Faculty Senate unanimously passed 11 resolutions last night and then discussed the action it would take if Ohio University administrators don't act on the suggestions.
The resolutions were revised versions of documents the senate discussed last week. Both meetings were specially scheduled to discuss the Five-Year Academic Action Plan. The senate must submit formal comments to the committee evaluating the plan today and the committee's recommendations are due to the executive vice president and provost by Nov. 15.
The first resolution called for more strategic budget planning, calling previous reallocations steady
significant and minimally strategic.
Most importantly [we] inserted a list of bodies that would review the comprehensive plan we're calling for said Joe McLaughlin, an English professor. This would be all the senates
University Curriculum Council
Graduate Council and other relevant university standing committees.
A resolution asking for more Group-I faculty to be hired criticized OU for not having an explicit goal for hiring significantly more faculty.
I think what we're affirming here is that this should be a priority that is not in the academic plan right now
McLaughlin said.
Some senators questioned whether senate should specify that faculty should be hired first for understaffed departments, but the final resolution did not include such an edit.
We're taking baby steps here and we should be really thrilled if we can get the baby step idea across to the administration
said Greg Van Patten, professor of chemistry and biochemistry.
Concern about administration's receptiveness came up again toward the end of the meeting when Willem Roosenburg, a biological sciences professor, asked what senators were prepared to do if their suggestions were not implemented.
What are we going to do after we put in this extraordinary effort to pass these resolutions and the president and the provost just ignore them? he asked. If none of these changes are incorporated
I think we should be prepared to do something. Whether it's through the union
or a march on Cutler Hall
or
God forbid
