Faculty Governance Rights – If You Don’t Use Them, You Risk Losing Them

What happens when faculty don’t exercise their right to participate in and contribute to the variety of tasks required in a system of shared governance? The administration steps in to do the job. When you’re asked to serve on a grievance committee to determine whether defects alleged in an evaluation process actually occurred, you’re being asked to fulfill a critically important role – one unique to faculty. Due process procedures protect academic freedom and are essential to enhancing quality education and accountability in the governance of the University. Your willingness to participate is required to maintain a structure that provides all faculty members the right to an appeal process which has been designed to preserve and protect the integrity of the promotion process. During the last several years, it’s been more and more difficult to constitute committees due to a lack of faculty volunteers. What will happen if we can’t put together grievance committees comprising three faculty? Will the administration propose an alternative structure during the next round of negotiations – one that proposes, for example, to substitute administrative personnel in the place of faculty? If you have questions and/or concerns with regard to service on a grievance committee, please contact the Rutgers AAUP-AFT office. It matters.

BJ Walker, Staff Representative, Grievance and Working Conditions
Mary Gibson, Staff Representative, Grievance and Working Conditions

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