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By Timothy Kudo

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

The faculty at UCLA are some of the most renowned professors in the world – which means a lot of research and teaching.

As a result, they often have little time to pursue campus issues as they work to rise in their fields and promote the status of the university.

But their role on campus is unique, since, as a result of tenure, they are one of the few groups with power and the ability to speak freely in and out of the classroom.

“In universities, faculty cannot be given orders,” said Werner Hirsch, an emeritus professor who has been active in the faculty.

The Academic Senate, the representative body of UCLA’s professors, has been quiet recently, though there are issues out there it could be tackling, Hirsch said.

When affirmative action in university admissions and hiring was removed through SP-1 and SP-2, the faculty, like most of the UC community, spoke out against it.

“We told the regents we don’t like it, the senate certainly told the regents they didn’t like it, the students told the regents they didn’t like it, the public told the regents they didn’t like it,” said Executive Vice Chancellor Rory Hume. “But that’s the way it’s dealt with, because the regents do govern the university on behalf of the people of California.”

Shared governance has existed since the 1920s when the regents gave the faculty say over certain things like hiring, tenure and other academic decisions.

That relationship is considered by many to be a key check to the administration, which often faces external pressures, such as balancing the budget.

Though decisions like SP-1 created a major dissent among the faculty, infringements of a more academic nature might have ended with even more conflict.

“I can’t think of a single instance where they’ve said, ‘I don’t like that program, take it out,’” said Donna Vredevoe, the immediate past chair of the senate. “That would be a major upheaval within the university.”

Since 1995, little has been heard from the senate however, at least not on social issues.

“The senate has its primary mission, maintaining academic programs,” Vredevoe said. “The social issues are things that may impact on that. If they impact on the academic programs, then it will take a stand.”

Much of its work recently has focused on upcoming challenges to the university, like the enormous enrollment growths the UC is facing and how to deal with distance learning.

But, at the same time, not much has come out of the senate because many of its decisions come only after many months of discussion.

“They’re professional teachers and scholars, not professional administrators,” said Stephen Yeazell, the current senate chair.

Many of the things the senate deals with, ranging from something like a copyright issue or approval of an entrepreneurial program, can take anywhere from two months to a year to be settled.

Things take a long time because “committee members may not be involved with the problem and they need to inform themselves on it,” Vredevoe said.

Additionally, the large committee structure set up in the senate means items often go through numerous groups of people, leaving each individual member with little say in the process.

“Do you think you’re going to feel good at the end of the day even if something happens? Your influence is zilch,” Hirsch said.

But the result is a decision that’s both informed and well thought out.

“Very often, the senate, because it takes a little longer, is more reflective, and on matters of big policy importance, the outcome is a very good one,” Hume said. “So I think that difference in pace has some benefits though sometimes it can be irritating.”

The senate not only discusses issues for long periods of time, but also has difficulty attracting faculty who see it as an extracurricular that takes up research and teaching time.

The senate is made up of 22 committees, each handling different areas such as hiring and tenure or graduate and undergraduate education.

Committee members serve for three years, which is “quite a commitment for a faculty member,” Vredevoe said.

Currently, the senate’s committees are all nearly full, and desire to join the senate has wavered.

Professors at the university, alongside teaching and research, must also do what’s known as university service, in which they participate in the senate or in a less time-consuming departmental program.

“There are easier ways to do university service than being on a committee in the faculty senate,” Vredevoe said.

Though the senate faces difficulties in its operations and recruitment, the role it has served for nearly 80 years remains vital to the integrity of UCLA.

“Great universities, UCLA is one of them, have a democratic, egalitarian culture, so essential to fostering individual initiative, creativity and excellence and with it, great teaching and research,” Hirsch said.

With reports from Barbara Ortutay, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.

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