A series of town hall events on the George Washington University’s Foggy Bottom, Mount Vernon and Virginia campuses began last week as forums for feedback, opinions and concerns from faculty regarding draft recommendations to change the university Faculty Code and Faculty Organization Plan.
Among the proposed recommendations put together by four working groups on shared governance—made up of 27 faculty, eight university trustees and eight administrators—are changes to participation criteria on the Faculty Senate, faculty appointment, promotion and tenure procedure and the creation of a new periodic process to review deans.
The working groups received feedback on the recommendations prior to releasing the draft from the Faculty Senate’s Executive, Professional Ethics and Academic Freedom and Appointment, Salary and Promotion Policies committees.
The working groups correlate with four of the five principles for future university governance outlined last spring at a meeting of the Faculty Senate: participation in governance, tenure procedures, administrator and dean appointment procedures and rules within departments and schools.
A fifth principle, covering provisions for academic freedom in the Faculty Code, was addressed in June when the board codified enhanced protections for academic freedom.
Proposed recommendations from the working groups—all of which have been posted online—include expanding access to serve on the Faculty Senate to include regular contract and specialized faculty who have attained the rank of associate professor.
In addition to the town halls, which continue through April 9, a questionnaire will be deployed this week to solicit more faculty feedback, said Madeleine Jacobs, B.S. ’68, chair of the GW Board of Trustees’ Committee on Academic Affairs. Faculty may also share their input through an online forum on the governance website.
Preliminary recommendations from the working groups—the culmination of two years of work—will both be forwarded to the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees, which plans to hold a series of meetings to discuss the proposals. Board Chair Nelson Carbonell and Ms. Jacobs are expected to brief the Faculty Senate on April 10.
