The University Assemblies: Providing a voice on issues that matter

Reardon

By Kenneth M. Reardon

One of the most distinctive qualities of Cornell University is strong commitment to participatory governance and collaborative decision-making. Students, faculty, staff and alumni have voting representation on Cornell's Board of Trustees, and Cornell's campus governance system provides key members of our community with a strong voice on academic and non-academic policy matters through the University Assemblies system. Each year members of our community have the opportunity to run for seats on the Employee Assembly, University Assembly, Student Assembly, and Graduate and Professional Students Assembly. Individuals serving on these bodies have the opportunity to discuss, debate and act on formal resolutions designed to improve the intellectual life of our campus and the quality of life in our academic community.

The leaders of all four assemblies meet on a regular basis with the senior administrators responsible for programs and services affecting their respective constituencies. In addition, representatives from each of the constituent assemblies have the opportunity to work together on academic and non-academic issues on the University Assembly, which focuses on issues of concern to the whole campus community. At a meeting last fall that included President Hunter Rawlings, senior administrators and members of the Faculty Senate, the assemblies identified critical issues that they felt needed to be addressed to promote excellence in research, teaching and outreach programs. The three identified issues were:

·Improving the quality of university governance. Cornell has one of the most participatory and collaborative governance structures of any college or university in the United States. Our campus charter mandates student, faculty and staff consultation on matters of importance to the campus community. Over the years, the structures developed to achieve this policy objective have become increasingly complex and cumbersome.

·Reaffirming our land grant mission. From its founding, Cornell has promoted the values of liberal learning and civic engagement. Our institution, like many others, was created to prepare new generations of Americans for active intellectual lives, productive roles in the economy and stewardship of a dynamic democracy. Cornell was in the forefront of the university extension movement and the first institution to establish a School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Cornell is also an important source of volunteers for such programs as the Peace Corps and Teach for America. Other campuses have taken important strides towards providing greater institutional support for what educator Ernest Boyer called the "scholarship of engagement." Support for public scholarship needs to be a priority within our current strategic plan.

·Creating a sustainable campus. Cornell, like many higher education institutions, has grown significantly during the past two decades. Evidence of recent and ongoing construction is visible all over the Ithaca campus. Our physical expansion plans need to be carried out with consideration of the built-in energy demands and the long-term staffing needs of these new facilities. The university's agreement with the student-led Kyoto movement, as well as the interests of Cornell employees engaged in maintenance, technical and clerical support functions and the future health of our environment, requires a careful examination of sustainable campus planning and development.

If you are interested in these and/or other issues that affect our university, I invite you on behalf of the University Assembly to consider serving on one of our constituent assemblies. Election information can be received in the Office of the Assemblies, 165 Day Hall. In this challenging time, we must remember that democracy is not a spectator sport. Your ideas, voice and passion are needed within the university's assembly system!

Staff interested in learning more about campus governance are invited to attend the following information sessions, to be held in 316 Day Hall:

·March 5, 12:15-1:30 p.m.: Employee Assembly will meet with Lynette Chappell-Williams, director of the Office of Workforce Diversity, Equity and Life Quality.

·March 12, noon-1 p.m.: The Employee Assembly will host a luncheon with Henrik N. Dullea, vice president for university relations, and Mary Opperman, vice president for human resources.

Interested staff are asked to RSVP by e-mail to employee_assem-mailbox@cornell.edu.

Kenneth Reardon is an associate professor of city and regional planning in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning and the chair of the University Assembly. More information on the University Assemblies is available at http://www.assembly.cornell.edu or 255-3715.