Sept. 4, 2001
Establishing a Sense of Shared Governance
Faculty Senate Report
By John
G. Boswell
Shared governance is a term much used in universities
today and it has different meanings from university to university and
within universities as trustees, administrators, and faculty apply their
interpretations. At George Washington, shared governance really began
in 1960 when the Faculty Organization Plan was worked out among the
Board of Trustees, the acting president, and the faculty. This plan
establishes the Faculty Assembly, which consists of the faculty, and
a Faculty Senate which is elected by the members of the Faculty Assembly
and acts for the faculty in legislative and advisory capacities. Each
school is allocated a number of senators according to the size of its
faculty. The Faculty Code, developed by the Faculty Senate with the
concurrence of the administration and approved by the Board of Trustees,
delineates the organization and role of the Senate in University decision
making.
So, shared governance at GW involves the faculty through the Senate
in matters that encompass the faculty. For example, in all cases where
a dean or the vice president for academic affairs do not concur with
the recommendation of a department about granting tenure or promoting
a faculty member, the matter is referred to the executive committee
of the Senate for consideration, recommendation, or possible mediation.
In case no resolution is reached, the department can pursue the non-concurrence
process laid out in the code. Faculty members who feel that the rights,
privileges, and responsibilities conferred on them by the code have
been violated may pursue a grievance under process specified. The role
of the Senate in non-concurrences and grievances is not to take sides,
but to see that the procedures spelled out in the code are followed.
The grievance process itself has recently been revised in an effort
make it less cumbersome. Several members of the Law School faculty spent
almost two years in guiding a committee to make the revisions, and then
shepherd these revisions past the administration and through the Senate.
Another example is that the Faculty Code specifically requires that
the Faculty Senate be consulted in the establishment or elimination
of a school. On the other hand, the formulation of a University-wide
sexual harassment policy is one of those gray areas where the Senate’s
role is unspecified and falls under the category of advisement. The
Faculty Senate has devoted much time and passion to this issue and has
produced a policy. But, it is only one of the interested parties which
are advising the president about this policy. Ultimately, the president
will sift through recommendations for what seems to be the most workable
process.
Much of the work of the Senate takes place in its standing committees.
Senior administrators are ex-officio members of these committees. Very
often it is at this level that administrators and faculty members have
their most direct interaction. It is not unusual for issues raised by
the faculty to be worked out in committee meetings (which generally
means an administrator agrees to look into the issue and report what
can be done about it).
For shared governance to work, which means to the faculty that they
have a real role in decision making, there has to be a level of trust
that helps all parties rise above the suspicion that “the other
side is trying to manipulate us.” The interests of faculty members
and administrators do not always coincide. There is an element of tension
in shared governance that cannot be helped by keeping score of wins
and losses. There has to be an acceptance of the fact that as the world
outside of the University changes, the University cannot avoid having
its work and its organization change. Shared governance is an ongoing
process of give and take in which wins and losses are not adequate for
assessment.
Service on the Senate and its committees is hard work when there are
difficult decisions to be made. There are no faculty members who have
not benefitted from actions taken by past senators. For the future,
to paraphrase a Marine recruiting poster, the Faculty Senate is always
in need of a few good professors.
— John G. Boswell is a professor of education.
Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu
