Monday Blues

Monday began with a faculty meeting. More faculty were in attendance than usual, probably thinking it was the last meeting of the academic year. Not. None of the agenda items were particularly stimulating, with the exception of voting rights.

At our institution, tenure tack faculty have "statutory" voting rights which means they can vote on elections held at all levels ~university, school, department. The statutory faculty have the authority to give non-statutory faculty voting rights so that they too might participate in elections at different levels.  The the list of faculty in our department to be given voting privileges by the statutory faculty contained some faculty individuals of questionable commitment to our department and the school. So, there was discussion of what to do. One option acknowledged to be that the involved faculty run for offices, making it less likely that one of the uninvolved would be voted into an office.  In the end, the list was voted on as a whole, giving them all voting privileges  I was on the list to be given voting privileges, so I just listened.

Yes, this sounds a bit crazy.  Faculty governance is a quite an anomaly in today's world of bureaucratic organizations. Faculty make decisions that are directly related to the work of being a faculty: curriculum development and revision, hiring and promotion of peers, admission of students, and academic remediation. Doing this work of self-governance is both very empowering and time consuming. Still, I'd rather have this high degree of control over my work than be punching a clock and following instructions. Faculty tend to be highly independent and self-directed, which can make for lively debates. I'm in the right job for me.