New Threat to Shared Governance
A meeting between the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents and state legislators last week to find common ground in the wake of recent disputes over cash reserves. But discussions during the meeting about rethinking shared governance had some faculty feeling like they were left holding the bag for administrators’ actions – and that their decision-making authority within the system was under threat… General Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, said governance changes within the system were a matter of “when, not if,” and that university chancellors should be empowered to “truly be the chief executive officers.” Vos added: “Does the role of allowing faculty to make a huge number of decisions help the system or hurt the system?” Some faculty advocates present, including Sara Goldrick-Rab, associate professor of educational policy studies and sociology at the Madison campus, where the meeting took place, called those statements troubling.
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by Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed.