On shared governance: Oversight is not a form of communication

Staff Editorial

A yearlong discussion about organizations on campus is coming to an end soon.

Shared governance, which has been a topic since the 2014 Higher Learning Commission review of Eastern raised concerns about communications between campus organizations, has been discussed by groups around campus with varying solutions.

Today, it was revealed that a solution many people thought was discussed and dismissed will be passed through the Faculty Senate at their next meeting.

The proposal would create a hierarchy with the senate on top and with the Council on Academic Affairs, the Council for Graduate Studies and the Council on Teachers Education below it.

We at The Daily Eastern News do not consider this to be a productive or effective solution to what is considered by many to be a minor problem.

Oversight is not communication, and if it is, it is one-sided between the people at the top and the people on the bottom.

When a parent sets a curfew or grounds you, although that parent is communicating with you, more than likely you are not communicating with them.

It seems insulting to add more of a problem to the HLC concerns than there originally was.

Of the three sentences the HLC wrote about shared governance, not one of them mentioned a lack of trust in the curriculum process that this proposal seems to be trying to fix.

If this proposal goes through, far from fixing any perceived communication problems, it will increase them ten-fold.

Who wants to communicate with a body that just voted themselves to be the top of the hierarchy?

If this resolution passes, it has the potential to lead to years of distrust between the senate and the other bodies on campus, which would be harmful for everyone.

No matter how you interpret the senate constitution or the good intentions that lie behind this proposal, the organizations on campus have to work as a team for the good of the students, something that might not be possible if this chasm of disappointment and distrust is allowed to grow between them.

The Editorial staff can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]