Debate continues over allowing graduate students into Academic Senate
Disagreements among senate members arose Tuesday while discussing the details of whether graduate students and assistants should be included as legitimate members of the senate.
A representative from the mathematics department argued that many of the graduate students teach their own classes without the mentoring of a professor. Therefore, they should be allowed to be a member, she said.
A motion was carried out for the rewording of the section, but is still in the discussion phase.
Because of the differences in the level of responsibility for each graduate student or assistant and confusion among senate members, no final decision was made.
Two of the members of the committee, philosophy and religion professor Roger Hatch and Brad Swartz, were at the meeting representing the changes made.
Hatch, a philosophy and religion professor, was asked to counter the motion, stating why these specifications were made in the revision of the constitution.
“We include many other members of the academic community, and also have student members that make it much stronger,” Hatch said. “We need to keep in mind the size of the body. We need to be able to deliberate.”
The search for a general education director is still underway, said chairman Phil Squattrito.
“I encourage (members) to think about people they know to fill this position, with priority given to regular faculty first, then with temporary faculty and staff,” he said.
The application deadline is Oct. 15, as long as enough are submitted by that time period. The review will proceed shortly after, with a decision to be finalized in November.
