Moments ago, the Faculty Senate voted on the Resolution from the Department of Sociology Regarding the Proposed Reorganization of the Graduate School. The vote was nearly unanimous — there was only a single opposing vote.
Prior to the vote, the resolution had been spoken to by Prof. Robert Hauser of Sociology, who made a very eloquent statement in support of the administration’s efforts to solve problems with the research structure but criticizing the process by which the proposed restructuring had been developed and presented to the faculty. Following Prof. Hauser, speaker after speaker echoed the essential message that we, the faculty, are not opposed to change, but that it is in the best interest of the University to have “buy-in” from the faculty on any restructuring of this magnitude. Not a single speaker spoke against the resolution.
Chancellor “Biddy” Martin then made a short but gracious statement in which even she did not seek to dissuade members of the Faculty Senate from approving the resolution. Rather, she noted that the administration’s intentions had been good, motivated only by the concerns that had been reported to her during the first year of her tenure, but acknowledging that the process had gotten off to a bad start. She reiterated that the administration was now committed to a slowed process in which the reports from the ad hoc committees and the involvement of the University Committee would play central roles. Most importantly, at least from a diplomatic perspective, she explicitly apologized for the missteps in the process and noted that “we learn from our mistakes.” Her apology was met with the only applause heard during the entire meeting.
Most readers of this site are aware that we have actively criticized the process from the moment we became aware of the restructuring proposal and that we spoke out strongly in support of the Faculty Senate resolution. But we take little satisfaction from its passage. We continue to regret the temporary setback to mutual trust and goodwill that resulted from the controversy and that led to this moment.
The bright side is that a more serious and permanent rift has probably been averted. We thank Chancellor Martin for having the wisdom and flexibility to choose accommodation over confrontation and firmly believe that this choice is good for all campus constituencies, including the administration, in the long run. We thank the faculty and staff for being respectful even as they pressed their case for more involvement. And of course we are grateful that the faculty and the administration have now, apparently, reached an understanding on how to proceed constructively with the solution of whatever management problems still face the research enterprise at UW-Madison.
Last but not least, we are grateful to the faculty, staff, and students who contributed their impassioned yet informed and respectful opinions to this forum in the form of both lead articles and replies to articles. We hope that we can expect similar engagement on future issues of importance to the University community.
We now look forward to watching the process work over the next few months and to supporting whatever well-considered reforms emerge from it.
- The Editors