Resolution Defining Eligibility for Faculty Participation

on Department, College, and Senate Committees

Introduced at the regular meeting of the Faculty Senate on 10/07/13 by the following co-sponsors: Senators Sheldon D. Pollack, Deni Galileo, and J.Morgan.

Whereas, the Faculty Handbook, the Policy and Procedures Manual, and the Collective Bargaining Agreement of the University of Delaware all distinguish between those individuals who serve as administrators and those who are full-time voting faculty (i.e., instructors, assistant professors, associate professors, or full professors) for such purposes as eligibility to serve in official positions on the Faculty Senate and its standing committees, the applicability of the various policies and procedures of the University, and inclusion in the collective bargaining unit; and

Whereas, it is important to maintain such distinctions between faculty and administrators in faculty governance, collective bargaining, and other academic affairs; and

Whereas, some administrators at the University have workloads that assign some of their time to administrative tasks and some of their time to traditional faculty activities, such as teaching courses and conducting scholarly research; and

Whereas, some such individuals serve and vote on faculty committees in their departments and colleges, including votes on promotion and tenure decisions, faculty appointments, and curriculum matters; and

Whereas, such individuals also participate in the decisions in the same matters as administrators, in their departments, colleges, or university offices; and

Whereas, such participation as both administrators and faculty undermines faculty governance by involving those who hold administrative positions in functions otherwise reserved to faculty; be it therefore

Resolved, that participation (1) on any faculty committee in a department, college, academic program, (2) on any Senate committee (other than in a position expressly reserved for an administrator), or (3) in faculty governance or any decision-making process traditionally reserved, exercised, or delegated to full-time voting faculty, henceforth shall be restricted to full-time voting faculty who do not hold an appointment or serve in an official capacity, whether full-time or part-time, in the Offices of the President, the Provost, any Vice President, or the Dean of any College, including but not limited to administrative officers of the University (including deputy, associate, assistant, and vice provosts), academic deans (including deputy, associate, and assistant deans), and department chairs or academic program directors (as defined in the Policy Guide for Department Chairs and Academic Program Directors) who supervise and/or evaluate other faculty. Faculty who serve in a temporary capacity for an administrative office as a member of a search committee, standing or ad hoc committee shall not be deemed ineligible because of this service.