From richard_whisnant@unc.edu Wed Apr 12 07:34:18 2006 Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2006 07:22:07 -0400 From: Richard Whisnant To: Andrew J Perrin Subject: Re: Request for Information from Candidates for Faculty Office Andrew, thanks for the effort to gather this information. I wish I had more time to reflect and respond, but don't, so here goes. > > > 1.) To what extent to you believe faculty interests differ from those > of administrators? I believe most people in higher education, faculty and administrators, are motivated by shared interests in advancing the mission of the university, and this common ground gives a good basis for discussing and debating different strategies to similar ends. But people being people and bureaucratic and corporately structured institutions being what they are, differences do arise, and some of them are predictable and fairly systematic. The personal human capital desires of administrators do vary somewhat from faculty, as a general matter; in this day and age, the administrators move more often and thus tend to have a harder time focusing on the long-term needs of the particular institution. At the same time, the disciplinary boundaries of faculty members (and their own concerns for portable human capital) and departments sometimes create problems that require a wider institutional view. > > > > > 2.) How should we maintain academic integrity in the face of > increasing financial pressures? This is a bit too cryptic and condensed for me to answer briefly. Different schools within the university are situated differently with respect to financial pressure and its impact on research and teaching commitments, which seem to me the critical components in a discussion of academic integrity. Faculty should be able to make independent, informed judgments about their research and, to the greatest extent possible, have teaching loads that support rather than undermine their research. Financial pressures that undercut this goal are major institutional problems that need attention and relief. > > > > > 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? My views on inequality are shaped largely by a graduate seminar I had with Prof. Rawls. Inequalities in access to basic resources should be allowed to persist only to the extent they work to the advantage of the least well-off. If inequalities in access to basic resources, such as income, are increasing over time, as they are in the US over the last 25 years, then there is a problem that needs fixing. I have not gathered data on how this is working within the university, so this is something I would want more information about if I were serving on faculty council. > > > > > 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 followed this controversy from a distance as part of the School of Government; not teaching undergraduates, we were not directly involved, so I don't know the details of it. I would want to know how far the administration had gone towards a commitment without having had serious faculty consultation. My understanding is that when faculty were consulted about this, or perhaps when the faculty injected itself into the discussion, whatever commitment there was vanished. Certainly the faculty should be the central decisionmakers in decisions about new curricula. However, in light of the concerns I think are raised by question 2 above, I do not think administrators should be barred from seeking new funding opportunities without having first to seek permission from the faculty. They should just be aware that they can't bind the institution to new, controversial approaches without serious consultation. > > > > 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? They are both important. > > > > > > Once again, thank you for your time. And you for yours... Richard Whisnant Assoc. Prof. of Public Law and Government School of Government > > 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 >