Effective Friday, the existing Faculty Senate is dissolved. It already held an advisory-only role, but its replacement—the Presidential Academic Advisory Council—“is a shift from faculty-led governance to administratively controlled consultation,” the Auburn American Association of University Professors chapter wrote in a statement. The council will “provide advice and perspective, at the President’s request and direction, on matters related to academic policy, academic governance, and the academic mission of the University,” as well as “confidential” advice on other matters, according to the policy. The body may not issue any public statements on behalf of the university.
The council will comprise two faculty members from each college—one elected by the college’s faculty and one appointed by the president—as well as “additional members appointed by the President, who may include faculty or nonfaculty members whose expertise, institutional role, or perspective would assist the Council’s work,” the policy states. In making his appointments, President Christopher Roberts may consider “academic discipline, rank, tenure status, research activity, instructional experience, administrative experience, accreditation expertise, student-success responsibilities, institutional service, collegiality, and other factors.”
Mark Criley, a senior program officer in the department of academic freedom, tenure and governance at the AAUP, called the changes “the end of shared governance” at Auburn.