The ongoing argument between political science faculty and the university administration over the Griffin Endowed Chair reared its head at the Academic Senate meeting on Tuesday.

At the meeting, University President Michael Rao called for a sit-down between the two parties, who have remained at an impasse since December over the procedure for selecting the professorship vacated by Gary Peters. The position remains unfilled this spring for the first time.

Joyce Baugh, political science representative, addressed the senate during Rao's report.

Reading a prepared statement, Baugh voiced the department's concern that the injection of a Board of Trustees member on the search committee has taken the control of the appointment away from the faculty.

"The reality is that the policy goes well beyond simply keeping the administration in the loop," Baugh said.

She said two drafts of the policy exist. The original draft was shared with the department by Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences Dean Gary Shapiro, and a slightly revised version was shared with the Board of Trustees at their Dec. 4 meeting.

"Both policy drafts exclude the department's traditional role in screening candidates and making a recommendation for who should be selected," Baugh said.

She said neither draft allows the department to exercise its collective judgment in choosing the individual who will be a faculty member in their department.

In the traditional method for selecting a Griffin Endowed Chair, the department does the initial candidate screening and sends a list to Shapiro.

The dean then shares the names with the Griffin Advisory Board and he grants the department permission to conduct formal interviews. After the interviews, a recommendation is made to the dean by the department and the dean makes the final appointment.

Baugh said the department believes the trustee involved in the process will be the one selected to serve as the advisory board's representative to the search committee. She suggested that it is likely some of the endowed fund donors will ask for their donations to be returned if this remains the case.

"This is unprecedented," she said. "This would seriously hamper the continued vitality of the program."

Provost Julia Wallace, who stepped in during the president's report to speak on the subject, said she would never wish to have the search committee go without departmental input.

"There will be a department faculty member that will be in place of the Griffin Chair, and it will be a departmental selection that will choose that faculty member," Wallace said.

She said the statement in the policy does state the department will select members of the search committee, and that the advisory board member will be part of the search committee.

"The intent of the changes in this policy was not at all to take faculty jurisdiction out of the selection process. I just wouldn't do that," Wallace said. "The intent is in a high profile position such as this, all constituents need to know exactly who is being interviewed and possible candidates for this position.

"It is important to get the widest pool we can, and disseminate that information to all individuals and that's pretty much what the proposal says," Wallace said.

She said the policy does say a Board of Trustees member will be a member of the advisory board.

"In no way does it say that the board member will be a part of the selection process," she said.

Wallace recently made further clarification on the Board of Trustee clause so that the dean of the college will choose the outside member for the advisory board.

Wallace said it is the hope to have more endowed chairs in the future, and having a policy in place for those chairs is important to them.

Rao recommended Wallace regroup with political science faculty and Shapiro. Baugh was not aware when the meeting will be held.

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