Trustees Block Shared Governance Committee

We write with a followup from today’s bargaining session about the All-Faculty Committee for the Evaluation of Administration of Administrators.

After changing its story twice (first time: “we must pause committee until bargaining”; second time: “we can’t bargain about committee because it’s a shared governance issue”) — university management has arrived at a third way to get rid of the committee: a unilateral fiat by the Board of Trustees preventing it from meeting.

There is no reason for the activities of this committee to be affected by bargaining. If the Board is choosing to use its power to supercede Miami’s core document on shared governance (the Enabling Act) it is clear that it does not respect shared governance at Miami.

Faculty are here for one reason: to generate knowledge and educate future generations. Without faculty, this institution has no value. Shared governance gives faculty the means to participate in sustaining free inquiry and high-quality education. Shared governance ensures that higher education can continue to serve a free and democratic society.

Without shared governance to protect the faculty’s role in decision-making, a university becomes a sham institution.

University leaders who make unilateral decisions without reasonable cause to prevent shared governance committees from meeting do not serve the interests of students, faculty, or a free and democratic society.

But faculty will not be silenced. Where shared governance erodes, the union can step in and fight for a strong contract that sustains our educational mission. Join FAM to support our proposal to strengthen shared governance through the contract and protect Miami education.