The Faculty Senate voted last week to recommend that the Ward Center for Nuclear Sciences and its nuclear reactor remain in operation, rejecting an earlier committee recommendation that the reactor be decommissioned and the center's activities phased out.
The senate voted on the resolution to recommend continuing operation of the center at its regular monthly meeting March 14, after considerable debate on the issue at two earlier meetings. The final vote was 36 in favor, 19 opposed and eight abstaining.
The controversial recommendation to decommission the reactor was made in a Feb. 6 report from the Local Advisory Committee (LAC), after Robert Richardson, vice provost for research, asked the committee to review the Ward Center and make a recommendation about its future.
At both the Feb. 14 regular meeting of the Faculty Senate and at the Feb. 21 special meeting, faculty members from numerous fields and colleges lined up to speak on both sides of the issue.
Richardson had asked for the review by the LAC, composed of faculty from a variety of fields, because the original 1996 Faculty Senate resolution creating the Ward Center as a universitywide facility required a review. In addition, he said, the re-licensing of the reactor by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is scheduled for 2002-03, and the university must make a decision about continuing its operation before then.
Last week the senate considered two resolutions. The first, offered by the senate's Committee on Academic Programs and Policies (CAPP), recommended that the senate take no further action or position on the Ward Center.
The resolution was presented by Jery Stedinger, professor of civil and environmental engineering and CAPP chair. It read: "Therefore be it resolved that the Faulty Senate receive the LAC report together with the written and oral responses from LAC and Ward Center members (as recorded in the senate minutes), in the expectation that this debate sponsored by the senate will inform the judgment of the administration."
"The Faculty Senate need not, nor should it, try to develop a position on every issue," Stedinger said. "This is essentially an administrative decision. The Faculty Senate has now provided a forum for the discussion and the record is complete."
William Arms, professor of computer science, also spoke in favor of the CAPP resolution. He drew laughter when he said, "The CAPP resolution is extraordinary because it's proposing that the faculty trust the administration." Then, on a more serious note, he added that the issue was too complex for those not familiar with the center. "It's why we have an administration," he said. "I think the best people to make the decision are the central administration."
That resolution was defeated 34 to 23, with eight abstaining.
Alan McAdams, associate professor of managerial economics, supported the resolution to keep the center open.
"I trust the administration, but I think the faculty has a responsibility here," he said. "If we support CAPP, that's supporting the LAC and the defacto decommissioning of the reactor. We are abrogating our duty if we don't take a position one way or the other. I think it is in our interest to operate this facility."
Richardson, in response to the senate vote, said, "I will most certainly consider the senate resolution in making my recommendation to the provost and president."
Provost Biddy Martin said the administration expects to make a decision on the Ward Center by the end of the semester and will forward a recommendation to the Cornell Board of Trustees at that time.
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