Completed Senate Projects

Faculty Voting Procedures

In December 2018 the faculty adopted, as a pilot program, new voting procedures. The goal of this experiment was to increase then-low faculty participation in governance. The pilot was designed by the Faculty Governance Reform Task Force in collaboration with the administration and the Senate.

The new voting procedure was widely appreciated and no necessary adjustments were revealed by experience. The pilot was extended during COVID. In April and May, 2022, the faculty voted to incorporate the new voting procedure into the Handbook. The revision was approved by the Board of Trustees on May 20, 2022.

Faculty Senate Bylaws

The Faculty Senate bylaws (adopted March 12, 2021) govern the structure and operations of the Brandeis Faculty Senate. They expand on, and are subordinate to, the Handbook’s discussion of the Faculty Senate (HB VI.B).

*The Faculty Senate voted to rely on Robert's Rules version 12 at its May 6, 2022 meeting.

Documents

Adopted by the Faculty Senate, March 12, 2021 (pdf), Effective, March 12, 2021
Senate Roles as Listed in the Faculty Handbook (pdf)

Senate Statement on Covid-19

The Faculty Senate issued the following statement on April 2, 2020. Signatories are listed at the end of this document.

The Faculty Senate commends our university leadership for its wise and humane response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Brandeis' response has been exemplary among universities in giving students time to vacate campus, in providing detailed messages to our constituent communities and in acting responsively and decisively when new problems arose.

We acknowledge the administration as well for its decisions to keep staff and contractors on the payroll, to address issues of pass-fail grading, to extend the tenure clock and to send an important message through voluntary 10% pay cuts at the highest level. Regular communication from President Liebowitz, Provost Lisa Lynch and other campus leaders has helped all of us to navigate this unprecedented challenge.

In addition, we express our deepest gratitude to our colleagues and staff involved with the full range of student services who continue to be available around the clock at this stressful time for both graduates and undergraduates. We could not do our work in virtual classrooms and online office hours without the support you are providing.

The Senate would also like to applaud Mary-Ann Winkelmes and the staff at the Center for Teaching and Learning, as well as Jim La Creta and the staff in Information Technology Services, all of whom have done an astounding job moving faculty to an online environment. The CTL's 24/7 support, resources and responsiveness have made a huge difference in helping us weather the initial phase of this uncertain new territory.

We thank the dedicated staff in our academic departments, research centers and institutes, as well as in other parts of the campus enterprise. In every case, the important work that each does has been redesigned on short notice, and every effort has been made to attend to the needs of our diverse internal and external stakeholders.

As we all know, there is no telling what trajectory this crisis may take in the months and even years ahead or what financial ramifications the university may encounter. We may be facing hardships for a long period. We applaud the decisions recently communicated by President Liebowitz that suggest an approach more just and equitable than that undertaken during the financial crisis in 2008. We are committed to working with the administration so that all measures undertaken in response to this crisis continue to be aligned with our values of justice, equity, integrity and inclusiveness.

We expect that any financial burden will continue to be distributed in ways that shield, to the greatest extent possible, the most vulnerable employees, including front-line service workers, contract faculty, adjunct instructors and early stage tenure-track faculty. Continued special care and attention is especially needed for marginalized groups, people with disabilities, people under great financial stress in general, those whose residency/visa status is uncertain and others whose voices are not always well represented.

We trust that our collective decision-making process will continue to honor the university's principles of shared governance, and that transparency will be prioritized over shielding employees from "uncomfortable truths."

We recognize that even with the strong internal alignment and good will that has been evidenced by all parties, issues on which there is disagreement will likely arise. In engaging these issues, it is important that we continue to treat each other at all times with compassion, respect and kindness — honoring and addressing the differences even as we all work for the common good.

Joel Christensen, Classical Studies (Chair)*
Jennifer Cleary, Theater Arts
Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, Heller
Susan Dibble, Theater Arts
Jane Ebert, Brandeis International Business School
Gordon Fellman, Sociology
William Flesch, English
Danielle Igra, Education
Dmitry Kleinbock, Mathematics
Sue Lanser, English; Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies; Comparative Literature (Emerita)
Sarah Mead, Music*
A.K. Nandakumar, Heller School for Social Policy and Management
Carol Osler, Economics*
Rajesh Sampath, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, South Asian Studies, Comparative Humanities*
Liuba Shrira, Computer Science
Laurence Simon, Heller School for Social Policy and Management
Sabine von Mering, German, Russian and Asian Languages and Literature; Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies; Environmental Studies; Creativity, the Arts and Social Transformation Program
Pu Wang, German, Russian and Asian Languages and Literature; Comparative Humanities; East Asian Studies
Grace Zimmerman, Brandeis International Business School

* Indicates member of Senate Council.

Faculty Governance Task Force

The Faculty Senate Governance Task Force was charged by President Ron Liebowitz with considering how faculty were currently involved in decision-making at Brandeis, what they norms were at peer institutions and whether the Brandeis faculty wanted to make some changes moving forward. Task From members were appointed in spring 2017.

Task Force Members

Co-chairs

Wendy Cadge, Professor of Sociology, and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Susan P. Curnan, Florence G. Heller Associate Professor of the Practice Chair, Heller School for Social Policy and Management.

Members

Sava Berhané, Senior Lecturer, Brandeis International Business School.
Adrianne Krstansky, Professor of Theater Arts.
Anne Marando, Associate Vice President, Information Technology Services.
Michael Randall, Professor of French and Comparative Literature.
Robert Reitano, Professor of the Practice of Finance, Brandeis International Business School.
Gina Turrigiano, Joseph Levitan Professor of Vision Science.
Pu Wang, Associate Professor of Chinese Literature and Culture.
Bernie Yack, Lerman Neubauer Professor of Democracy and Public Policy.