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Vacant
seats may cause a reduction in Faculty Senate Faculty Senate members barely met quorum Thursday. And at the March 21 meeting, they couldn’t meet it at all.
It wasn’t until a few minutes into Thursday’s meeting when the Senate met its required 22 member quorum after a few professors walked in. And unless nine more professors run for the 14 open seats in this year’s Faculty Senate election, some professors said it is unclear whether it will meet future quorums — assuming the size of the Faculty Senate is not reduced. “If indeed we do not have the numbers, (reduction) is a strong possibility,” chairwoman Carolyn Spence Cagle said. Cagle said Thursday that only five faculty members have asked to be nominated or run for re-election to the 14 vacant seats. Several professors said the Faculty Senate may be forced to eliminate seats, a possibility no one said they liked. “We are really concerned about the lack of enthusiasm among faculty,” Cagle said to Faculty Senators. “We certainly realize that the faculty are devoting a lot of time and energy to other urgent things. ... But if we do not have adequate representation, it certainly hurts the Senate.” Each Senator represents 11 full-time faculty members and is elected to a three-year term in the 39-seat organization. If seats were eliminated, the size of committees would likely be reduced as well, Cagle said. She said the number of items on each committee’s agenda would decrease while the workload for each Senator would increase. Cagle said she is not sure what the Faculty Senate will do if it cannot fill its vacant seats. “I am hoping it does not come to that,” she said. Professors attributed a lack of participation to several factors. Religion professor Andy Fort said TCU does not reward professors for Faculty Senate involvement. He said professors seeking tenure do not have enough time to commit to the Faculty Senate. “It is important, we should have more (involvement),” Fort said. “But it is one thing to plead in abstract, it is another thing to set up (incentives) so that it is in people’s interest to participate.” Charles Becker, an associate professor of economics, said the Senate has suffered from a lack of faculty involvement for many years. He suggested creating seats for retired professors, who are currently underrepresented, as a possible solution. This also would be a way to gain a “historical perspective,” he said. Cagle said creating seats for retired professors would require a change to the Senate’s constitution and approval from the Board of Trustees, but she did not rule it out. Becker said it would take at least a year to amend the Senate’s constitution. Brandon
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