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The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees voted Friday morning to dissolve the university Senate, The Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
The university Senate, which is more than a century old, is composed of faculty members who previously had the power to approve or reject new academic programs and courses. But as a result of Friday’s vote, the body will take on an advisory role, shifting the policy-setting power to President Eli Capilouto and other administrators.
Capilouto has previously stated that the changes are necessary to make the university more “nimble,” and “to streamline the decision-making process at the university,” according to The Lexington Herald Leader.
“Not everyone is supportive of this process or the resulting recommendations and revisions before you this morning,” Capilouto said Friday morning. “I will always respect those who disagree, and respect that it comes from an honest, but still profound, difference of opinion.”
Hollie Swanson, a faculty member on the Board of Trustees, was the only dissenting vote, noting the “absence of any compelling evidence,” for the change.
The board also approved a process that will determine the new faculty Senate’s rules and how it should be created. A new faculty Senate will be selected by Oct. 31, according to guidelines approved Friday. Until then, a 22-member “provisional faculty senate executive committee” will be in place, and UK Provost Robert DiPaola will serve as chair, according to the Lexington newspaper.
While the plan to dissolve the university Senate has support from student and staff representatives—who say it will diversify perspectives in decision-making—faculty have voiced opposition for months. Philipp Rosemann, president of UK’s American Association of University Professors (AAUP) chapter, previously told Inside Higher Ed that faculty should have ultimate authority on curriculum “because they are the experts,” and that “there is an increasing number of institutions where the role of faculty is limited to being advisory.”
Last month, the University Senate voted 58 to 24 (11 members abstained) to express “no confidence” in Capilouto, who has led UK since 2011.
After Friday’s vote, DeShana Collett, who chaired the university Senate last year, told The Lexington Herald-Leader that the decision left her “profoundly disappointed and saddened.”
“They orchestrated this significant change without involving the faculty who have extensive knowledge of and passion for UK,” Collett said. “I fear that the consequences will be deeply felt over the next several years until there is a change in leadership.”
