THE
SMITHY OF THE SENATE
Increasingly, boards are departing from
their important historical roles and overstepping into the recognized ambit of
the senate, sometimes disregarding or ignoring the university's most senior
academic body ... While senates should remain the embodiments of shared
academic governance and the commons of collegial practice and ideals, faculty
associations may have to find other routes to insure these principles if senate
powers continue to be diminished.
“The Evolution of University Governance” by Tom Booth
< http://www.caut.ca/en/bulletin/issues/2001_feb/presmessage.asp>
Earlier this term, many members of faculty participated in President Dinter-Gottlieb’s symposium on “Engaged Learning,” the premiere event celebrating her installation at Acadia. The symposium made clear the President’s vision of introducing “engaged learning” to Acadia. It is a vision which the President shares with Dr. Richard Keeling, of Keeling & Associates, the firm contracted to guide us through the Strategic Planning Process (SPP). In his April 2004 keynote address on engaged learning to the American Association of Colleges and Universities, (http://www.keelingassociates.com/ka/higheredspeeches), Dr. Keeling cites President Dinter-Gottlieb as an example. It is a paper all Acadia faculty should read, especially those on Senate, since it articulates clearly a profound commitment to the value of ‘engaged learning’ as a way of revitalizing the student experience of higher education. Obviously, then, the President’s appointment of Dr. Keeling to head the SPP is closely tied to the implementation of engaged learning at Acadia.
Is there reason for concern on the part of the AUFA in these initiatives? Not if the engaged learning initiative had originated in the Senate, the constitutional body whose jurisdiction is the academic side of university affairs. Nor would there be concern with the SPP, mandated by the BoG, if its “core” were not academic, and thus properly the business of Senate as well. The concern for AUFA is that the SPP may (or will) become another instance where “boards are departing from their important historical roles and overstepping into the recognized ambit of the senate, sometimes disregarding or ignoring the university's most senior academic body.” Proper university governance requires that the two bodies constitutionally empowered to govern the university respect their own and each other’s domains of responsibility. The fact that Senate was not involved as a full partner of the Administration at the outset of these initiatives should concern the AUFA as well as the Senate. On the other hand, our concern has already been addressed in some of the first steps taken in the SPP by Dr. Keeling, Vice-president Academic Ralph Nilson, and President Dinter-Gottlieb.
Dr. Keeling was invited to the September meeting of Senate, where he likened his role in the SPP to that of an interested and helpful outsider better positioned to see the whole field in which Acadia University is situated than are we who occupy our individual, and long-term, positions in that field. Academic careers being what they are, presumably most of us will have at some time or other experienced life in a foreign country. When considered in those terms, Dr. Keeling’s notion of perspective makes sense: a fresh set of eyes can often see things long-time residents take for granted. But what many faculty members may find unsettling is the nature of Dr. Keeling’s interest and of his helpfulness, a matter complicated by the recent history of adversarial relations between faculty and administration here at Acadia. To apportion our responsibilities somewhat crudely, faculty is ordinarily and primarily concerned with education, and administration with university governance. If we insist on viewing the relationship between faculty and administration as an adversarial one, then any help rendered to one side will necessarily seem to be a hindrance by the other. But what if we envision a different type of relationship between faculty and administration, one in which both sides unite in the best interests of Acadia University?
If such a “new” relationship is to be forged, its smithy must be the Senate, “the university's most senior academic body,” where members of senior administration and members of faculty share a common responsibility to debate issues of university governance in matters concerning education. In the Senate, these issues and the groups responsible for them ought to unite in common cause through open and unfettered debate.
In the Senate meeting of November 8, 2004, Vice-president Academic Ralph Nilson articulated his understanding of this traditional role of Senate, and invited all present to become more engaged in Senate and the various committees that make Senate work. This invitation was recognized and welcomed by the Chair of Senate. Dr. Nilson’s remarks were then followed by a round of questions, directed mostly at him, regarding Dr. Keeling and any possible predispositions held by Keeling & Associates, and the SPP. Of particular note was an insistence that the SPP be kept before Senate on an on-going basis rather than being brought before it as a fait accompli, to be voted up or down. Both President Dinter-Gottlieb and Vice-president Nilson were present, and it follows then that Dr. Nilson’s verbal assurance to the questioner that this would be the appropriate procedure to follow is the official administration position.
The concern that whatever comes of the consultation between Acadia University and Keeling & Associates will be forced on us whether we like it or not would seem, based on recent developments in the Senate, to be less pressing than it might have been until very recently. But to drop this concern completely would be an abrogation of responsibility on the part of all members of AUFA, individually and collectively. We must take up the offer extended by those concerned with issues of university governance to ensure matters of education are dealt with in the Senate in such a way that the best interests of students, faculty, and that abstract entity called the University dovetail as neatly as possible.
What is in the AUFA’s best interest, after all, is not to find other routes to insure these principles if senate powers continue to be diminished, but to encourage the members of Senate to work hard to ensure that Senate remain the embodiment of shared academic governance and the commons of collegial practice and ideals at Acadia.
Richard Cunningham (English)
Vernon Provencal (Classics)