Champaign Senate at its Feb. 9 meeting.
A resolution that supporters say is designed to help mend faculty division over the administration’s handling of the employment of Steven Salaita will be presented for consideration of the Urbana-Champaign Senate at its Feb. 9 meeting.
In a 7-5 vote, the Senate Executive Committee denied a request to include the resolution on the Dec. 8 senate agenda, the majority recommending that two senate committees tasked with studying the Salaita case be allowed to conclude their deliberations before the senate acts.
“When we speak, we should have the complete range of information and background,” said Nick Burbules, a senator and a professor of education policy, organization and leadership, in defense of deferring the resolution until the reports of the campus Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee and an ad hoc senate committee on hiring practices are finalized.
“The horizons of this will look different in February,” he said.
“I’m confident letting it go forward and letting the senate weigh in,” said Ben McCall, a chemistry professor and the lead sponsor of the resolution. “We hope it’s something the senate can agree on … and hopefully congeal our community.”
The senate in October voted down a resolution asking that the SEC and provost’s joint ad hoc committee, formed to study the Salaita case and possibly make process recommendations, be disbanded.
McCall said the current resolution was designed to “seize the middle ground and bring people together.” He said not allowing a senate vote in December could contribute to the perception by campus detractors that the SEC is a “roadblock” incapable of healing campus divisions.
“These disagreements, which have been heated in recent months, can obscure the fact that there is a great deal of common ground shared by (everyone) across campus,” reads the introduction to the Resolution on Shared Governance and Academic Freedom. “This resolution is intended to express our united voice in honoring the bedrock principles of shared governance and academic freedom that we all cherish.”
The resolution itself describes the administration’s actions in the Salaita case as “inconsistent with the principles of shared governance and academic decision-making that are cherished by our campus and enshrined in our statutes.”
It also calls for “extensive consultation” if such a case should arise in the future.
Joyce Tolliver, a professor of Spanish, said the introduction to the resolution, which recalls the background and details the fallout of the Salaita case, is opinionated and not altogether factual.
Randy McCarthy, a professor of mathematics and a resolution sponsor, said that despite concerns over the wording, the SEC risked the perception of further alienating resolution supporters by pushing the issue to February.
“It’s been a long time that they’ve been angry (about the Salaita case),” he said. “It’s a division that can be quite entrenched if it’s not addressed.”
Calvin Lear, a graduate student and SEC member, said the decision to hold back the resolution would further encourage the perception in certain circles of campus that the SEC is incapable of addressing serious problems.
“I’m worried about the message we send by postponing,” he said.
“I think we need to respect the will and authority of the senate,” said Abbas Aminmansour, a professor of architecture. “If we delay things … it may reinforce that perception.”
Burbules offered to meet with the authors of the resolution after the committees’ work is finished to discuss the resolution’s wording and how it could more fully reflect the views of the broader campus.
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