Ohio University trustees heard a report yesterday on the possibility of adding a faculty member to the board.
The report came from three administrators and a faculty member who called four other institutions and spoke with presidents, provosts, secretaries to the boards and faculty representatives to discuss options.
It appeared that most respondents said that having faculty representation has been essentially a positive experience overall
said David Thomas, vice chairman of Faculty Senate and one of the researchers.
At some institutions, faculty trustees are formal members of the board who sit on committees and in full sessions, at others they are representatives designated to share faculty points of view.
John Biancamano, OU's director of Legal Affairs, cautioned against limiting a faculty member to that perspective.
When a faculty member becomes a participant in board meetings that individual's state of mind and the role he or she plays is very important
he said. If you label them as a 'representative
' you are kind of relegating them to the role of a representative of an interest group. And any university that goes down this road
that is not what you want to have happen.
Schools often deal with faculty trustees as their states allow, with some states specifically calling for a faculty member of the board and other states, like Ohio, remaining silent on the question.
Board members asked Thomas whether this was the best way to solve the problem of faculty feeling left out of decision-making, especially given the comments about informal versus formal communication.
I think everybody here is all for communication
trustee Sandra Anderson said. (But) what is the difference in our communication level between us sitting in this room as a committee and hearing directly from you
versus you sitting in that chair and saying the same thing?
Thomas pointed out that at a committee meeting last year, he raised his hand to make a comment, and Anderson, who was chairing the committee, told him he was a guest. After the story, Anderson said she understood Thomas' point. I apologize
she said.
The committee asked Thomas, along with the president's chief of staff Rebecca Watts, provost Kathy Krendl, and secretary to the board Tom Davis, to do some further research into institutions that don't have faculty representation on their boards and how communication works there.
Faculty Senate is hoping to address the issue at its Oct. 13 meeting. Senate has been calling for a faculty trustee for several years, but so far has not taken a position on the details of the appointment, hoping the board will look more favorably on a general request.
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