By Christian Mignot
Daily Bruin Contributor
Long-term vacancies for key undergraduate student
representatives on Academic Senate committees may indicate
decreasing student input in decision-making on academic
matters.
While student participation numbers in the various committees
have risen over the last few years, four positions have remained
open since the beginning of this academic year.
The Library, University Extension, Faculty Welfare and Council
on Research committees have remained without undergraduate student
representation since September.
Bryant Tan, academic affairs commissioner for the Undergraduate
Students Association Council who sits on the Executive Board of the
Academic Senate, attributed the long-term vacancies to lack of
interest among students and the absence of guidance or information
for those who would consider getting involved.
Even with limited student representation, Tan said many
decisions are made by faculty behind closed doors, with students
being told of the formulated proposals out of
“courtesy.”
“A great deal of the time we are consulted after the
fact,” he said. “On occasions when we are consulted, we
are not given enough time to research or put together some
constructive criticism.”
Tan cited the new minimum progress reforms for first-year
students as an example, saying that the decision was made without
student input. USAC is challenging the new requirements.
Anne Peplau, a member of the Academic Senate’s Executive
Board, said the idea that decisions are made by faculty alone is
false.
“There is always the option for students to be involved in
discussion, but often they are not available for the meetings due
to their schedules,” she said.
Tan said faculty attitudes toward undergraduate representatives
discourage valuable student input.
“Students are viewed as temporary,” Tan said.
“If I challenge a proposal, faculty and administration
believe that they just have to wait two years for me to graduate to
then be able to proceed with their plans.”
While some faculty members on the Academic Senate push for
student participation and interaction, Tan said a large part of the
representatives are not receptive to student input and do not pay
attention when students speak to committees.
“All faculty members say they want student involvement,
but their actions speak otherwise,” he said. “There
should be more outreach effort to get students involved.”
But some faculty members disagree with these claims.
“We have rescheduled many meetings so that students can
attend,” said Keith Stolzenbach, vice chair of the Committee
for Undergraduate Admissions and Relations with Schools. “We
value their input a lot.”
Michael Hall, chair of the Committee on Research, disagreed with
claims that faculty members do not value student input.
“I’ve been (a member) for five years, and we have
had students that are very vocal” he said.
Student positions are not the only ones remaining vacant.
CUARS was having difficulty filling faculty positions for the
next academic year, Stolzenbach said.
“Perhaps students and faculty should be rewarded more for
their efforts,” he said.
Despite there being 3,000 faculty members on campus, Hall said
it is a struggle to fill the 150 positions on Academic Senate every
year.
“People don’t want to be bothered with involvement.
They say they don’t have time, but we can all make time if we
want,” he said.
To improve the situation, Tan said it would be necessary for
faculty and student representatives on the Academic Senate to
create more opportunities for undergraduate involvement, allowing
greater student advocacy.
“We would like to see a big effort in outreach to
students, so that the student voice has greater weight rather than
being a footnote on a report,” he said.
Student representatives have the right to vote on issues and
proposals, but their votes are tallied separately and cannot act as
tie-breakers in instances of even counts, in accordance with Bylaw
5b of the Academic Senate’s manual.
At the Legislative Assembly level, where all finalized proposals
are approved, undergraduate representatives are not permitted to
vote.
Though student votes may seem to carry less weight, Peplau said
voting does not even occur often, and when it does, there is almost
always full consensus.
Student representatives are important contributors to discussion
and have as much input as other faculty members in matters directly
relevant to undergraduates, she said.
Growing statewide effort to reform each campus’ division
of the Academic Senate exists, Tan said.
Student government bodies at all UC campuses are pushing to end
the separate tally of student votes in committees by rallying
community support and by encouraging student participation, though
such efforts are still in their planning phases at UCLA, he
said.