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'U' faculty concerned with lack of SACUA members on committee

By Jodi Cohen
Daily Staff Reporter

Faculty represent more than half of the presidential search advisory committee's membership.

But Senate Assembly Chair George Brewer said he is concerned that none of the members hold seats in the faculty's governing body, or in its executive branch, the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs.

"No one from Universitywide faculty governance is on the committee," Brewer said. "Only one person from our list of 14 recommended faculty made it on the committee."

SACUA nominated psychiatry Prof. Huda Akil in the list it presented to Provost J. Bernard Machen, who submitted his recommendations to the University Board of Regents yesterday.

SACUA Chair-elect Thomas Dunn, a chemistry professor, said the committee is heavily weighted toward administrators, including one dean and two department chairs. Both staff members on the committee are also administrators, he said.

"It is a little heavy on administratively oriented people," Dunn said. "But, they are all faculty members."

Law School Dean Jeffrey Lehman will serve as the committee's chair. Economics department Chair Paul Courant and English language and literature department Chair Martha Vicinus will also sit among the group.

Brewer said he has confidence in the committee. "I have hopes and expectations that they will do a good job," he said. "I think the selection of the chair is excellent."

Brewer said he has "no idea" why Machen did not choose someone from faculty governance, but said, "Who better than someone from Universitywide governance to do that?"

Machen said he focused more on finding faculty who had a broad perspective on the University.

"It was important that the committee be truly representative of the University and not just any particular constituency they represented," Machen said.

One of the faculty members comes from the Flint campus, but Dearborn has no representation on the committee. Machen said Nora Faires, a history professor at Flint, will represent the interests of both satellite campuses.

"When you look at the total number of faculty, one-seventh come from Flint and Dearborn campuses combined," he said. "Eighty-five percent are here in the Ann Arbor campus."

Brewer said SACUA had nominated Dunn, a chemistry professor, and Engineering Prof. Stacy Bike.