loses shared governance, or any significant part of shared governance, less innovation in new curriculum decisions may occur, Tracy said. Since UW is a leader in that shared governance, it will negatively impact the rest of the schools in the UW System, he said.
“I think that ultimately in terms of the faculty losing some of their power, there will be less innovation within every classroom, and that will in turn negatively impact our students as a result,” Tracy said.
The consensus between people within the university is that shared governance is working very well and that it is an important part of the system’s culture, David Giroux, UW System spokesperson, said.
Vos could not be reached for further comment.
