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 An
article in the May/June 2001 issue of Academe, a publication
of the American Association of University Professors, contrasts
two models of faculty governance in the United States.
According to David A. Hollinger, the two models are weak dean/strong
faculty and strong dean/weak faculty. He points to two institutions
that, based on his own experience, typify the two systems. The faculty
senate of the University of California, Berkeley, he says, “is
one of the most powerful in American higher education,” while
the University of Michigan senate plays “a more modest role
in the governance of its campus [and] is more representative of
the national norm.”
While Hollinger’s Berkeley colleagues tended to view senate
service as a serious responsibility of good citizenship, his Michigan
colleagues were more inclined to leave the task to administrators
because they “are paid to do this.” In such weak faculty
governance structures, the system appears to be in place only for
dealing with crises. In the absence of a crisis, faculty senators
have very little to do.
A strong faculty governance structure tends to be more involved
in the day-to-day governance of universities. For example, one Berkeley
senate committee has authority to recommend salaries at the time
of appointment, promotion, retention, or routine review. In fact,
Hollinger notes, one indicator of a weak faculty governance structure
is the differentiation of salaries by field. In general, the more
differentiation, the weaker the faculty governance system. A strong
faculty governance structure is typified by pay equity across fields.
In contrast, a weak structure is characterized by higher salaries
for those professors possessing skills that are marketable outside
the university.
Hollinger associates the ability of professors to “act together”
with a sense of institutional community. A lack of solidarity indicates
a greater identification with external groups—“professional,
ethnoracial, economic, and political.” He concludes that weak
senates that aspire to be more than simply “holding operations”
must be given “substantial authority over important decisions.”
—Vince Carter
The full text of Hollinger’s article is available on-line
at
www.aaup.org/publications/Academe/01mj/mj01holl.htm.
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