COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The Texas A&M Faculty Senate Task Force on Academic Freedom and Faculty Protection presented its proposals to address faculty concerns during their monthly meeting on Monday night.
“People are very aware right now of what the university should be, and how we can best serve our students," Faculty Senate Speaker Tracy Hammond said. "Right now, everybody's open to change and people are being very brave and trying to figure out how can faculty support their students as best as possible.”
According to Senior Associate Vice President for Faculty Affairs Heather Lench, who presented the task force’s recommendations. One of their top priorities was to create a statement on academic freedom that TAMU faculty could incorporate into their syllabi.
“One of the transitions that we made with the syllabus statement is to instead of talking about controversial matters, say that it's the responsibility of the faculty member to ensure that the topics discussed are related to the classroom subject,” Lench said.
This is all a result of controversies that have gained nationwide attention involving the university administration and their decision to place professor Joy Alonzo on paid leave for alleged comments made during a lecture as well as the failed hiring of Kathleen McElroy to lead the school's revamped journalism program over the summer.
“The faculty definitely were hurt after the events of the summer but I would say right now they're feeling quite hopeful," Hammond said. "I'm seeing a lot of smiles. I'm seeing a lot of chuckles. I'm seeing many people being hopeful of the change they're seeing.”
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