Senior administration and Faculty Senate members disagreed over the degree of faculty input on the academic program prioritization plan, Imagine PNW, during the Sept. 14 Faculty Senate meeting.

The dispute arose when Faculty Senate members asked for more input on who will be chosen to serve on the two Imagine PNW taskforces — the academic task force and support task force — which will evaluate and make recommendations on the future of PNW’s academic programs and support programs.

Currently, faculty has the ability to nominate fellow faculty and staff members for these positions, but the decision on who is ultimately picked for the task-forces is up to Ralph Mueller, vice chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost, and Stephen Turner, vice chancellor for Finance and Administration. The membership of the task-forces is scheduled to be announced on Sept. 21.

David Detmer, Faculty Senate Chair, said during his opening remarks that senior administration members have a “different viewpoint on shared governance” than Faculty Senate members, citing past instances, such as the unification of Purdue Calumet and Purdue North Central, where he felt faculty were left out from the decision making process.

Chancellor Thomas Keon said that he felt “ridiculed and threatened” by Detmer and Faculty Senate vice-chair, Tony Elmendorf, in the meetings leading up to Friday’s Faculty Senate meeting. He continued that faculty input for Imagine PNW “is about as strong as you can get,” referencing the faculty and staff make-up of the two task-forces.

The disagreements between senior leadership and Faculty Senate leadership embroiled both Faculty Senate members who supported the administrative nature of Imagine PNW and members who discussed feelings of mistrust and hesitation to the plan.

Elmendorf said failure of senior administration to work with the Faculty Senate would “decrease the trust of the faculty and the legitimacy of the [Imagine PNW] process.”

Faculty Senate leadership and Senior administration reached an eventual compromise, allowing the Faculty Senate leadership to see the list of task-force members and provide input prior to the Sept. 21 announcement.

Mueller said that although he and Turner are soliciting input and advice from Faculty Senate members, the solicitation does not ensure that they will follow the given advice.

The scope of the disagreements expanded to the whole of Imagine PNW, as Faculty Senate members raised questions about how current-curriculum will be altered. As a legislative body, the Faculty Senate controls changes to curriculum and education processes.

Geoff Schultz, professor of Psychology and Special Education, said that without a vote in the matter, he felt Faculty Senate members had no input on the decisions of Imagine PNW. He also added concerns surrounding the timing of the Imagine PNW announcement, which occurred in early May when Faculty Senate was out-of-session for the summer, continuing that it “seemed calculated” and asking why the Faculty Senate was not allowed input at the start of the process.

“To divide us is a mistake, and that’s where we are headed,” Schultz said. “We need to be sitting at the same table.”

Mueller said that any curriculum changes will be controlled by the senate. But, he continued that senior administration has the right to make decisions involving the best interest of the university. He emphasized that the demands by Faculty Senate leadership to be an equal partner in the Imagine PNW selection process are about controlling administrative processes rather than input.

Riley Owens, SGA president, addressed the feelings of division in his closing remarks, stating that students can feel the mistrust between faculty and senior administration in the classroom. He continued that this mistrust may be leading students away from the university.

Recommendations by the task-forces involving the future of PNW’s academic programs and support programs are expected to be announced to faculty and staff in August 2019, according to Imagine PNW documents.