Some don’t want to break trust with administators

Faculty member opinions were split on the issue of unionization at an Urbana-Champaign Senate meeting Monday. Professors Randy McCarthy and Nicholas Burbules presented their opposing sides. 

McCarthy, professor of mathematics, is in favor of a faculty union and said a “strong, active voice is needed” to protect faculty members in the areas of pension and healthcare. 

“I believe that a democratic faculty union would give us an independent voice that lies outside the scope of the existing institutional faculty,” McCarthy said. 

Faculty unionization would not necessarily cause the chaos among faculty members and administrators that is often associated with the capability of striking, said Monica Bielski, assistant professor in labor and employment relations. She, as well as several other senators, said union leaders would be elected transparently, and unionization would allow faculty members to make decisions democratically.

But Burbules, who is a professor of education policy, organization and leadership, is opposed to collective bargaining. 

He said the University’s current system of shared governance does not need to be changed, as it is a collaborative partnership between faculty members and administrators.

“That doesn’t mean we don’t get into arguments, but it’s the relationship of trust and mutual respect,” Burbules said. 

Many faculty members also agreed with him, including Joyce Tolliver, associate professor of Spanish. She said collective bargaining would lead to faculty members paying for the union out of their salaries.

Faculty members discussed both sides, but there was no decision to take any action on either side.

UC Senate approves new engineering degree programs

In addition to a Master of Science program in Engineering, the University will soon begin offering a Master of Engineering, if it receives the proper approval.

Top engineering schools such as Cornell, Stanford and MIT also offer similar degrees, which are generally course work based, not research based and for students who aren’t considering a PhD. The University’s Chicago campus already offers the degree through online-only course work. The program would be almost completely covered in funding by tuition.

The Urbana-Champaign Senate approved a proposal to incorporate this degree along with several other new programs at its meeting Monday.

These include the addition of graduate programs for the College of Engineering, such as new major in materials engineering and a new graduate concentration in energy systems.

Other programs approved included a new graduate minor in queer studies in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies and an undergraduate minor in food and agribusiness management in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics.

Phillip Geil, emeritus professor of materials science and engineering, is the sponsor of two of the proposals: the new major in materials engineering and the combined bachelor of science in materials science and engineering and master of engineering with a major in materials engineering. He said these programs are aimed at helping engineering students who are looking to pursue a career in business and industry-related fields of engineering.

Gay Miller, chair of the senate’s educational policy committee, said the goal of these additional programs is to enhance students’ knowledge of their fields of study. She added that the programs could bring in more funding because of the additional tuition dollars.

“We hope, of course, that (the new programs) bring new students, but it’s also about increasing students’ capabilities and being recognized as professionals in their fields,” Miller said.

The proposals for these programs will be brought to the University board of trustees and the Illinois Board for Higher Education for approval. If passed, the proposals return to the provost’s office for implementation.

The proposals list a desired enactment date of fall 2013, but Miller said she is unsure whether or not the programs will be in effect by then.   

Lauren can be reached at [email protected].