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UCOP - LAUC - Committees - Committee on Professional Governance
Report to the 2005 LAUC Spring Assembly
Report on Special Charge: Relations between LAUC Divisions and Campus Academic Senates
Originally Sent 2/23/05 --- Updated 3/2/05, 4/13/05
Executive Summary
Charge, Background, and Timeline: Midway through the year (in early February), LAUC President Huwe asked CPG to take on an additional special charge, namely to gather information about the extent of involvement by LAUC members on the Academic Senate or any of its committees at each of their respective campuses. We were asked to get this information back to President Huwe before February 24 so that it could be discussed at an Executive Board meeting. Thus, the information was gathered fairly quickly without much time to consult with our executive boards or the general membership very extensively. The results were compiled by the Chair, sent for review to members, and e-mailed to the President on February 23 rd. An executive summary was prepared by the Chair in early April. A revised version of the report will be sent to President Huwe on April 13 th. The committee may have time to further review and update this report during the summer.
CPG was asked to gather information on four specific questions:
Summary of Results:
1) Participation by LAUC members on various Academic Senate committees varies widely from campus to campus. At four campuses (Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco), only one LAUC representative attends an Academic Senate Committee (namely, the committee devoted to library issues), although at Berkeley attendance is officially by invitation only and s/he is not supposed to share the Committee’s agenda with other LAUC members. At the other extreme, LAUC members at Irvine (especially) and Davis are officially represented on a wide range of committees. In between, at Riverside there are members on the Library Committee and on the Committee on Courses; at Santa Barbara, there are 3 LAUC members on the Faculty Legislature, although the representative to the Library Committee represents Non-Senate Academic employees, not LAUC per se; and at Santa Cruz, two LAUC officers sit on the Library Committee and another is invited to the Graduate Council. The status of these members (official, ex-officio, or invited) is detailed (when it is known) in the “Information by Campus” section, starting on page 3.
2) Instances of LAUC members being invited to appear as guests at various Academic Senate committees, particularly at committees other than the one devoted to library issues, can generally be described as rare, with very few specific cases that could be recalled at any campus. In one such instance, the LAUC member accompanied the University Librarian to a meeting; this may be the most likely pattern of LAUC involvement by invitation where LAUC members are not already a full or ex-officio member of a committee. As our Irvine representative comments, LAUC-I’s extensive membership on committees means that there are few occasions when any special invitation is necessary on that campus.
3) Involvement by library administrators also varies, although not as widely. At eight campuses, the University Librarian (UL) is a member of the committee responsible for the library (the exact title varies by campus). The exception is Berkeley, where neither the UL nor other administrators are members of Academic Senate committees, but the UL is a member of the Academic Senate itself by virtue of his holding a Senate faculty appointment. At four campuses, the UL is a member of other committees: at Riverside and San Diego, s/he is a member of a committee devoted to academic computing and technology. (At Irvine, computing and technology are combined with the Library in one committee.) At San Francisco and Santa Barbara, the UL is a member of a committee devoted to scholarly communication issues. At Santa Barbara, the UL is also a member of the Council on Research and Instructional Resources (an umbrella group of which the Committee on the Library is a part) and on an ad-hoc committee studying the implications of the USA Patriot Act. In only a few instances is an Assistant or Associate University Librarian (AUL) a member of an Academic Senate committee: at San Diego, the AUL for Technology and Technical Services is a consultant to the Committee on Academic Information Technology and the AUL for Sciences and Scholarly Communication is an ex-officio member of three committees. At Los Angeles and San Francisco , AULs occasionally accompany the UL to meetings of the Library Committee. At Santa Barbara , the AUL for Technical Services is a member of the Academic Senate Committee on Scholarly Communication.
4) Although not all divisional executive committees have placed this question on their agendas so far, there appears to be very little interest in the suggestion that a faculty member of the Academic Senate Committee on the Library (or its equivalent) be invited to serve ex-officio on divisional LAUC executive boards. This is not because faculty members are unwelcome, but because (as articulated by Berkeley’s and San Diego’s Executive Committees) 1) there are sufficient channels for communication already in place, and 2) faculty members would find the bulk of the agendas at LAUC meetings to be irrelevant to their interests and/or boring.
Information by Campus
Question #1:
Do LAUC Members serve on any Academic Senate committees? Please list all committees, and their charges, and please indicate whether LAUC members are “members” of the committee(s), ex-officio members, or “consultants.” Please describe the role LAUC members play in brief terms.
Note: Responses below are for NON-ADMINISTRATIVE members of LAUC. Membership on committees by University Librarians and Associate/Assistant University Librarians, although members of LAUC, is summarized in Question #3.
