It’s not a full seat at the table, but UVA faculty members at least will get to help in the kitchen. The Board of Visitors (BOV) elected at their June meeting to allow the outgoing Faculty Senate chair to serve as a nonvoting member on three BOV committees. While faculty still want to have a nonvoting member on the BOV itself—as UVA students have—many see this as a move in the right direction.
 Ken Schwartz, outgoing chair of the Faculty Senate, will be the first faculty rep on three BOV committees. |
As of July 1, faculty will now have a permanent place on the Educational Policy, External Affairs, and Diversity committees. “They’re important committees and they’re all ones that have a great deal of significance to faculty,” says Ken Schwartz, who as outgoing Faculty Senate chair now serves on the committees.
The BOV has nine permanent committees, along with ad hoc committees like that on diversity. “Most of the work of the Board of Visitors gets done in committees,” says L.F. Payne, a member of the BOV.
Conversations between faculty and UVA leadership about faculty’s relationship to the BOV have been ongoing for many years. After state legislation was passed in 2004 allowing faculty representation on governing boards, a majority of state universities pulled up another seat on their BOV, including Virginia Tech, James Madison University and the College of William and Mary. UVA has long opposed legislation that would mandate a nonvoting faculty rep on the BOV, in the past arguing that it muddies the line between employer and employee, and that faculty are but one of a number of “special interests” who could then demand a seat on the Board.
Current Faculty Senate Chair Ricardo Padron hopes this latest move toward BOV inclusion will lead to a seat on the BOV in the long run. “The Board does not seem to be ready to take that step yet, but perhaps it will once it becomes accustomed to having a faculty representative on these committees,” says Padron via e-mail (he’s currently voyaging on Semester at Sea). The Faculty Senate continues to advocate for the full BOV nonvoting member.
An outgoing Senate chair is the perfect person to serve on BOV committees, says former Chair Marcia Childress. “By the time you finish your year, you’ve accumulated all this information, you know most of the major players and you also understand a lot more about the complexities of the issues and the varying perspectives that a lot of people have on them,” says Childress, who was Faculty Senate chair in 2004-05. “It’s a wonderful way to use that year.”
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