University Times

The University Senate's three newly elected officers say they will carry on the fight for faculty participation in running Pitt.

"That's our primary goal, I'd say: institutionalizing shared governance," said economics professor James H. Cassing, who was elected to a one-year term as Senate president beginning July 1.

Senate vice president-elect Thomas A. Metzger, an associate professor of mathematics, and secretary-elect Steven H. Belle, an associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics, agreed that the Senate must build on recent progress toward involving faculty in University decision-making.

"Faculty aren't always consulted by the administration when they should be, but through the Senate, UPBC [the University Planning and Budgeting Committee] and a number of other channels, we are certainly more involved in the governance process than we were, say, 10 or 15 years ago," said Cassing, who has been a Pitt faculty member since 1975.

Belle, who came to Pitt in 1985, concurred. "I think there's been a change recently in the manner in which faculty, staff, students and administrators get together and discuss issues," he said. "Things seem to be more open than they used to be, and that needs to continue."

In separate interviews, Cassing, Belle and Metzger all described their styles as "non-confrontational."

"I think you have to collaborate with the administration," said Metzger, a Pitt faculty member since 1973. "Being confrontational is a mistake. All it does is set people's positions in stone. I guess you can always come up with scenarios where the Senate would have no choice [but to be confrontational] but my inclination is to work together with the administration to get things done."

Metzger chairs the Senate's educational policies committee, which in 1997 proposed to the administration a plan for awarding faculty grants to support innovative teaching. The result was Pitt's teaching excellence grants program.

"It takes time and a lot of effort for a proposal like that to go through, but that's how you get things done here," Metzger said.

The Senate officers agreed there currently are no "hot-button" issues for Pitt faculty. The University's latest employee health insurance contract runs until July 2003. The same-sex benefits issue has dropped from public view into a limbo of behind-the-scenes negotiations, sources say. The annual wrangling over faculty salary raises won't hit full stride until late summer, although Faculty Assembly on May 1 held a spirited discussion of Pitt's salary raise policy.

See related story this issue.

"There are lots of ongoing issues," Cassing said, "but no hot-button topic right now beyond keeping faculty involved in University decision-making and policy-making.

"Faculty and students are the University," he declared, "but we are well aware that we need leadership. Faculty don't know how to build and operate buildings. We don't supply the pencils and paper and so forth. That's why we need an administration and support staff. In addition, the Board of Trustees provides an important oversight capacity. Hopefully, we all basically agree that the University is the faculty and the students."

Cassing, Metzger and Belle all said Pitt is moving forward. Belle commented: "The University is growing physically, our students are getting better, we're making progress in fundraising. We're approaching world-class university status, and there are highly qualified people here at all levels. I hope the administration will continue to take advantage of the expertise that faculty have to offer."

Outgoing Senate President Nathan Hershey announced officer election results at Tuesday's Faculty Assembly meeting. "It's interesting," Hershey said, "that all three officers are…"

"White males," interjected Ellen Gay Detlefsen, a School of Information Sciences faculty representative. The current Senate officers include one white man (Hershey), a white woman (Vice President Carol Redmond) and an African-American woman (Secretary Audrey Murrell).

"What?" asked Hershey, taken aback.

Detlefsen repeated herself.

"Oh," Hershey said. "Well, those were the election results. I was going to say that all three of the newly elected officers are Faculty Assembly members."

Of 3,539 Senate election ballots mailed University-wide, 940 were returned. The percent 27 return rate was slightly lower than last year's (29 percent) and about average for a Senate election.

Senate bylaws forbid public release of vote counts for individual candidates. That way, faculty are encouraged to run without fear of embarrassment should they fail to get many votes, said Senate office director Fran Czak.

— Bruce Steele