Faculty meeting leaves more unanswered questions |
Thomas Olsen |
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About 50 faculty members met Friday in the University Center Conference Center to discuss the faculty's role in the issues facing SIUE's future. According to Marv Finkelstein, faculty senate president, the purpose of the meeting was to continue discussions begun at an October meeting, such as university growth, a campus theme and an increase in the sense of community among faculty, as well as to develop ways to balance teaching and research. The October faculty meeting was the first of its kind in almost 10 years, Finkelstein said. After Finkelstein introduced the topics of discussion Friday, faculty members broke into small groups to determine the problems facing the faculty and to recommend solutions. The issues of faculty community and teaching and research pressure drew the most interest among participants, with an even distribution of faculty members. The university growth topic had three participants. The group discussions lasted about an hour, after which the groups came together to present their findings to one another. Those discussing the teaching and research conflict found that a main concern of the ability to teach and research was the time each takes. The group also came to the consensus that a large portion of time was being spent on tasks that had nothing to do with either teaching or research. Members were interested in seeing a survey comparing time usage among faculty and students across campus. One focus of the group's discussion was the university's mission and whether research should be emphasized in the undergraduate mission of the university. Group members considered a possible solution, which included undergraduate research as a function of teaching. They agreed that research done jointly by faculty and students would have more impact; however, they said undergraduates often lack the necessary knowledge to do research and the curriculum needs to address this issue. Definitive solutions on how to ease tensions between the teaching and research functions were not given. More tangible solutions were found in the groups discussing faculty community. The faculty members who discussed the issue of faculty community divided into three separate groups for discussions. Each group then presented its findings to the larger group. One concern that came from this discussion was the lack of intellectual discourse among faculty on campus. All three subgroups concluded the university lacks adequate space for faculty members to gather and exchange ideas. One suggestion was to set picnic tables around campus to give faculty the opportunity to gather. Other solutions included a tea/sherry party every Friday afternoon with child care available so faculty with children could also attend. A faculty club with its own building or reserved space at an existing location such as the library or UC, which could accommodate more than 500 people, was discussed. Finkelstein said that money is available for a faculty club space and that Chancellor David Werner is committed to creating space for the faculty, either as part of one of the renovations being planned or in a new building. Establishing an interdepartmental colloquium to increase the discourse was another suggestion. Another idea was for receptions linked to events occurring on campus where faculty can discuss the issues involved. The meeting ended with a tentative scheduling of another faculty meeting for the fall semester to continue addressing these issues. | |