Sarah Swedberg, along with other faculty members, has expressed concern about one of the proposed changes to the Colorado Mesa University Professional Personnel Employment Handbook that administration is currently trying to pass. Swedberg expressed concern in the April 4 Faculty Senate meeting the change could give CMU President Tim Foster “dictatorial powers.”
Proposal 15 has some faculty worried about the amount of power Foster could have if the rule goes through. There’s concern it would let Foster assign new positions without proper searching and would take away the input from faculty.
Proposal 15 I.6. states: When deemed critical in order to avoid significant disruption in the operation of the University, the President may appoint a full time supervisory hire without conducting a search. Employment so authorized shall be submitted to the Trustees for consideration of approval at the earliest practical time to include the unique qualifications of the individual and justification for the need to forgo the formal search process. The incumbent will serve as interim or acting until the decision is approved by the trustees.
“This would allow President Foster to just put someone in a position, name them first interim or acting, but then make them permanent without a formal search,” Sarah Swedberg said. “It is problematic because colleges and universities have a very strong tradition of shared governance. This takes, on paper, the ability to have part in the decision away from a committee and right into the hands of the president.”
It is for the reasoning that president Foster, and any subsequent presidents while this rule exists, would be able to take away the shared-governed system inherent in the school that there are several faculty members becoming worried about the new ruling going into effect.
The Vice President of Academic Affairs is currently needing a replacement as it will soon become vacant once Cynthia Pemberton leaves the school. This opportunity of employment shows the most immediate effect of the new legislation that could go in. If the legislation passes, it becomes possible for the president to replace the position without the formal search that has been status quo for the university.
“It is really important to have some shared governance, to have some say in this institution that we work in,” Swedberg said. “We have a stake in the university and the education. We want to do a really good job and if this goes through it will take away our ability to have a say in things that sometimes have a direct effect on us, the Vice President of Academic Affairs, for instance, has an effect on me every day.”
The change has yet to be approved and is currently floating around until the Board of Trustees decides whether to approve the change or refuse it. There was a formal period for faculty to put public notes into the pool so their voices could be considered during the discussion of approval. According to Swedberg, she and several of her colleagues submitted notes for the discussion to help push the change away from becoming approved so their fears wouldn’t come true.
While, according to Swedberg, there is opposition other than her, no other senators were willing to speak out on record on the issue and when asked to comment for the senate’s position, Faculty Senate President Josh Butler declined to speak for anyone’s position or the senate’s official position regarding the matter due to its declaratory and touchy nature. Consequently, it is up to the senate members to individually speak up against or for the proposal if they want any more support on their side of the argument.
“The issue is closed as the time allotted for faculty comment on proposed handbook changes has closed,” Butler said. “The proposals now go to the Board of Trustees for review.”
The other side of the issue is the process to hire a new member of the staff can be time consuming and could freeze the production of the management team at the school. Avoiding this type of stand still in a time when a position needs to be filled led upper management to put in the proposition for a change.
Foster asserted the new rule change is not for some gain of power, but to make the management more smooth and streamlined when the need for it arises.
“The change in the handbook is to allow us in rare instances to forego a formal search, which is time consuming,” Foster said. “We would always do a search for a position like vice president.”
Until the legislation reaches the Board of Trustees, Swedberg and the rest of the alleged concerned faculty must wait until the new ruling either goes into effect or is rejected.
