The University Senate of Michigan
Proposal 11-08
(Voting Units: Academic)
Faculty Referendum
on Terms of Department Chairs / School
Deans
Background
In the early 1990’s,
departments in the university had a mixture of Heads and Chairs. In 1992
several governance proposals were put up for referendum by the Senate. Proposal 4-92 said the title of department
supervisor will be Chair and gave the following definitions of Heads and
Chairs:
Head: A head is understood to be an agent of the
administration with a secondary responsibility as liaison from the department
to the administration. The head may
establish and disband any committees without the approval or counsel of the
department faculty. The head alone is
responsible for the smooth operation of the department. The dean selects the head with input from the
department. The head serves for an
indefinite period of time at the pleasure of the administration.
Chair: A chair is understood to be an agent of the
department faculty with a secondary responsibility as liaison from the
administration to the faculty. Under a
Chair, the departmental governance is defined by a departmental charter created
with input from all departmental faculty.
This charter may not be altered without the faculty's consent. The faculty and the Chair share
responsibility for the smooth operation of the department. Selection procedures for the Chair are
determined by the faculty with input from the Dean. The Chair serves for a definite period of
time, often with the possibility for reappointment.
Proposal 5-92 dealt with
establishment of department charters in order to delineate the responsibilities
of the Chair from those of the unit faculty.
The charter requirement was also considered necessary for Schools. Proposal 4-92 received 148 yes votes (83.6%) and 29 no votes (16.4%). Proposal 5-92 received 172 yes votes (80.8%) and 41 no votes (19.2%). However, the Senate had established that the
passage of the proposals required 50% of the voting constituency for which the
two proposals fell short by 2 and 5 votes, respectively. The Senate then created Proposal 16-92 on
charters and the administration subsequently approved the charter proposal as
well as the title of all supervisors as Chairs.
Since the passage of Proposal
16-92 on Charters in 1992, several departments have voted in favor of putting
constraints on the number of terms their representative (department Chair) can
serve continuously. These charter amendments have not been accepted or acted
upon by the Deans of colleges.
There are many reasons for
limiting the number of terms of a department Chair or school Dean. Some of
these reasons are:
• built-in structure for change in unit leadership
after a reasonable time;
• orderly change without passing judgment on a
colleague;
• promoting stronger committee structures in the unit
that reduce administrative costs;
• building a pool of diverse people with
administrative experience that can fill interim or permanent positions at
various levels of the university thus providing greater stability and diversity
to the university;
• ensure faculty do not lose touch with teaching or
research in their field due to a long duration in administrative position.
A unit may not want any
constraint on the number of terms their department Chair / school
Dean can serve, while other units may choose a variety of constraints, such as:
a mandatory search after 2 terms to which the current Chair / Dean
could apply; Chair / Dean could serve 2 terms continuously but could
apply again after a hiatus of one term. Furthermore a unit may change its view
over time on constraints (or no constraint). All this can be accommodated by
building into the Charter a required item defining the constraint on the number
of terms a department Chair / school Dean can serve. It is time for
the Senate to provide the opportunity to the faculty to weigh in on the
constraints on the number of terms their representative to the administration
can serve.
Motion
Faculty in units that have a department Chair or school
Dean will vote on the ballot attached. If the ballot is approved, the Senate
will forward the results of the referendum (vote tally) to the University
President and Board of Control with its recommendation that it be adopted.
Ballot
The unit charter must include a statement
describing the constraint on the number of terms the department Chair (school
Dean) may serve continuously. The unit may choose to have no constraint. The
statement must be approved by a secret ballot.
I approve 
I
disapprove
Some examples of
constraints:
(a) The school Dean
(department Chair) can serve at most two terms of three years continuously.
After a hiatus of one term the individual is free to return to the position of
school Dean (department Chair).
(b) After two terms of a department Chair (school Dean)
there will be a mandatory search to which the Chair (Dean) can apply. Note the
decision for external search will be made by college Dean or Provost.
Withdrawn: 3 April 2008