The Orbis

Issue date: 1/29/08 Section: Guide to Vanderbilt

Who to know: Bruce Barry, Faculty Senate Chair

Who is in the Faculty Senate?

The Faculty Senate is the official body of the university through which faculty members can work directly with administrators to create change, when they see it necessary. The Senate is made up of 48 members elected from the schools and colleges, nine Deans and 19 ex officio members, which include administrators like the chancellor, for example. These members serve three-year staggered terms, with a Chair and Vice Chair who are internally elected and also serve three-year terms.

The work of the Senate is steered by a 6-person executive committee that meets weekly, while the entire Senate meets monthly. There are five standing committees to address various areas of the Senate's work: Academic Policies and Services, Faculty Life, Professional Ethics and Academic Freedom, Senate Affairs, and Student Life. Bruce Barry, Chair of the Faculty Senate, discussed the workings of the Senate.



What power does the Faculty Senate have to influence university policy?

The Senate has little formal power, but a "potentially decent" amount of informal or persuasive power in university-related issues. In Barry's words, the Senate is "not a bully-pulpit" but more of a "nudge-pulpit toward Kirkland." The Senate can propose, demand or insist on anything they want from the chancellor, but the chancellor has the ultimate power to accept or decline any of these demands.

According to Barry, the relationship between the faculty and the administration improved under Chancellor Gee. Regular meetings with the chancellor and provosts, implemented by Gee, granted the Senate better access to Kirkland Hall, and the hiring of a full-time staff person for the Senate allowed for greater effectiveness to enact its desired changes. Despite improvements in access and resources, though, the Senate's actual power in governance did not increase under Gee.

Recently, the Senate has been looking at the varying levels of power and input of faculty senates at other schools and their roles in governance. Barry noted that senates at public universities tend to have a higher degree of participation in governance, which corresponds with the general differences in transparency of public versus private universities.

For example, the University of Tennessee recently announced that they, too, will be embarking on a search for a new chancellor, but through a much more exposed process. In contrast, Vanderbilt's chancellor search committee is "super-secret," according to Barry, and contains a single faculty member.



What issues concern the Faculty Senate?

Recent issues that have been at the forefront of the Senate's work have been the Commons as well as Vanderbilt's sustainability efforts. The Commons, said Barry, is of interest to the Senate because the program will, in theory, "slowly alter the intellectual life of the university," as well as increase faculty involvement with student life outside of the classroom.

The sustainability efforts are, according to Barry, "well intentioned" but "not as aggressive and assertive" as they perhaps should be. In this area, the Senate is nudging the administration towards a more assertive stance. Barry cited the living wage campaign as an issue that sparked forums, conversation, and sympathy, but the Senate failed to take a stance on the matter. The lack of action in this area was disappointing to Barry.



What has the Faculty Senate accomplished?

Successes of the Senate include "persuasion in favor of the pecuniary interest of faculty members" such as the increased availability of "better day-care for faculty, staff and graduate students." Other issues addressed by the Senate include various policies, concerns surrounding faculty research (classified and otherwise), and the distribution of monies when multiple faculty members collaborate in the development of a new technology.

On a more personal level, the Senate hears any grievances from current and former faculty members who feel the University has acted in bad faith in some way, and arbitrates these matters with the administration. Many of these procedures are outlined in the Faculty Manual, a handbook whose rules and regulations cannot be altered by the administration without the approval of the Senate.



WHO TO KNOW:

Bruce Barry, Faculty Senate Chair.

Barry is a Professor of Management and Sociology at Owen Business School. In addition to being the Chair of the Faculty Senate, he also sits on the Board of Directors for Vanderbilt Student Communications. He has been a member of the Vanderbilt faculty since 1991. Quite appropriately for his position in the Senate, Barry has written extensively on the psychology and sociology of "group behavior in organizations, including power, influence, negotiation, conflict, and justice."

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