ARCHIVE - August, 2001

Shared Governance and Political Communication
Francis A. Beer, Department of Political Science

The new BFA electronic journal is an important step in the development of shared governance and political communication at the University of Colorado.

We are engaged in a project to create a university of the first class, with a major national and international reputation, though it is not always clear how we shall get from here to there. Whatever the route, faculty are and must be at the very heart of the enterprise, and the BFA is an important faculty voice.

The BFA in recent years has worked to maintain academic quality and quality of life in a difficult economic environment. Together with the administration, it has helped to develop a norm of regular average faculty raises of at least inflation plus 1%. It has emphasized the importance of benefits - increased university contributions to faculty retirement, improvement in the quality and cost of medical insurance, surviving spouse health insurance, faculty housing assistance, day care, and new endowments for faculty and staff dependent tuition. It has supported efforts to ensure non-discrimination, equity, civility, and respect on the campus. It has participated in attempts to preserve our libraries and develop academic technology. It has been engaged with student initiatives for calendar restructuring (fall break), course forgiveness, an honor code, and fair labor practices. It administers annual awards for excellence in research, teaching, and service as well as overseeing the administrator appraisal process. It undertakes occasional electronic surveys of faculty opinion on specific subjects.

At the same time, much remains to be done. At the very top of the list, the merit process needs serious attention. The allocation of salary according to merit, defined in the Regents Compensation Principles in terms of "systematic, comparative evaluations of teaching, research and creative work, and service" needs to be reinforced. Within this context, there needs to be increased attention to a culture of fairness. Benefits of all types need to be further strengthened. Respect for diversity along multiple dimensions needs to be further developed. Our valued staff need to be properly appreciated and recognized. Our students, including our student athletes, need to be properly nurtured and educated. Academic integrity and freedom continually need to be protected. All of the elements of our ecology - physical, architectural, cultural - need to be enhanced. And, at the center of all of this, shared governance itself needs to grow dramatically in participation and resources.

The BFA is directly supported by the work of about 150 faculty. The new journal will be both a magnet and an outlet for their views. At the same time, I hope that it will also attract other faculty who have yet to be connected to governing the university. It will be a forum for faculty discussion of the most important issues facing our community.

Good luck, best wishes, and high hopes for the journal.

IN THIS ISSUE:

The opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors, and do not represent those of the Boulder Faculty Assembly, CU faculty at large, or the University of Colorado.

Responses to these articles are welcome. We are developing our capacity to collect responses on-line. In the meantime, please send your comments via e-mail to Thomas.Mayer@Colorado.edu.

Click here for the names and contact information of the membership of the BFA Communications Committee.