by Justin Boulmay
Staff Writer
The Faculty Senate elections began last week as the organization
seeks stronger governance in campus issues through greater faculty
participation.
Faculty members nominate professors for senate in each department
through ballots distributed this week, and return them to the Faculty
Senate office in I.G. Greer Hall. Deadline for submissions is Friday,
Faculty Senate Chair Paul H. Gates Jr. said. The vote will be tallied
and the winners notified next week. Senator-elects will attend their
first meeting April 19.
Faculty Senate office assistant Catherine E. Altice said faculty
must be full-time at Appalachian State University to be eligible
to vote. Senators serve for three years and must take a year off
before they can reapply.
The elections are an important part of faculty involvement, which
Gates said has dwindled, and threatens to reduce the impact of the
Faculty Senate on campus.
“Your increased participation is needed because faculty-shared
governance at Appalachian is threatened,” Gates said at the
onset of the semester. “But, paradoxically, shared governance
is not threatened by the campus administration – it is threatened
by our own inertia. Look at your schedules, look into your hearts
and talk to your colleagues. If you don’t participate, that’s
an abdication of faculty responsibility,” he said.
Approximately 730 ballots were given out last year and only 165
were returned, Altice said.
Gates said many candidates who applied to be senators last year
were either unopposed or won by only a few votes.
Besides participation in elections, Gates said other steps needed
to make Faculty Senate more efficient include better communication
with each department, encouraging junior faculty to get involved
and, if possible, restructuring the senate.
Efficient communication with faculty departments has been a stumbling
block for Faculty Senate in the past, Gates said. One possible solution,
which must be voted on before implementation, is to increase the
size of the senate by 40 percent and allow each department to choose
its representatives. Senators are currently chosen based on the
size of the department, Gates said.
Associate Professor Kathryn T. Brinko, who helps coordinate new
faculty orientation, said there are approximately 650 full-time
faculty and approximately 300 part-time faculty at Appalachian State.
90 teaching positions are currently available, she said.
The face of the Faculty Senate will be different when the elections
are over.
Gates’ term as chair ends this spring, and other officers
will step down as well. Officers are not allowed to hold their position
for more than two years.
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