Faculty are key to shared governance!

Dear friends,

A week ago, President Paul Fitzgerald announced that the University will be holding a special forum on shared governance with Provost Don Heller and Vice Provost Shirley McGuire on Monday October 7, 9-10:30 in McLaren 250. I want you to know that this meeting was scheduled without consulting the Policy Board of the USF Faculty Association (USFFA)--the elected representatives of the librarians and full-time faculty. Had they consulted with us, they would have learned that several of our elected leadership — including myself, Keally McBride (VP), Ed Munnich (Secretary), and Mike Webber (Grievance Committee Vice Chair) — teach during that time. We would have also reminded them that the time they selected conflicts with the regularly scheduled meeting of the College of Arts and Science’s College Council, the largest body of shared governance on campus. When we made them aware of these scheduling conflicts, the University refused to reschedule.

Make no mistake: the USFFA is interested in improving lines of communication and ensuring participatory decision-making, as WASC recommended. We are open to discussing ways to do this, so we encourage people to attend the scheduled Forum. We believe engaging faculty and staff voices would be an excellent first step to the development of formal, timely and informative channels of communication that allow for advice and dialogue across the campus prior to major decision making and implementation. However, we are concerned that the university's actions regarding our participation in this important meeting indicate an unwillingness to truly develop shared governance, expanding on our existing deliberative bodies. The University should be working with the USFFA, not as though we do not exist.

Please attend the Provost’s Forum on Monday October 7, 9-10:30 in McLaren 250 and let the University know that their initiatives cannot succeed without our input and support.

Respectfully yours,

Sonja Martin Poole

President, USFFA