12/7/2011: Two years of hard work by the Senate Governance Committee and some administrator(s) from Johnson Hall. Passed by unanimous vote of the Faculty Assembly, after some discussion of the role of NTTFs and adjuncts, and one friendly amendment from chemist Paul Engelking to correct the “half plus one” rule for the Senate. The problem? Assume a committee of 3. … Yikes. Thanks Paul,
Now goes to President Lariviere for signature, which by all signs should come quickly.
I am wondering what was all that talking at the meeting about that now we need to “stand with each other” and not “stand with the hat”. Is the leadership in the senate so worried that we poor dumb professors will run amock and end up doing something crazy? A little too paternalistic for my taste. Everybody has a working brain at the University (or they should), so why not simply say: “dear friends, we will not be able to make any progress in our goals if we keep focusing on the past. Now we need to focus on the future. We still like little the board and the chancellor and the governor, but we need to work with them.” That would have been reasonable and more respectful of the audience. Something that we deserve.
I think Kyr struck just the right tone. To my mind, there was nothing paternalistic about his remarks — earnest, maybe, but hardly disrespectful. He was merely gesturing to the remarkable sense of community that has developed since Lariviere’s firing.