PHOENIX β Gov. Katie Hobbs has quashed a legislative attempt to strip power from faculty at the stateβs three universities and consolidate it with the university presidents and the Arizona Board of Regents.
The Democratic governor vetoed legislation Friday that would have removed language in existing law saying the faculty senates at each university βshall participateββ in the governance of their school. The bill sent to Hobbs by the Republican-controlled Legislature would have replaced that wording to say the faculty senates would βconsultββ with their respective schools and the regents.
It also would have spelled out that the authority to approve academic degrees or create new departments rests with the regents, who can delegate that βonly to a university president.ββ It also said the university president could not then give that authority to others.
While the legislation would have applied to Arizona State and Northern Arizona universities as well, it was a direct outgrowth of the financial problems at the University of Arizona.
βFaculty play a key role in the shared governance of a universityβs academic and research affairs,ββ Hobbs wrote in her veto message Friday. βLimiting their management participation in the academic affairs of the institution has the potential to weaken the institution and limit the perspectives and expertise included in decision making.ββ
Rep. Travis Grantham, a Gilbert Republican who proposed the bill, said Friday there are some people in the university system who understood his purpose.
As for others, βThe people who are so married to the term βshared governanceβ and who are clinging to it so fiercely and are trying to run the universities from the mid-level management down, faculty down, those people I have found to be pretty politically extreme toward the left,ββ he told Capitol Media Services.
βThey donβt seem to want a university president to do a university presidentβs job,ββ Grantham said. βThey want to do that job for them.ββ
Grantham said he doesnβt intend that as an indictment of the entire faculty.
βThe faculty and staff that wants so-called βshared governanceβ the way they would like to define it β definitely left or lefter-leaning of the groups,ββ he said.
Grantham attributes at least part of the universityβs financial problems to the inability of UA President Robert C. Robbins to have total control. He contrasted that with Arizona State University, saying its president, Michael Crow, βruns the operation from the president down.ββ
βBut what was going on at the U of A was a more holistic approach,ββ Grantham told colleagues during hearings on the measure, a model described as βshared governance.ββ
He said there was no basis for that in the law. βTheyβre supposed to take inputs from their faculty and students,ββ Grantham said. βTheyβre supposed to allow students, faculty to mold policies and make decisions in the university system. But theyβre not supposed to be able to freely spend money, commit the university to things like that.ββ
Legislative approval of the measure came over the objections of faculty including Mark Stegeman, a member of the UA Faculty Senate.
βThe Faculty Senate has very little authority,ββ he testified at a committee hearing. And while Stegeman said that body has approved creation of new programs and degrees, all originated from proposals submitted by university administration.
The legislation would eliminate the ability to veto a program because βthose things would stop coming through the Senate and we would not generate a very fruitful discussion about those programs,ββ Stegeman told lawmakers, adding that would be a mistake.
βThe Faculty Senate β¦ asks questions that I think the members of this panel would ask if they themselves are there: Is there a return on investment for this program β or are the new administrative positions justified?ββ he said.
Grantham, however, argued to colleagues during hearings that his proposal didnβt undermine the role of faculty.
βIβm actually strengthening that,ββ he said, even though his bill would have eliminated the language saying the Faculty Senate has the power to βparticipate in the governance of their respective universities and shall actively participate in the development of university policy.ββ
βUniversities should be run from the top down,ββ Grantham said, testifying that his measure βclarifies the president is the president.ββ
He pointed out his proposed new language said the regents and the university presidents βshall consultββ with the faculty through their elected representatives βregarding academic and educational activities and matters related to faculty personnel.ββ
Rep. Oscar De Los Santos, a Laveen Democrat and the assistant House minority leader, said there was no need for the legislation β especially if the underlying issue was the budget deficit at the UA.
The measure βweakens the power of the faculty over academic and educational programs specifically,β De Los Santos said. βThat has nothing to do with the budget or management.β