AUBURN, Ala. — On Friday, June 5, at Auburn University, the Board of Trustees unanimously voted to abolish the University Faculty Senate, assuming direct control over degree requirements, curricula and syllabi.
This independent decision comes in the context of the passage of Alabama House Bill 580, which reduces the powers of faculty senates at Alabama’s public universities while exempting Auburn University. Despite the waiver, as reported by Andrea Tinker for Alabama Reflector, Auburn University voluntarily decided to adopt these measures, earning the distinction of being the first public university to voluntarily eliminate its University Senate. With this decision, Auburn University at Montgomery also dismantled it’s Faculty Senate, effective the same day, which holds similar repercussions.
Auburn’s faculty-led senate will be replaced by the Presidential Academic Advisory Council, which will serve in an advisory capacity without autonomous powers. At AUM, this advisory council will be composed of faculty members elected to represent the faculty appointed by the university chancellor.
During the June meeting, the Auburn Board of Trustees also approved a policy that, starting in the fall semester, will require instructors to submit the syllabi of each course for institutional approval.
Reactions from the faculty have been swift. As reported on June 4 by Gavin Escott in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Beth Davis-Sramek, president of Auburn’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said she was stunned. In an email circulated to the faculty, she emphasized how senseless this action was, noting that it will have enormous implications even at the national level.
Kate Craig, an associate professor of history, also highlighted in a letter to university administrators, which she subsequently posted on Facebook, how the experience of instructors and input from the faculty have been sidelined.
“These policies would destroy Auburn’s commitment to shared governance, but more than that, even putting them on the table belittles and undermines the entire faculty and our work for this university,” Craig said in the letter. “That is a bridge of trust that, once burned, will be very difficult to rebuild.”
These changes could also have short-term repercussions for AUM, as it is governed by the same Board of Trustees and is part of the Auburn University system. AUM has not issued a statement to date, further developments will be reported as they emerge.
