From steven_bachenheimer@med.unc.edu Tue Apr 11 09:39:25 2006
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2006 09:38:59 -0400
From: Steven Bachenheimer <steven_bachenheimer@med.unc.edu>
To: Andrew J Perrin <andrew_perrin@unc.edu>
Subject: Re: Request for Information from Candidates for Faculty Office

Andrew,
My responses to your questions are entered below. Thanks for the 
opportunity to comment on these issues.
Steven Bachenheimer

Andrew J Perrin wrote:
> To Whom it May Concern -
>
> I am writing to you as a candidate for Faculty Chair, Faculty Council,
> or another important elected office. I realize this is a busy time,
> but I and some other concerned faculty would like to learn more about
> the candidates' ideas on several important issues before we vote. I
> would very much appreciate it if you could provide responses to the
> questions below. Feel free to add more ideas or information as you
> like. I will forward your responses on to other interested faculty,
> and I will also post them to an informal website for the purpose at
> http://perrin.socsci.unc.edu/fg .
>
> Thank you in advance for your time. Since balloting begins this
> Wednesday (April 12), I would prefer to receive your response by
> then. If, however, you can't make that time, I'll be happy to post and
> forward your ideas whenever you can get them to me.
>
> 1.) To what extent to you believe faculty interests differ from those
> of administrators?
> Faculty have two overriding institutional and professional interests: 
> teaching/mentoring responsibilities and research/creative endeavors. 
> Faculty accomplish this by creating and maintaining the educational 
> enterprise. Administrators have interests and responsibilities that 
> center on creating institutional missions and the frameworks for 
> caring out those missions, for preparing budgets and distributing 
> resources, and finally for  insuring compliance with state and federal 
> laws and regulations covering the educational and research enterprises 
> of the institution.
>
>
>
> 2.) How should we maintain academic integrity in the face of
> increasing financial pressures?
>
> Faculty are entrusted with the educational and research missions of 
> the University. We need to clearly articulate to the Administration 
> the need for appropriate resources (salary, compensation and support 
> budgets) to maintain both the quality of  education, to create new 
> knowledge, and to provide services that benefit the citizens of North 
> Carolina.
>
>
> 3.) What are your views on increasing inequalities within the faculty
> based on, for example, tenure-track vs. fixed term appointments and
> differing salary levels?
>
> Individuals on fixed-term appointments are invaluable to the teaching 
> and research missions of the University. However, we must carefully 
> monitor the uses of this type of appointment to insure that 
> individuals are treated fairly with regard to compensation and working 
> conditions. I believe there are defensible rationals for differences 
> in salary level. We must also be vigilant to the possibility that over 
> time these appointments are used in wholesale efforts to replace 
> tenure-track positions. The teaching and research efforts of the 
> University depend on our ability to offer nationally competitive 
> tenure-track appointments in order to attract the best junior faculty 
> into our ranks. 
>
>
> 4.) How would you respond on behalf of the faculty if you found out
> that administrators had circumvented serious faculty consultation to
> pursue major outside funding for a controversial new curriculum?
>
> I would work to mainatain close and continuous consultation with both 
> the Provost and the Chancellor to reinforce the view that faculty have 
> primacy in designing and staffing educational programs in the University.
>
> 5.) Would you prefer to see a faculty governance system that is
> focused on prominent University issues (e.g., academic freedom and
> educational policy) or one that is more focused on faculty's specific
> needs (e.g., benefits and salary)? Or, alternatively, how would you
> seek to balance the two?
>
> Both issues of faculty governance and specific faculty needs have 
> historically been areas of interest in Faculty Council. The committees 
> currently constituted under the Faculty Code as well as the Faculty 
> Chair in consultation with the Faculty Executive Committee have been 
> sensitive to both of these areas. In addition there is a strong 
> tradition here of individuals and groups of faculty bringing issues to 
> the attention of Faculty Council for deliberation and consultation 
> with the Administration. I expect that to continue.
>
>
>
> Once again, thank you for your time.
>
> Very best wishes,
> Andrew Perrin
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Andrew J Perrin - andrew_perrin@unc.edu - http://perrin.socsci.unc.edu
> Assistant Professor of Sociology; Book Review Editor, _Social Forces_
> University of North Carolina - CB#3210, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3210 USA
> New Book: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/178592.ctl
>