Echoing Julianne -- really valuable but I think there has been an erosion at Duke. One example is the recent dust up over the Protests, Pickets and Demonstrations rules, which admin kind of slipped in as "it's already there" when it really wasn't. The rules were both super vague and super draconian (one of the students adjudicated under the rules last year was one of mine and the impact on her as a freshman was painful to observe). Thankfully, administrators seemed to have realized a mistake and rightly cleared the implicated people. I hope this isn't repeated. In a similar way, I and others are having a hard time interpreting the staff VSIPs. I'd love to hear the explanation for gutting part of Duke's international work (Latin American Studies, and area studies librarians for Jewish, Middle Eastern, and Slavic Studies -- now???). Maybe there's a rationalle but I also wonder if this is being seen as an opportunity to radically reshape the university without faculty input. At the very least, there's a lack of transparency on goals beyond budget.
You are correct robin that the protest policy / scheduling of protest was not only a change, but it showed how unlinked the faculty Hsd become from that portion of intellectual discourse on campus (outsourced to student affairs). On the VSIP the only thing I know for sure is that schools have budget cut targets and the processes within schools differed. Same with early retirement plans.
I THINK but do not know for sure that there have been some faculty involved in rolling cuts up to deans (chairs) who have not shared much about their role or said they had no idea when im not sure that is the case. Sanford school budget is like 64% people and I know decisions made in my school roughly. Happy to chat more
I really appreciate your perspective and just directed a colleague to your recent post on the BBB and its implications for Duke. I want to push back on this a little bit, though. I was the English department's representative at the Arts and Sciences Council for my entire time at Duke until this year, and was on the executive committee of the Arts and Sciences Council. We certainly played a role in shared governance, but our remit was very circumscribed, and shaped by the decisions and determination of the administration in practically every respect.
My colleagues who have been in the profession longer tell me that there's been a real erosion of faculty governance, and I believe them. There's been a lot of research on this, which I'm sure you know better than I do, connecting it to corporate and market models, increasing use of adjuncts, and so on. I don't see how you can have shared governance in any meaningful sense without more transparency than we've seen at Duke in the past semester.
I agree with you about the arts and sciences council not being taken as seriously. It is a longer convo that im happy to have. Key issues over time that eroded its power are chair selecting and not electing faculty. A and S council turning into de facto curriculum committee. 3 straight deans becoming president or provost elsewhere, 2 in midst of curriculum redos. Budget deficit that will be super hard to fix if Dean plans to be president elsewhere. It is mis named —it is a trinity college council while there are lots of arts and sciences all over Duke. I would rather AC trinity members serve in that role of dealing with Dean/admin. Such would exacerbate under rep of folks not on tenure track. Happy to chat and affirm your experience
Echoing Julianne -- really valuable but I think there has been an erosion at Duke. One example is the recent dust up over the Protests, Pickets and Demonstrations rules, which admin kind of slipped in as "it's already there" when it really wasn't. The rules were both super vague and super draconian (one of the students adjudicated under the rules last year was one of mine and the impact on her as a freshman was painful to observe). Thankfully, administrators seemed to have realized a mistake and rightly cleared the implicated people. I hope this isn't repeated. In a similar way, I and others are having a hard time interpreting the staff VSIPs. I'd love to hear the explanation for gutting part of Duke's international work (Latin American Studies, and area studies librarians for Jewish, Middle Eastern, and Slavic Studies -- now???). Maybe there's a rationalle but I also wonder if this is being seen as an opportunity to radically reshape the university without faculty input. At the very least, there's a lack of transparency on goals beyond budget.
You are correct robin that the protest policy / scheduling of protest was not only a change, but it showed how unlinked the faculty Hsd become from that portion of intellectual discourse on campus (outsourced to student affairs). On the VSIP the only thing I know for sure is that schools have budget cut targets and the processes within schools differed. Same with early retirement plans.
I THINK but do not know for sure that there have been some faculty involved in rolling cuts up to deans (chairs) who have not shared much about their role or said they had no idea when im not sure that is the case. Sanford school budget is like 64% people and I know decisions made in my school roughly. Happy to chat more
I really appreciate your perspective and just directed a colleague to your recent post on the BBB and its implications for Duke. I want to push back on this a little bit, though. I was the English department's representative at the Arts and Sciences Council for my entire time at Duke until this year, and was on the executive committee of the Arts and Sciences Council. We certainly played a role in shared governance, but our remit was very circumscribed, and shaped by the decisions and determination of the administration in practically every respect.
My colleagues who have been in the profession longer tell me that there's been a real erosion of faculty governance, and I believe them. There's been a lot of research on this, which I'm sure you know better than I do, connecting it to corporate and market models, increasing use of adjuncts, and so on. I don't see how you can have shared governance in any meaningful sense without more transparency than we've seen at Duke in the past semester.
I agree with you about the arts and sciences council not being taken as seriously. It is a longer convo that im happy to have. Key issues over time that eroded its power are chair selecting and not electing faculty. A and S council turning into de facto curriculum committee. 3 straight deans becoming president or provost elsewhere, 2 in midst of curriculum redos. Budget deficit that will be super hard to fix if Dean plans to be president elsewhere. It is mis named —it is a trinity college council while there are lots of arts and sciences all over Duke. I would rather AC trinity members serve in that role of dealing with Dean/admin. Such would exacerbate under rep of folks not on tenure track. Happy to chat and affirm your experience