2008 Woodie Awards
U. senators say 10-year plan being rushed
Kevin Robillard
Issue date: 4/9/08 Section: News
University Senate faculty members expressed concern yesterday that the university's strategic plan, intended to guide the school through the next decade, is being rushed to passage.
In a meeting with the senate's executive committee, Senate Chair Bill Montgomery said the senate would vote on the document in a little more than three weeks, but faculty members of the body said they're worried they won't have enough time to discuss it.
If the senate doesn't approve the strategic plan, which calls for bold changes in international education, graduate programs, the CORE curriculum and distribution of resources to departments, it will mark a major blow to the legitimacy of the 10-year planning document, which calls on faculty to implement some of its goals.
The senate provides faculty with the most influential avenue for representation in the university, and senators so far have criticized the strategic plan for ignoring the arts and humanities in its general education proposals.
But yesterday, in a meeting of the Senate Executive Committee, senators said they were worried they wouldn't even have a chance to see their comments into the plan's final draft.
"I am really bothered by this. This is being raced down the campus's throat," said Maynard Mack, an English professor. "The document I saw, I thought it was an embarrassment."
Art Popper, a former chair of the senate, pointed out a university committee spent six months working on the strategic plan, but will only give faculty senators ten days to review it between the release of its next draft and their vote, which Montgomery set for May 1.
University officials released a working draft of the strategic plan at the beginning of March, but their next version, which will come out April 11, will reflect from "hundreds of pages" of criticism.
The senate will review the document, provide feedback, and then vote on it. The senate was originally supposed to see this document last week. Mack said the university was holding a double standard.
In a meeting with the senate's executive committee, Senate Chair Bill Montgomery said the senate would vote on the document in a little more than three weeks, but faculty members of the body said they're worried they won't have enough time to discuss it.
If the senate doesn't approve the strategic plan, which calls for bold changes in international education, graduate programs, the CORE curriculum and distribution of resources to departments, it will mark a major blow to the legitimacy of the 10-year planning document, which calls on faculty to implement some of its goals.
The senate provides faculty with the most influential avenue for representation in the university, and senators so far have criticized the strategic plan for ignoring the arts and humanities in its general education proposals.
But yesterday, in a meeting of the Senate Executive Committee, senators said they were worried they wouldn't even have a chance to see their comments into the plan's final draft.
"I am really bothered by this. This is being raced down the campus's throat," said Maynard Mack, an English professor. "The document I saw, I thought it was an embarrassment."
Art Popper, a former chair of the senate, pointed out a university committee spent six months working on the strategic plan, but will only give faculty senators ten days to review it between the release of its next draft and their vote, which Montgomery set for May 1.
University officials released a working draft of the strategic plan at the beginning of March, but their next version, which will come out April 11, will reflect from "hundreds of pages" of criticism.
The senate will review the document, provide feedback, and then vote on it. The senate was originally supposed to see this document last week. Mack said the university was holding a double standard.
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