Faculty Power and Academic Decision-Making

Abstract

The numerous demonstrations and disruptions occurring on this nation's campuses this past year have attracted the attention of many persons who, a decade ago, would not have known the difference between an ombudsman and loco parentis/' This nation-wide problem has grown from a single disturbance in 1964 to today's daily newspapers reporting campus disturbances as regularly as they do the closing stock averages. Clearly, public concern over our nation's colleges and universities has never been higher. Indeed, the growing number of campus disturbances has caused many persons to focus their attention on this enterprise called higher education, and to ask some searching questions about how colleges and universities are actually governed. In sorting out the possible responses to these questions, one finds less than total agreement on how decisions are made within academe, and more importantly, who (what persons or groups) ought rightfully to have a share in making them. In short, as we are beginning to realize, the real issue underlying many of our current campus problems is governance. And, when one raises the issue of governance, one is facing the fundamental political question; Who decides what, where, when, and how? To find answers to this question, one might begin, as have others with an analysis of the changing roles of students, faculty, administrators, and other influential who desire to direct today's colleges and universities by shaping academic policy. However, in approaching the problem in this manner, one faces the danger of being overly influenced by tradition, political pressures, economic sanctions, and many other considerations of a socio/politico nature. For example, we have until recently assumed that only those persons who have earned a college degree should be involved in the governance of institutions of higher education and the result is that our view of what students and/or faculty members are capable of achieving is highly distorted. To avoid this danger, I believe it advisable to begin by analyzing how