At issue

Economics professor Tom Velk recently proposed that faculty have more of a say in selecting their deans. A nominating committee with wide representation would select two finalists from all the candidates for dean. Both would be approved by the principal. Faculty members would then vote to chose between them. What do you think of this notion? Professor Gregory Brown, Department of Biology I'm not convinced such elections would provide us with better deans than our present system does. A good dean should be more than just an advocate for the interests of a specific faculty; he or she must be able to work with other deans and administrators for the advantage of the University as a whole. Within-faculty elections might select against, rather than for, such team players. In addition, I'm concerned that elections might provide the larger departments in a faculty with too much influence on the final choice. Dr. Richard Cruess, Centre for Medical Education The naming of academic leaders, including deans, is a very important part of the governance of universities. This governance should be guided by a spirit of collegiality and not necessarily democracy. The present system, which includes representatives from the concerned faculties, as well as from the wider University community, does provide for significant faculty input into the process, and thus can be considered to be collegial. If the faculties themselves, uninformed by opinions or ideas from outside of their own domain, have the only or the final say it would be difficult to improve under-performing faculties. Thus I would suggest that the present selection methods are sound and should remain. Professor Elizabeth Elbourne, Department of History At difficult economic times, it is important for faculty to feel involved in decision-making and to work together to implement hard choices. I therefore support an elective component to the selection of a dean, as a move which will maximize consensus-building. Faculty opinions are valuable and worth consulting. The dean should be a representative of faculty, as well as a leader. I like the proposed procedure: it introduces an element of choice while rightly guaranteeing that candidates will be given full and fair consideration by a well-informed committee. Professor Bryan Sanctuary, Department of Chemistry Associate deans administer students, their problems, academic standings, grievances and discipline issues. Except for the dean of students, deans have a similar role as associate deans, but are responsible for faculty issues. Most of these issues can be sensitive: salary, promotion, hiring, budget matters, grievances, discipline, etc. Certainly I believe that a faculty should have a mechanism for voicing its opinion regarding the appointment of a dean. The principal and vice-principals must also be able to work with the deans -- candidates must be able to win their confidence. Professor Velk's suggestion is democratic and strikes a good balance.