A resolution to establish a committee to consider whether “ethical norms” were breached by faculty members in an incident related to their conversations with former Chancellor Phyllis M. Wise failed to pass the Urbana-Champaign Senate Sept. 21.
Wise resigned Aug. 6 after it was revealed she was being investigated for breaches of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act that require university-related communications, even those through private email accounts, be made public upon request.
It was also revealed that some senate faculty leaders had privately advised the chancellor, though they were not accused of wrongdoing in the ethics investigation.
“We cannot move forward without addressing and correcting what has gone wrong,” said Mark Steinberg, one of the resolution’s supporters and a professor of history.
The resolution failed 80-66.
Steinberg said the resolution didn’t technically call for an ethics investigation, but for an ad hoc senate committee to “consider what, if any, senate procedures, ethical norms, or best practices of shared governance may have been violated … (and) determine what actions should be taken to protect and reinforce senate norms and practices.”
He said the committee’s charge would have included whether referrals based on their findings should be sent to other appropriate bodies.
Joyce Tolliver, a senator and a professor of Spanish, said the senate doesn’t have the standing to undertake an ethics investigation and suggested instead the matter be given to the University Statutes and Senate Procedures Committee for consideration.
She said that committee could consult with university legal counsel about the senate’s authority to investigate ethical matters and whether there was evidence to suggest the university’s ethics office take up the matter.
Some senators in support of the resolution said that method would take too long to complete and would in effect bury the issue.
A senator speaking against the measure called it petty and vindictive, saying it was being used to target certain senate leaders without actually naming them and the problem should be fixed without retribution.
“It’s certainly not meant to target individuals,” Steinberg said. “This document grew out of serious concerns of senators.”
William Maher, USSP chair and the university archivist, said sending the issue to his committee would take “the better part of an academic year” because of its already full agenda.
Tolliver said she was not asking the USSP to conduct an investigation but to set a protective legal structure for anyone who would be the focus of a potential investigation.
Nicholas Burbules, a senator and a professor of education policy, organization and leadership, said he was one of the senators identified as being involved in the Wise conversations and feels he hasn’t broken any ethics rules.
He said it is not illegal and there are no campus rules prohibiting private conversations between faculty members and campus leaders, and that he does not fear an investigation.
Burbules said evidence of ethics rules violations should be presented to the university ethics office for investigation. He said he feels the resolution made him a target without mentioning his name, and that it did not mention any processes giving him the ability to rebut the committee’s findings.
“That’s not what the resolution says, starting with the title,” he said of Steinberg’s claim that no individuals were being targeted. The resolution asked for a committee to be created “Concerning senators’ use of non-official communications to advise campus administrators.”
Abbas Aminmansour, an SEC member and a professor of architecture, said he would like the senate to instead adopt a code of conduct for senators that he recently presented to the SEC for consideration.
The code outlines an open communications process for anyone conducting university business.
