Here are the changes to the university senate that will be presented to UK board next week
The University of Kentucky university senate will lose its policy-making power and a new advisory board will be created under the proposed shared governance model announced Friday.
It’s the next step in what has been an ongoing process and debate between faculty and administration. President Eli Capilouto will present the new governance structure to the board of trustees April 25 and 26.
His proposed structure moves the university senate from a policy-making body to an advisory faculty senate. The Student Government Association and the staff senate would remain as advisory bodies at UK.
Items that the university senate currently approves, like new courses, curriculum or academic programs, would instead be approved by departments or colleges, then the provost, before going to the board for approval. Giving more decision-making power about curriculum and courses to the colleges and departments has been a focus for Capilouto throughout this process.
“Our current structure — and the guiding principles of our institution in the form of the (governing regulations) — don’t do that, now,” Capilouto said in an email to faculty on Friday evening. “We need rules and structures for shared governance that help, not hinder, our progress. As difficult as change can be, it’s time to act.”
At the February board meeting, trustees gave Capilouto the authority to recommend changes to the university’s governing regulations. Since then, the university senate and senate council, which has authority to create broad education policy and academic standards for UK, has passed multiple resolutions calling on Capilouto to slow the process and delay making a recommendation to the board.
Capilouto has said the change is needed to make the university “more nimble,” and would align the university’s structure with more common governance models.
UK’s structure has stayed relatively similar since the university senate was founded in 1917. The number of students and employees has significantly changed since then, when UK had 719 students and under 300 employees, UK spokesperson Jay Blanton said. Since the last board meeting, two drafts of what Capilouto will present to the board next week have been distributed to campus for feedback, with the third proposal sent out Friday evening.
“You have reinforced to me that, collectively, we have the power to make changes that matter,” Capilouto said. “You have given us the imperative to do so. We have the moral responsibility, too, to act with what we’ve learned and what we know. That’s what learning institutions do. They gather knowledge and use that knowledge to make things better. I believe that’s what we are doing together.”
Student, faculty and staff advisory boards
Under Capilouto’s proposed model, the university senate — which is currently made up of faculty, students and administrators — would become a faculty senate, made up solely of faculty members.
The student government association and staff senate would also be advisory boards, along with the creation of a president’s council. That council will be made up of 12 people split evenly between students, faculty and staff members, to be nominated by their peer groups for a one-year term.
The individual senate groups will have the ability to decide how to vote in members, and if changes will be made to current processes. The groups will have one year to develop how they want to select members to advisory boards.
The proposal will have two votes before the board: one at next week’s meeting, after which there will be a month for gathering feedback, with a second review at the June meeting.
UK looks to change role of faculty senate. Employees worry it will take away authority
After the February board meeting, Capilouto met with more than 1,000 faculty, staff and students about new governance structure ideas. The university also opened an online feedback form. The proposal has the support of the Student Government Association, which passed a resolution saying the body supported the new principles for shared governance.
The university senate has opposed Capilouto’s proposed reorganization nearly every step of the way, most recently in a resolution on April 8 that said the body had “no confidence that his proposed changes are in the best long-term interests of the University or the Commonwealth.”
The senate has also expressed concerns about UK hiring Deloitte Consulting for feedback on governance, which was presented to the board as the basis for making changes to the university’s structure. The Herald-Leader has filed an Open Records Request for documentation of Deloitte’s research on the faculty senate, but has not yet received all requested records.
The proposal also makes changes to the university’s governing regulations, updating and clarifying the rules about how the university operates. It moves some current governing regulations, like policies and procedures, or historical information about the university’s operation, into administrative regulations.
