Focus on Progress Leads to Faculty Governance Reform

PARTNER SPOTLIGHTLafayette College

When administrative and faculty leadership at Lafayette College reviewed the results of their 2020 COACHE Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey, they saw a clear desire from faculty to engage more fully in critical issues, such as diversity, equity, and inclusion. However, faculty at the small liberal arts college in Easton, Penn. were simultaneously facing a dramatically increased workload and other challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

For many, the time demanded from the existing faculty governance committee structure was weighing on them: faculty were dedicating an enormous amount of time to their committee structure in addition to increasingly full schedules. While faculty recognized the importance of their governance work, they saw the opportunity to streamline the committee structure to leave more time for teaching and scholarship while also creating a greater sense of purpose and outcomes in their governance work — a win-win. 

According to Dr. John Meier, Provost, the impact of the pandemic was profound in driving major change initiatives at Lafayette College. “With making an impact always top of mind, we had a fertile ground for people who were interested in how we could do things differently,” says Dr. Meier. 

Against this backdrop, Lafayette College leadership set about significantly reforming faculty governance, and in particular, its committees, with COACHE data providing a key touch point and ongoing input from faculty themselves. “The complete rethinking of Lafayette College’s governance structures has been one of the most significant actions coming out of the COACHE process for the campus,” says Dr. Meier. 

A strong campus-wide Diversity Committee was a top priority to bolster existing efforts as well as address diversity, equity, and inclusion issues revealed in the COACHE data. With an emphasis on including as many voices as possible, faculty led the charge to add staff, students and even alumni in moving for the first time from a faculty committee to a broadly representative group.  

In addition, a campus-wide Budget Committee was formed and, with faculty input through the COACHE survey providing a powerful impetus to streamline the overall governance structures, several other committees were eliminated or redesigned based on their effectiveness in addressing needs of the community.  

While the number of faculty-elected committees will decrease from 16 to nine, the new structure not only gives faculty better opportunities to contribute more meaningfully, but also provides them with more space to pursue work in research and in the classroom.  

This story appeared in COACHE’s recently released Impact Report, “Partners in Progress”. Read the full report here.