Transcript University Governance Shared Responsibility Joint Decision-making Collegiality collegial adjective 1. power-sharing: with power shared equally between colleagues —col·le·gi·al·i·ty noun Encarta® World English Dictionary.

University Governance
Shared Responsibility
Joint Decision-making
Collegiality
collegial adjective
1. power-sharing: with
power shared equally
between colleagues
—col·le·gi·al·i·ty noun
Encarta® World English Dictionary
Who says faculty have a share?
“The Legislature recognizes that joint decisionmaking and consultation between administration
and faculty or academic employees is the longaccepted manner of governing institutions of
higher learning and is essential to the
performance of the educational mission of such
institutions and declares that it is the purpose of
this act to both preserve and encourage that
process. . .
Who says faculty have a share?
“Collegial governance assigns primary responsibility to
the faculty for the educational functions of the
institution in accordance with basic policy as
determined by the Board of Trustees. This includes
admission and degree requirements, the curriculum
and methods of teaching, academic and professional
standards, and the conduct of creative and scholarly
activities.”
Statement on collegiality (response to the Senate’s statement)
adopted by the Board of Trustees of the California State University,
September 1985.
Who says faculty have a share?
“Collegiality consists of a shared decisionmaking process and a set of attitudes which
cause individuals to regard the members of
the various constituencies of the university
as responsible for the success of the
academic enterprise.”
Adopted by the Academic Senate CSU, March 1985.
Who says faculty have a share
“Because the university’s curriculum is of
central concern to the faculty and because
faculty have the primary responsibility in
curricular decisions, it follows that faculty
should have the major voice in academic
policy decisions which closely affect the
curriculum, access to the curriculum, or the
quality of the curriculum.”
Collegiality in the California State University System
Academic Senate CSU (1985)
Who says faculty have a share
Constitution of the General Faculty:
It shall be the duty and responsibility of the General
Faculty to formulate, recommend, review and revise
all academic, personnel, and professional policies
pertaining to its members, including fiscal policies
related thereto, broadly and liberally defined. (II.1.0)
Constitution of the General Faculty
Successful faculty-administration relationships and
the ultimate value of the contributions made by the
faculty in policy areas require that Senate
recommendations be accepted by the University
whenever there is no compelling reason to reject
them. (Preamble)
Why should we have authority?
The Curriculum
It is the specialized knowledge of the faculty that
makes it appropriate that the faculty exercise
primary responsibility over the curriculum. We
sometimes say, "The faculty own the curriculum."
By that, we mean that the faculty, by virtue of
their specialized knowledge, are the only
appropriate body to define, present, advise
about, and, as necessary, defend the curriculum.
Why should we have authority?
The Curriculum
“The faculty have a professional responsibility to define
and offer a curriculum of the highest academic quality.
. . . The faculty, therefore, have primary responsibility
for making curricular recommendations to the
president. Normally, the president will accept the
advice and recommendations of the faculty on
curriculum matters. Faculty appropriately have this
responsibility because they possess the expertise to
judge best whether courses, majors, and programs
adhere to scholarly standards.”
Collegiality in the California State University System
Academic Senate CSU (1985)
Collegiality: Academic Policies
Examples of academic policies in which the faculty
should have the major voice:
•Criteria, standards, and procedures for adoption,
deletion, or modification of degree major programs,
minor programs, formal concentrations within
programs, credential programs, and certificate
programs;
•Grading practices and standards;
•Criteria, standards, and procedures for earning credit
or satisfying requirements outside the classroom,
including competency examinations for English
composition and in U.S. history and government, credit
by examination, and credit for experiential learning;
Examples of academic policies in which the faculty
should have the major voice (continued):
•Both short-run and long-range planning, including definition or
modification of the campus mission statement, determination
of the general scope and relative size or priority of campus
programs, modifications of the campus academic master plan,
annual campus allocation of faculty positions to schools or
other units, and annual campus budget allocations;
•Criteria, standards, and procedures for evaluating programs,
the quality of instruction, faculty currency, and all other
evaluations of the quality of the curriculum or of instruction;
•Campus policies which govern resources which support or
supplement the curriculum, especially the library and research
facilities;
•Campus policies which govern auxiliary institutions which
support or supplement the curriculum, especially the campus
foundation and the campus bookstore;
Examples of academic policies in which the faculty
should have the major voice (concluded):
•Student affairs policies, especially those governing financial
aid, advisement, learning services, Equal Opportunity
Programs, and related services which determine the extent to
which students can avail themselves of the curriculum;
•Campus and system policies governing withdrawal, probation,
reinstatement, and disqualification which affect access to the
curriculum and which can affect program quality;
•Co-curricular activities, especially those which increase the
likelihood that students will benefit fully from the curriculum or
those which distract students from the curriculum, including
intercollegiate athletic programs, and the relationship of those
programs to the academic program and mission of the campus;
and
•The academic calendar, including the first and last days of
instruction and the scheduling of final examinations.
Collegiality in the California State University System, Academic Senate CSU (1985)
Constitution of the General Faculty
The Academic Senate is the official representative
body of the General Faculty. (V.1.0)
Critical Elements
• Recommendation: The Faculty does not
approve academic and personnel
policy, it recommends.
The power of the faculty is its power to
recommend and the strong expectation
that its recommendations will be
followed.
Critical Elements
Consultation on academic and personnel policy must
include dialogue between administration and faculty.
From 21/AS/01/SEC/ Statement on Shared Governance
1. Early inclusion of faculty in identifying issues
and in agenda setting.
2. Ongoing consultation, much of it face-toface, as an iterative process between faculty
and administration to reach understanding, and
3. Substantive and forthcoming explanations of
decisions when agreement cannot be reached.
Critical Elements
• Approval: The President maintains ultimate authority
over the approval of academic and personnel policy,
approving faculty recommended policy unless there
is compelling reason not to do so.
Should the President of the University decline to concur in
such policy recommendations of the General Faculty, it
shall be the responsibility of the President to explain the
reasons in writing to all members of the General Faculty
or to present the President's position in person to the
Academic Senate within a reasonable time. (III.5.0)
Collegiality in the California State University
System
Academic Senate CSU, 1985
“a university is a community of scholars who,
out of mutual respect for the expertise and
contributions of their colleagues, agree
that shared decision-making in areas of
recognized primary responsibility
constitutes the means whereby a
university best preserves its academic
integrity and most effectively attains its
educational mission.”