Faculty-At-Large Motions for 2004

Approved by the Faculty-At-Large in August, 2004.

Proposal To Clarify the Faculty Status of Librarians

Whereas: Librarians have been formally recognized as faculty at Eastern Kentucky University since February 1963 when faculty rank and title were granted to them by the Board of Regents. Librarians have participated in faculty governance since the inception of Eastern Kentucky University’s Faculty Senate in 1966, and

Whereas: The American Association of University Professors since 1973 has recognized librarians as entitled to faculty status–“The function of the librarian as participant in the processes of teaching and research is the essential criterion of faculty status,” and

Whereas: In 1988 the community of librarians at EKU was split in two by a change of contracts which retained faculty status, but altered ranks for librarians hired after that date, and

Whereas: The result of that change was the exclusion of newer library faculty from participation in the election of Faculty Regent while allowing those same new library faculty to serve on Faculty Senate, and

Whereas: All Librarians now have titles parallel those of teaching faculty; are promoted through the ranks based on their achievements in teaching/job responsibilities, service and scholarship, receiving the same promotional salary increases as traditional faculty, and

Whereas: The Senate rules committee has determined that “faculty members who fit the current definition of teaching and/or research faculty should be able to serve as the Faculty Regent,” with the logical assumption that those who serve are logically entitled to vote for same, and

Whereas: The Librarians meet the criteria for “faculty who fit the current definition of teaching and/or research faculty” according to Part VII, Section II, Subsection B of the current Faculty Handbook. The section reads, “The Teaching and/or Research Faculty of Eastern Kentucky University shall include all full-time employees of the University who hold the rank of Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, or Instructor, and whose faculty-load assignment includes 50 percent or more teaching and/or research as shown by the Faculty Load Analysis or comparable report for the fall semester for each year or who are members of the library faculty,” and

Whereas: The ambiguity and uncertainty surrounding this issue of librarians having voting rights for Faculty Regent does not serve the library faculty well, nor does it serve the faculty-at-large well; it is at best a distraction from the issues of substance for which both groups care deeply; at worst, it creates an unnecessary exclusion for selected members of this faculty body.

We therefore move: That the Faculty Senate adopt the following recommendations for changes in the Faculty Handbook and also in the Bylaws of the Faculty Senate:

1. Change the prior language in the Faculty Handbook, Part II: Organization and Administration of the University Board of Regents, from “All faculty members of the rank of assistant professor or above are eligible to vote,” to
   “All faculty members of the rank of assistant professor or above, or librarians holding comparable ranks are eligible to vote.”
2. Change the prior language in Faculty Handbook, Section VII: The Faculty Senate, section B (Membership of the Senate), subsection 2 c. to read: “All individuals eligible for election to the Faculty Senate shall be eligible to vote in a Faculty Senate election. An individual shall be eligible to cast a ballot for Senate members only in that election unit in which the individual holds the academic rank of Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Instructor, Visiting Professor, Visiting Associate Professor, Visiting Assistant Professor, Visiting Professor, University Librarian, Associate University Librarian, Assistant University Librarian, and Library Instructor.”