Boulder Faculty Assembly records

In 1974, the University of Colorado was reorganized into a four campus system, including a Central Administration, and four campuses: Colorado Springs (UCCS), Denver (UCD), Boulder (UCB), and the Health Science Center (UCHSC). With the exception of Boulder, all the other campuses immediately formed their respective assemblies. In Boulder, the Faculty Council continued to act as both the Council for the entire University and the elected faculty assembly for the Boulder Campus. Boulder Campus members became increasingly unhappy with discussions on matters that did not pertain to them and sought a permanent campus faculty assembly. Under the chairmanship of Albert Bartlett (Physics), a Faculty Council committee drafted a constitution entailing a Faculty Assembly for Boulder with 30 members. These members would include representatives from all the schools and colleges, including the library and museum; members of the Faculty Senate; and ex officio members. The constitution was approved by the Senate and the Boulder Faculty Assembly (BFA) was created in March 1976, with a slight change in the constitution to 34 members. The Boulder Faculty Assembly’s first officers were: Chair Karl Openshaw, the Dean of the School of Education; Vice-Chair Elissa Guralick (English) and Secretary Sam Kuczun (Journalism).

The Boulder Faculty Assembly took over many of the old responsibilities of the Faculty Council, over which Professor John Tracy chair. Tracy reportedly said, “The organization of a Boulder campus faculty governing body probably will cause the demise of the present Faculty Council.” Karl Openshaw announced his resignation as chairman of BFA only a few months later, resulting from his agreement to remain Dean of Education. Consequently, John Tracy offered his name in nomination to succeed Openshaw. Tracy was elected chairman of the Boulder Faculty Assembly that August, resigning from the Faculty Council a short while later. In 1977, John Tracy was then elected for a second term, along with Vice-Chair Kaye Howe, the Chair of the Comparative Literature Department. Howe became Chair of the BFA in 1978 with Vice-Chair William Jahsman (mechanical engineering) and Secretary Stanley Cristol (chemistry). In 1979, Howe won a second term with Charles Nilon (English, black studies) as Vice Chair.

The by-laws indicate that the Boulder Faculty Assembly was responsible for the governance of UCB, academic issues, university operations, and faculty welfare. These responsibilities were carried out by the committees of the BFA, which can be standing, ad-hoc, or a subcommittee as defined in the by-laws. The most important committee was the Executive Committee, consisting of the three officers of the Assembly, the officers-elect of the Assembly, and two voting members from the Assembly, as well as the resigned chairperson serving as a member ex officio (with vote) for the year following the office term. This committee serves many important functions; one of which is the responsibility as a nominating committee for both the Boulder Faculty Assembly and the Faculty Senate. The by-laws also outline some of the other major committees, including CAPPS, budget, election, libraries, museum, cultural programs, student discipline, and student discipline appeals. The Committee on Academic Planning, Practices, and Standards (CAPPS) is concerned with maintaining a system for the evaluation of teaching quality, which involves rewards. This committee also looks at the role and function of teaching associates and teaching assistants, as well as the adequacy of teaching facilities. CAPPS is also responsible for curriculum, undergraduate awards and scholarships, and admission policies. The budget committee interacts with administrative officers with the purpose of developing the request budget for the following year, along with monitoring the administrative control over budget. This committee also performs budgetary studies and analyses to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the University of Colorado. The election committee is composed of the secretary of the Boulder Faculty Assembly and two members of the executive committee who are not officers. They are in charge of the distribution of academic units and the rotational procedures for unit representation among the committees. Supervising the conduct of elections and filling temporary vacancies in both the Assembly and committees are two other roles fulfilled by this committee. The libraries committee is responsible for the review and evaluation of library policies, practices, and acquisitions. Consisting of five faculty members and two student members, the museum committee works with museum faculty to establish and review operating policies. The cultural programs committee creates and reviews programs and policies to distribute funds and coordinate practices for special events on campus. The student discipline committee examines cases of student violation, while the student appeals committee looks at the appeals resulting from these cases. These two committees interact heavily with each other in forming a variety of legislation involving student conduct.