A bill that would put faculty on universities' boards of trustees had its first victory today, but it awaits an uncertain fate in the Senate.
The bill, 1359, will now go from the House Education Committee to the full House for a vote.
But its Senate counterpart - written by Muncie senator Allie Craycraft - is stalled in the Senate's Committee on Rules and Legislative Procedure.
"We're going to have to have a fight on the Senate side," said Gary Rep. Vernon Smith, who authored the bill in the House. "I just don't understand the resistance."
Both bills mandate that the faculty trustee have no voting power, and bill supporters allowed an amendment today that would prohibit the trustee from participating in individual personnel issues.
Still, the bill represents a "fair, sensible, common sense approach" said Dan Reagan, an associate professor of political science at Ball State and one of the bill's proponents Tuesday.
Opponents, including Ball State Associate Vice President Jeff Linder, counter the bill could create a conflict of interest.
Linder also said faculty already have input into administration. All department chairs are selected by faculty, he said, and they have considerable input into selecting the dean.
Currently, University Senate Chairwoman Marilyn Buck has been given time at board meetings to discuss issues in the Senate.
Buck cannot, however, attend executive sessions or speak about issues not on the agenda-privileges that only would be extended to a faculty trustee.
The American Association of University Professors has pushed for faculty trustees for three years, and it's achieved a bigger victory each year.
But if they want to turn the bill into a law this year, they will have to convince Senate Pro Tempore Robert Garton, R-Columbus, to give the Senate's bill a hearing. Garton leads the Rules committee and has several qualms about the idea.
He said the board should not represent specific interests.
"That's not why the Board of Trustees was created," Garton said. "They represent the public."
Garton, however, would not come right out and say that the bill had no chance. Instead, he said time will tell.
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