Berkeley
It has long been assumed that the Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect of the LAUC-B Executive Committee is ex-officio on the Senate Committee on the Library, but the Academic Senate By-Laws make no such provision and there is no mention of this in the LAUC-B By-Laws, either. This LAUC-B officer does attend meetings of this committee, but it is officially by invitation only and s/he is not allowed to share the Committee’s agenda with other LAUC members. To the best of the CPG member’s knowledge and investigations, there is no official standing for any librarian on any Academic Senate Committee, although (she points out) students are members on many of its committees.
Davis
Librarians serve on Academic Senate committees as representatives of the Academic Federation, not specifically as LAUC representations. The Academic Federation, formed in 1968, is an organization unique to the Davis campus, comprising all non-Senate academic professionals. AF representative may serve on many, but not all, Senate Committees. Most Senate Standing Committees include at least one AF representative, but that person may at any one time be from one of the other represented groups, e.g. Lecturers, cooperative extension specialists, teacher education supervisors, etc. In addition to the Library Committee, on which the University Librarian sits, the following Senate Committees currently (2004/05) have librarian members:
The other committees which have AF representation, which might include librarians, are:
Irvine
According to a LAUC-I document, “LAUC-I Representation on UCI Academic Senate Committees” (last revised October 2003), “LAUC-I is unique among the UC campuses in its representation on most UCI Academic Senate Councils, Committees, and Special Committees.” These memberships, and the term of office, are:
(The LAUC representative may also serve on one or more of its sub-committees or boards)
The document also spells out the responsibilities and expectations for LAUC-I representatives on these committees, and the specific desired qualifications and additional responsibilities expected.
Los Angeles
Riverside
There are LAUC-R members on two University Senate committees:
San Diego
San Francisco
Santa Barbara
Santa Cruz
Question #2:
Are LAUC members called upon to comment as guests at Senate committee meetings?
Note: Responses assume that this is in addition to participation described under Question #1.
Berkeley
Rarely.
Davis
It’s possible, but there are no specific instances that can be cited.
Irvine
See Question #1. UC-I has broad membership on Senate committees, so there is little need for “guest appearances.”
Los Angeles
Probably only as in #1, above.
Riverside
Within the past 18 months, an instructional librarian accompanied the UL to a meeting of the Committee on Academic Computing and Information Technology to discuss the issue of plagiarism.
San Diego
It’s possible, but there are no specific instances to be cited. Existing representation is generally felt to be adequate.
San Francisco
For at least the past ten years, LAUC members have attended Academic Senate Committee on the Library meetings to report on and discuss library-related issues.
Santa Barbara
No.
Santa Cruz
No instances of this have been discovered.
Question #3:
What is the role of the Library Administration in formal relations with the Senate Division? Please list how the Library Administration is represented, both on the Committee on Library (or its equivalent) or other committees.
Berkeley
The chair of the Senate Computing & Communications Committee is officially a liaison to the Library. Administrators of The Library do not have memberships, including ex-officio, on any Academic Senate committees, although the University Librarian and at least one other librarian are members of the Academic Senate by virtue of having Senate faculty appointments. The UL may attend meetings of the Senate Committee on the Library as an invited guest.
Davis
Irvine
Los Angeles
Riverside
San Diego
San Francisco
Santa Barbara
Santa Cruz
Question #4:
At some campus divisions within the University, faculty members have expressed an interest in two-way dialogue with LAUC, e.g. LAUC could invite a member of the Committee on Library to be ex officio to the LAUC Executive Committee. CPG members should consult with their divisional chairs on this topic, and find out what their Executive Committees think of the idea.
Berkeley
The Executive Committee of LAUC-B has no current plans to invite a faculty member to its meetings. First of all, they believe that the faculty is too busy to attend. In addition, discussion at meetings tends to focus strictly on library matters.
Davis
LAUC-D has not considered this.
Irvine
LAUC-I
has not considered this.
Los Angeles
LAUC-LA has not considered this.
Riverside
LAUC-R has not formally considered this. The President agrees with the statement on this issue in the Executive Summary.
San Diego
LAUC Executive Committee at UCSD does not believe this would be a necessary or productive step at this time. LAUC-SD has appropriate access to the faculty, and there is no need to institutionalize it at the Executive Committee level. (Meeting with CPG member on Feb. 17, 2005 )
San Francisco
LAUC-SF has not considered this.
Santa Barbara
This has not been pursued by LAUC-SB, as the University Librarian prefers to coordinate the Library’s dealings with the Library Committee. If LAUC-SB pursued this, it would be under the leadership of the UL.
Santa Cruz
This has not been discussed so far by LAUC-SC.
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