October 4, 1999
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Our Opinion

Plan to divide University Senate limits student's voice

Editorial Board:
"Our Opinion" reflects the majority opinion of the editorial board. The editorial board is made up of Joe Harris, editor-in-chief, and Ken Dunkin, managing editor.

The Issue:
The Conference Committee on Governance has proposed that the current University Senate be split into two governing bodies - The Faculty Senate and The University Council. The Faculty Senate would deal with issues pertaining directly to the faculty. The University Coucil would deal with other campus-wide issues such as the Budget and Planning Committee and the Committee on Physical Facilities. Students would still have representation in the latter of the two bodies.

We Suggest:
This division of the University Senate just limits the students' ability to vote on important matters. This is a great injustice to the students of this campus. The Student Government Association, under the leadership of Darwin Butler, is taking a strong stance against this proposal, as is The Current. We suggest you do too.

So What Do You Think?
Write a letter to the editor about this issue or anything else that's on your mind!

It is time to look at what the Conference Committee on Governance is really trying to accomplish in their proposal to streamline the University Senate. Disguised as a way to strengthen faculty governance, it is actually a blatant attempt to try to strip more decision-making power from students.

The draft proposes that the current University Senate be replaced by two bodies: a Faculty Senate and a University Council. The Faculty Senate would deal with issues of faculty interest. This includes committees of appointment, tenure, and promotion, among other things. The University Council would deal with campus-wide concerns, such as budget and planning.

Mark Burkholder, chairperson of the committee, said in the Sept. 20 issue of The Current that the composition of the various committees would not be changed, especially those which involve students. However, he later said this cannot be guaranteed.

This plan is a travesty of justice to every student at UM-St. Louis. The faculty senate members appear to be taking a divide-and-conquer approach to the already embarrassingly low 21 percent student representation in the senate.

Under this new system, anything the faculty wants to enact would simply go to the Faculty Senate. There appears to be no safeguards against interpretation of what is a faculty issue and what constitutes a campus wide issue.

It is bad enough the faculty violated the students' trust and wishes by approving faculty use of student parking spaces while not reciprocating the offer to students. Now they want to insult our intelligence in the name of streamlining the senate, by virtually taking away what little voice the students have left.

It is time to send a message to faculty members who may have forgotten who actually pays their bills. Student fees make up about 47 percent of this University's operating budget which is the highest in the whole University of Missouri System. Simply put, no students, no University.

As students, now is the time to make our stand. It is time to stomp out the apathy that has affected student life on this campus for so many years. This is the issue that can do it, and now is the time.

Darwin Butler, Student Government Association president, has taken a strong stance against this proposal. The Current stands behind Butler and SGA's stance against the faculty bullies. We urge all students to do the same and rally behind our student leaders in their fight for representation.