Lack of communication and insufficient information became a focus of concern at Wednesday’s University Senate meeting.

The meeting covered a variety of areas, but the one that caused the most anxiety among members was the lack of information, such as statistics on how many women professors, especially minority women professors, get tenured.

Susan Borker, professor of sociology and co-chairperson of the Committee on Women’s Concerns, raised the question during her committee report. The committee has proposed a new office of women’s affairs that could collect this data. There is currently no specific office or committee for this task.

‘We have had trouble finding this information,’ said Linda Carty, chair of the department of African American studies. ‘We know from experience that there is a very high turnover of women faculty of color.’

The AAS department had tried through its Sister Props organization to collect information about this topic, but was unable to locate any information or statistics.

‘I find it frankly appalling that we cannot answer this question ourselves. I am deeply concerned. The system is inadequate and has been for years,’ said John Mercer, dean of the Graduate School. Adding resources to study faculty retention needs urgent attention, Mercer said.

‘Numbers are not enough – we need to know why they leave,’ said Linda Alcoff, co-chair of the Committee for Diversity and professor of philosophy.

Although records of faculty are kept, Michael Flusche, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, said the records of departing faculty are not as clear or well-kept as those of incoming faculty.

‘This should be and always is a major area of concern for any institution that takes seriously the value of diversity to the institution,’ said Chancellor Nancy Cantor. ‘I wholeheartedly support research.’

Throughout the meeting, other failures in communication were discussed. Travis Mason, vice president of the Student Association, noted the large number of groups that advise the chancellor that are not Senate committees, despite dealing with the same subject matter. The lines of communication between these committees should be opened up, Mason said.

‘This would be a good time to do this, to look at interaction and streamlining,’ Cantor said.

Andrew London, professor of sociology and co-chair of the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns, noted the increased demand for classroom presentation of LGBT issues and the addition of gender identity in Syracuse University’s non-discrimination policy.

Judy O’Rourke, co-chair of the Honorary Degree Committee also noted that Friday will be the last day to nominate individuals for honorary degrees to be given at the 2005 commencement.

The next University Senate meeting will be an open forum on Nov. 3 at 4:15 p.m. in Maxwell Auditorium. The biannual forums give students a chance to present questions and concerns to the Senate and to Cantor.

Published on October 13, 2004 at 12:00 pm