Subject: RE: Internal governance committee
To: "Dave Hubin"
Cc:"Barbaras Altmann", "Paul van Donkelaar" "Richard Lariviere", "Nathan Tublitz", "Gwen Steigelman"
From: "Peter B Gilkey"
Date: Tue, 7 Jul 2009 06:55:55 -0700

Dear Dave (Hubin)

This is to put in writing our brief telephone conversation yesterday (Monday 6 July) concerning a request from the FAC that I help create and help appoint (in conjunction with University President Richard Lariviere) the members of a Ad-hoc Senate-Presidential working group on internal governance. My phone call was prompted by an earlier email by Paul van Donkelaar in this regard. I am in an airport and working under difficult circumstances.

Let me first put things in perspective. There is a motion pending action in the October meeting of the UO Senate
http://www.uoregon.edu/~uosenate/dirsen090/US090-1.html
The motion currently reads: "US09/10-1 To create a Senate Committee on Faculty Governance: Moved: That the Senate form a committee to prepare a draft university governance document for discussion at the announced meeting of the Statuatory Faculty on Wednesday 18 November 2009 at 15:30. The Senate President is directed to contact the so-called "Dead Presidents" [former Senate Presidents, excluding the current (2009-2010) President] and to contact the members of the UO Senate and to invite the individuals contacted to serve on said committee." This motion has been sent to the Senate Rules Committee for their input - Frank Stahl has already "signed off on it". Obviously there is no guarantee that the motion will be passed in October nor that if passed it will be in this form. Still, it is pending action.

Let me make a few points in this regard:

• a) To have two different committees entitled "Ad-hoc Senate-Presidential working group on internal governance" and "Senate Committee on Faculty Governance" would be to invite endless confusion.
• b) I am unwilling to unilaterally create an "Ad-hoc Senate-Presidential working group on internal governance". I am a strict constructionist and view the powers of the Senate President as quite limited -- I have written previously in this regard. Thus I most respectfully decline to create any Ad-hoc Senate committees absent Senate action -- I prefer such committees to be created by Senate legislation. Let me add that I have already declined to create an Ad-hoc Senate committee on PEBB this summer on similar grounds.
• c) With regard to US09/10-1. If passed in its present form, what I will do is contact the relevant individuals, appoint all that agree to serve to the Senate Committee, convene the committee, ask the committee to elect a permanent chair, and retire gracefully from the process as I am excluded from membership. But that seems to preclude me working to appoint members of another Ad-hoc Senate-Presidential working group as well. What is wanted, presumably, by US09/10-1 is independence judging from the oral testimony at the Senate meeting in May on the subject.

Let me suggest the following. The charge to the FAC states: "The Faculty Advisory Council shall be responsible for providing the President and other Administration officials with faculty opinion and counsel on the wide range of university affairs. In its relations with the President, the Administration, and with the faculty, the Faculty Advisory Council shall act either on request or on its own initiative." I suggest therefore that the FAC "act either on request or on its own initiative" (I hereby request) to create an "Ad-hoc FAC-Presidential working group on internal governance" and that the chair of the FAC in consultation with the other members of the FAC work with with the President's office to appoint the members. Said committee to report to the FAC not the Senate. Obviously, I should request this committee to make periodic public reports to the UO Senate and note in this regard that Paul is already scheduled to give such a report to the October meeting of the UO Senate.

I shall post this email on the web presently -- I am trying to be as transparant as possible and post everything I do (or decline to do) to make it available to the UO Senate and other members of the UO Community.

Respectfully submitted

Peter B Gilkey President (2009/10) UO Senate