A proposed independent program in digital technology and culture (DTC) at WSU Vancouver was sent back to committees Thursday by the Faculty Senate after nearly an hour of discussion.
The vigorous debate was lauded as healthy by Sen. Max Kirk, associate professor of construction management and senate chair-elect. But others characterized the discussion differently.
“We’ve spent all this time debating. Why are we wasting our time sending these people (who made the proposal) back to do more work?” asked Sen. Matt Carroll, professor of natural resource sciences. “No wonder the Faculty Senate is not taken seriously.”
At issue was a proposal to relocate the WSU Vancouver based DTC major from the English department to a new program named Creative Media & Digital Culture (CMDC). That program would serve as a tenure home for DTC faculty.
Tenure oversight was the crux of the debate. Sen. Bob Greenberg, professor of accounting, expressed concern that the Educational Policies and Procedures Manual (EPPM) and the Faculty Manual are unclear about where tenure review and tenure-granting authority are located for programs that are not part of a department or college.
But Fran McSweeney, vice provost for faculty affairs, said the manual is more authoritative and it does grant tenure authority to programs. Besides, she said, precedent established over many years by many provosts has allowed tenure to be anchored in programs.
Representatives from Vancouver, the WSU English department and the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) said they had worked on the proposal for three years and already considered and answered all kinds of objections, including those about tenure.
In fact, said CLA Dean Doug Epperson, an 18-page document submitted to the senate defines how tenure would work in the new program.
“We should defer to the units that have worked on this,” said Carroll. “It is not for us to sit here in judgment” from a distance on a proposal that those close to the program have studied, vetted and crafted.
But Sen. Cathryn Claussen, professor in educational leadership and counseling psychology, disagreed: “What the Faculty Manual says is important. The Faculty Senate needs to have a strong voice” in protecting the tenure process.
The vote sent the proposal back to the Academic Affairs and Faculty Affairs committees to address the tenure home for this particular program, and possibly the tenure authority wording in the EPPM and Faculty Manual. Most senators at the regional campuses voted against sending it back to committee, while most in Pullman voted in favor.
A revised proposal may be ready for the senate’s last regularly scheduled meeting of the academic year on April 15.
Other issues raised during the debate included the small size of the proposed Vancouver program’s faculty and the feeling on regional campuses that WSU Pullman doesn’t understand their issues or let them work as autonomously as it should.
Others speaking in favor of the WSU Vancouver proposal included: Amy Wharton, director of liberal arts, WSU Vancouver; Bruce Romanish, vice chancellor of academic affairs, WSU Vancouver; Sen. Jason Farman, director of DTC, WSU Tri-Cities; George Kennedy, chair of the Department of English; and Sen. Renee Hoeksel, interim assistant dean of nursing, WSU Vancouver.
Others speaking against the proposal included: Sen. William Fassett, professor of pharmacotherapy, WSU Spokane; Sen. Christopher Lupke, associate professor of foreign languages; and Sen. K’nona Liddell, professor of chemical engineering and bioengineering.