Davies acknowledges concerns with accountability, shared governance at Academic Senate meeting
President Bob Davies (left) gives a report to the Academic Senate Feb. 1 in the French Auditorium.
President Bob Davies acknowledged continuing concerns with shared governance and accountability at Central Michigan University at the bi-weekly meeting of the Academic Senate on Feb. 1.
Davies had alerted the senate that he would not be attending prior to the meeting but was able to make it due to a meeting being rescheduled.
Some faculty have said CMU does not follow the principle of shared decision making. Davies said he met with the Shared Governance Task Force on Jan. 28 to hear their concerns. In his report, Davies said there is a perception that he, administrators and some board of trustees members are blaming problems on faculty.
“We need to be held accountable for our decisions and our actions,” Davies said. “When we make mistakes—and they happen—we own them.
"…I just want to validate your frustrations.”
Senator Andrew Criswell, on the task force, said there is a “clear perception” that shared governance has been neglected. As an example, Criswell said the decision to switch to virtual classes after the pandemic started was not made with any faculty or senate input.
“I absolutely agreed with that decision,” Criswell said. "But shared governance was clearly neglected. In the end, we're just told what to do. I’m hoping that’s going to change, and I see that as a mission of the task force—to stop that behavior and hopefully restore some faith and trust.”
The senate also discussed several other issues during its meeting.
Problems with the New Website
Several senators asked questions about continuing issues with the new website. Senator Martha Frank asked about the stability of the website and when colleges would be able to make changes to their own content.
According to Vice President for Marketing and Communication John Veilleux, an unknown issue with the site has been causing instability whenever someone tries to make changes to it. Davies said this problem should be fixed by Feb. 2.
Senator John Allen asked Davies if those responsible for the website’s unresolved problems would be held accountable.
“Veilleux, last meeting, stated that communications adopted a well-vetted process including people from across the university,” Allen said. "Yet on review of the facts, as a program director and in asking my colleagues, there was no consultation with the departments and the information on websites was written by communications staff, not even reflecting the content that was pre-existing for the programs beyond generic information."
“I would also note that not even the college collaborators got an opportunity to vet the website. This seems to be in stark contrast to (Veilleux’s) statement that faculty members do not do their homework.”
Davies said he will not comment on personnel decisions.
“I don’t think it falls on leadership,” Veilleux said on Jan. 20. “I don’t think it falls on any one thing. I think it falls on the nature of these massive projects."
Scholarship Mistake
After 58 students were given full-tuition scholarships due to an error in the admissions office last week, faculty, staff and students were concerned about the money CMU would have to spend on the awards.
According to Davies, each student who mistakenly received the scholarship message had already earned some amount of scholarship money. He added that full-tuition awards will increase CMU's bill by $400,000 - less than one percent of the scholarship budget.
Email from Board of Trustees Chair
In a recent email to CMU, Board of Trustees Chair Richard Studley expressed support for Davies’ leadership. Studley said CMU will continue to listen to feedback from its community.
In a response to the email, Senator Deborah Gray asked how people can deliver their feedback to the board. Davies said anyone can submit their feedback by emailing the board directly.
The CMU Board of Trustees can be emailed at trustees@cmich.edu.
Academic Senate meetings are held at 3:30 p.m. bi-weekly on Tuesdays in the French Auditorium. Livestream and recording links can be found on the senate website.
