On Tuesday, faculty members passed a motion to transition faculty meetings to a co-chair model, reinstating President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 as the meeting chair, alongside Chair of the Faculty Executive Committee and Professor of Computer Science Anna Lysyanskaya.
In March, faculty members voted to replace Paxson with the chair of the FEC as the leader of the monthly meetings. Several faculty members submitted a motion to hold a vote at April's meeting to reinstate Paxson as the meeting chair, but it was not included in last month’s meeting agenda.
The motion proposed at this month’s meeting suggested rescinding the amendments made at the March meeting and adding new clauses to the original language of the Faculty Rules and Regulations, stating that “the president and the chair of the FEC shall be co-presiding officers of each meeting of the faculty.”
The amendment specified that the president will preside over the approval of minutes and FEC business, while the FEC chair will preside over presentations from administrative leaders.
Lysyanskaya, who presented the amendment, said that the co-chairing structure “reflects shared governance,” and is both symbolic and practical.
Once the floor opened to discussion, Paxson noted she had previously expressed concerns about potential “conflicts of interest” that could arise with the FEC chair leading the entire meeting, and the “symbolism of not having the president have any role” during faculty meetings.
“I think a co-presiding model is a good example of what sharing looks like,” Paxson said, adding that she approved of the motion and its compromise.
Several faculty members expressed concerns about reversing the amendment just months after it was passed.
“It kind of undermines any sort of decision-making process,” said Carlos Aizenman, a professor of neuroscience and brain science. “If a vote is closed, somebody that didn’t like the outcome can just simply go to the immediate next session and then try to reverse it.”
Aizenman felt that faculty should give the current model “a good faith effort” before making a decision to reverse it.
Tara Nummedal, the chair of the Department of History and a professor of history and Italian studies, said that the May meeting, which was not led by Paxson, felt “a little bit chaotic.” She supported the co-chairing model and suggested that Paxson’s experience as chair would help the monthly meetings feel more organized, ultimately keeping faculty members engaged.
Several faculty members argued that this debate underscored the importance of not rushing conversations about faculty matters.
Robert Self, a professor of history and American history, said that he believes a “broad, deep, campus-wide discussion” is necessary to resolve debates like these. He encouraged the FEC to “think through ways to engage the campus” to avoid another situation where a major faculty governance decision was made “with a very close vote, with a very low attendance and then a lot of back and forth.”
Out of the attendees, 155 voted in favor of the motion to have the president and FEC chair co-chair the faculty meeting, 44 voted against it and 6 abstained, passing the motion with a 76% majority.
Seyla Fernandez is a senior staff writer covering faculty.
