AAUP-QU

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Ma 13, 2024

P Pa e Ad a e Re c e Sc fN

We, the Quinnipiac chapter of the AAUP, write to express deep concern about a breach of shared
governance currently underway in the School of Nursing. On March 19, 2024, School of Nursing
faculty received a startling email from Dean Larry Slater announcing an “administrative
restructuring” to take place by June 1st. The dean’s team is terminating the 3 current chair
positions within the school. They have also notified all current program directors that their
positions will end in May. Dean Slater has appointed 5 directors thus far who will report to deans
rather than to faculty. We believe that these unilateral, rushed, and opaque changes undermine
the role of Nursing faculty in shared governance of the school and oversight over its curriculum.
They also establish a concerning precedent for other schools within Quinnipiac and the
governance of our university as a whole.

I e 1: De c a c Rec e da fC a

Chairs should be elected and recommended by their faculty. Creating a structure with only
program directors appointed by a dean violates the Quinnipiac University Fac l Ha db k
(QUFH) and the principle of democratic faculty governance. The Fac l Ha db k affirms that
chairs across units must be nominated and elected by faculty with approval from the dean and
provost, ensuring a bottom-up approach:

"The Dean will solicit nominations for the position of department chair from the members of
the department faculty. Faculty may self-nominate, and all nominees must submit a written
expression of willingness to serve. Eac de a e a e ab af a ced e
f e ec e da ce a a fac ef ee b ec e ba
a d de a e e f e e f e e a d e ec e da e
Dea . The Dean will submit the department’s recommendation and their own written
recommendation to the Provost. The Provost shall inform the department if their
recommendation is not being followed. The department shall have the opportunity to submit
a written response to the Provost. Final appointment of a department chair is made by the
Provost" (QUFH 2023, p.43).
The proposed top-down governance departs significantly from the democratic tradition in which
chairs represent the faculty who report to them. If the School of Nursing–or any school within
Quinnipiac–was previously out of compliance with the procedure detailed by the Ha db k, that
problem should be urgently rectified.

I e 2: Fac P ac Ma e f Fac Sa

In the restructured School of Nursing, all faculty will report directly to the Senior Associate
Dean, rather than to faculty chairs. This structure violates the central tenet of shared governance
as articulated by the AAUP S a e e G e e f C llege a d U i e i ie :

"Fac a a d e a ed a e a e a a fac e b ; this area

includes appointments, reappointments, decisions not to reappoint, promotions, the granting
of tenure, and dismissal. T e a e b f e fac f c a e
ba ed e fac a d e ce a e e a ed ca a c .
Furthermore, scholars in a particular field or activity have the chief competence for judging
the work of their colleagues; in such competence it is implicit that responsibility exists for
both adverse and favorable judgments. Likewise, there is the more general competence of
experienced faculty personnel committees having a broader charge. De e a ee
a e df be b fac ac e ab ed ced e , e e ed b
e c ef acade c ff ce e c c e ce f e b a d. The governing board and
president should, on questions of faculty status, as in other matters where the faculty has
primary responsibility, concur with the faculty judgment except in rare instances and for
compelling reasons which should be stated in detail."

For this reason, our own Fac l Ha db k requires that faculty submit their annual reports to
their chair, as well as the dean of their unit (QUFH 41), under the presumption that one’s chair
has the disciplinary and pedagogical expertise to best evaluate a faculty member.

Dean Slater’s revised director positions also undermine the purpose of chairs, who, as the
Fac l Ha db k notes, “provide peer leadership” (QUFH 5) and whose roles are delineated as
part of the “Faculty Rights and Responsibilities” section of the Fac l Ha db k.

I e 3: C c a d Fac G e a ce

The dean’s team, on the recommendation of a consulting firm, has “streamlined” the Nursing
curriculum, dramatically increasing section sizes and making other opaque changes that may
harm students’ experience and learning. Although we have been assured that the consulting firm
solicited information from faculty, this does not approach the principle of shared governance,
which establishes that "The faculty has primary responsibility for such fundamental areas as
curriculum, subject matter and methods of instruction, research, faculty status, and those aspects
of student life which relate to the educational process" (AAUP S a e e G e e ).

I e 4: P ce a dT e e

The Dean’s email does not indicate, nor has there been any reassurance at the faculty senate, that
faculty participated in a of the deliberations that contributed to these decisions that will so
deeply impact their work, the curriculum, and the education they are able to provide students.
Indeed, the hasty formulation and implementation of these changes (all in the first year of the
new dean’s tenure) make it impossible for faculty to participate meaningfully in decision making.
The dean plans to update the Nursing bylaws to accord with these changes over the summer, a
period in which faculty with 9.5-month contracts are not paid by the university and may be
unavailable to participate meaningfully. Moreover, large programmatic changes should be
transparent both within and outside of academic units.

I e 5: P ecede

In addition to our concerns about due process for the School of Nursing, the Quinnipiac chapter
of the AAUP regards these actions as establishing a harmful precedent for eroding the
mechanisms of shared governance established in the Fac l Ha db k, and more broadly by the
AAUP and other nationally recognized experts on higher education. This precedent could be
used by administrators to justify making similar unilateral decisions in other schools.

Rec e da

The AAUP recommends:

1. The School of Nursing should utilize the current governance structure for the upcoming
academic year.

2. The Dean of the School of Nursing should form and solicit nominations for a permanent
SoN policies committee whose first charge is using the Fac l Ha db k as a basis for
revising the SoN bylaws and administrative structure of the school as a whole. We call
for an external member from a different school to be present during deliberations
regarding the SoN bylaws, and for SoN to have access to the Bylaws from the many units
that make up QU. This work should happen during the academic school year when all
faculty are on contract and will have the capacity to participate.

3. Faculty must have a substantial role and a vote in restructuring faculty positions in a
school or revising curriculum.
. University administrators should work with the Faculty Senate to ensure that deans honor
the letter and spirit of the Fac l Ha db k. Robust university-level policy is needed to
guarantee shared governance within schools. Schools that do not have “departments”
need more guidance on how to adhere to the standards set by the handbook. The
handbook may also need to more clearly state that administrators cannot require faculty
with 9.5-month appointments to work during unpaid months.