MITCHELL COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
FACULTY SENATE CAUCUS REPORT
OCTOBER 20, 1999
Some MCOB faculty concerns
expressed over the last two months are summarized as follows:
Dress
code and office hour revisions to the MCOB Policy Manual were announced in
September. Those revisions did not
appear to have benefitted from meaningful faculty input. The College was placed on continuing review
by AACSB partly because a lack of faculty involvement in governance. Following departmental meetings and a
meeting of the tenured MCOB faculty, Dean Moore referred the issues of dress
code and office hours to a faculty ad hoc committee.
The MCOB Ad Hoc Committee recommended:
Office Hours: All full-time faculty members are
required to schedule a minimum of 8 office hours per week. The scheduled office hours as well as the
notice that “appointments may be arranged at other times” are to be posted at
the beginning of each academic term.
Dress Code: It is recommended that the Mitchell
College of Business faculty wear “business casual” attire appropriate to their
activities while in the MCOB Building.
The policy announced on 10-14-99 by Dean Carl C. Moore
was:
Office Hours: All full time faculty are required to
schedule a minimum of nine office hours per week during each academic
term. Office hours are to be scheduled
at least three days per week. The
scheduled office hours as well as the notice that “appointments may be arranged
at other times” are to be posted at the beginning of each term.
Dress Code: The appropriate attire for the Mitchell
College of Business faculty and staff during regular University hours is
considered to be “business casual” or business” (sic) attire.
It
is interesting to note that neither “faculty appearance” nor “faculty
availability” were mentioned by students as areas of concern in the MCOB
Outcome Assessment Committee reports “1998-1999 Senior Survey” and “1998-1999
MBA Survey” presented at the October 8th, 1999 MCOB Faculty
Retreat. It appears that a substantial
amount of internal MCOB discord has been caused for no apparent reason.
Further,
MCOB Executive Committee meetings are held without notice to the faculty,
without a published agenda, and minutes are never distributed to the faculty.
At
least six individuals have expressed concern regarding Dean Carl Moore’s
response to faculty objections to the original dress code and office hour
announcements. It was “If they don’t like
it they can leave. I get applications
from prospective faculty every day.”
Past experience in recruiting indicates that it is not easy to find good
faculty. We find good candidates but
the pool of applicants is very thin. In
addition several good faculty members are looking at employment opportunities
as a result of Dean Moore’s comments.
They say the job market looks good for those seeking employment in
several areas of business. One MCOB
faculty member summarized Dean Moore’s attitude as “He (Dean Moore) doesn’t
care who leaves and doesn’t care who stays.”
Several
untenured faculty have stated that they are afraid to state their
opinions. Some untenured faculty have
stated that it is up to the tenured faculty to address faculty concerns. Several tenured faculty have also stated
that they do not feel free to state their opinions on subjects that may be
controversial.
It
is not clear whether the attitudes expressed by Dean Moore represent the
position of University higher administration.
The MCOB Faculty Senate Caucus recommends that the USA Faculty Senate
Executive Committee examine University policy regarding its attitudes towards
the faculty.
There
is concern that the search for the Senior Vice-President for Academic Affairs
be open. In particular, it is important
that the files of all applicants be available for faculty review. Faculty review should not be limited to
those remaining after committee screening.
There is also concern that several past faculty searches have not
conformed to University policy.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael A. McGinnis
MCOB Faculty Caucus Chair