Dr. Bruce Hauptli provided the following report:
I am pleased to be able to report that FIU and the UFF-FIU have tentatively reached an agreement on a Collective Bargaining agreement.
I am concerned that I must report that at its December 13 meeting, The FIU Faculty Senate passed the following motion:
The Faculty Senate has reviewed and discussed the report of the Ad Hoc Investigatory Committee on Problems in University Administration and Leadership. In light of that report, and of the concerns expressed by Senators during the Executive Session of November 29, the Faculty Senate expresses its grave concerns with President Maidique’s leadership and administration of the University. There is, among the faculty, a sense of urgency that the mismanagement revealed in the report cannot and should not be ignored.
Therefore, the Senate instructs the Steering Committee to appoint a three-Senator ad hoc “Collaboration Committee” which is to work with the President and Acting Provost in a joint endeavor which seeks to remedy the serious faculty concerns enunciated in the Investigatory Committee’s report and ensuing Senate discussion. Members of this committee should not include more than one member of the ad hoc Investigatory Committee. The committee shall meet regularly with the President and Acting Provost during that period. It should report on its progress to the Senate at least twice during the Spring 2006 term prior to March 1, once in January and once in February, and it must make a recommendation to the March 7 Steering Committee meeting as to whether it believes sufficient progress has been made in addressing the Senate’s concerns.
The motion was passed after publication of the above
referenced report of the Ad Hoc
Investigatory Committee [available from: http://www.fiu.edu/~fsenate
under the “Additional Reports and Information” link].
An
explanation of the events that lead up to it is appropriate. On November 29th, an unusual
Executive Session of the Senate was devoted to discussion of the report. At the Senate’s direction, the Steering
Committee formulated a motion for the December 13 Senate meeting. With the publication of the Agenda containing
this motion [available from the Senate’s web-site under the Meetings link], I was informed that senior administrators and members of
the Board of Trustees construed the motion as tantamount to a vote of “no
confidence” in President Maidique. Since
I knew this was not the intention of the Steering Committee, I took steps to
place a more moderate motion before the Senate, and ultimately the above motion
was passed.
On
December 13 a serious discussion of this matter took place in the Senate and
the final motion passed by the Senate clearly expresses a sober and solemn
level of concern while charting a course of action for the immediate future
which, hopefully, can significantly ameliorate concerns of the faculty.
On
December 16 the Senate’s Steering Committee met and appointed Senators Leonard
Bliss [Professor of Education], Howard Rock [Professor of History], and Alan
Rosenbaum [Professor of Public Administration] as the Senate’s “Collaboration
Committee” charged with working with the President and Acting Provost to seek
to remedy the concerns. They are hard at
work and reports will be issued as specified and will be included in the
Minutes of the appropriate Senate meetings (as well as being placed on the
Senate web site).
Major topics for discussion and attention for the FIU Senate during the coming semester will include:
The University’s proposal for a
Several reorganization
proposals regarding The College of Arts and Sciences as well as the
Academic Learning Compacts [a joint administration-senate committee is reviewing all compacts for approval].
A major compliance initiative.
The so-called Academic Freedom initiatives at the state and national level.