Faculty meeting closed to public

The agenda committee of the Bloomington Faculty Council convened Thursday and upheld a decision to keep a Nov. 15 general meeting of the campus faculty closed to the public and the press.\nThe special mass meeting -- the first since 1986 -- was announced this week in response to increasing faculty criticism of IU President Adam Herbert's decision to continue the search for a permanent IU-Bloomington chancellor.\nUnder ad hoc rules announced Tuesday, the meeting "will be open only to the faculty and associate faculty" of IUB. The rules define "faculty" as all faculty members with tenure-related appointments, librarians with tenure-related appointments and research scientists and scholars on the Bloomington campus.\n"Associate faculty" members include academic appointees, including emeritus faculty, and administrative officers who do not hold academic rank. \nIU President Adam Herbert, who is a professor of public administration in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and a professor of political science in the College of Arts and Sciences, would qualify for admittance, said IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre.\nThe organizers of Tuesday's meeting will be able to keep the doors closed because the meeting is considered "general meeting of the Bloomington faculty," and not a faculty council meeting. Council meetings, according to BFC bylaws, are open to students, staff and the press. \nThe meeting -- held at 3:30 p.m., the normal time of the BFC's biweekly meeting -- will be chaired by BFC President Ted Miller and adjudicated by the BFC parliamentarian. The BFC secretary will post the results of the meeting on the BFC Web site.\nMiller said he and the council think it will be in "the best interest of Indiana University" to keep the meeting closed but declined to elaborate further on why he thinks students should not be admitted.\nThe rules for Tuesday's meeting in the IU Auditorium stipulate that faculty members must sign in and out of the session "to ensure that a quorum is maintained." Associate faculty members must also sign in for attendance records.\nA quorum of 200 faculty members must be present in order to conduct business. If less than 800 faculty members are present at the meeting, a mail ballot will be required to ratify any action taken.\nFaculty members plan to propose in the meeting a resolution to the IU board of trustees recommending a review of Herbert's performance as president, as well as a review of the general organizational structure of Bloomington campus leadership.\nSome professors say the dual-role position of IUB chancellor and University-wide senior vice president for academic affairs creates a conflict of interest, because they say it is impossible for the chancellor to act in Bloomington's best interests while representing other IU campuses.\nBFC agenda committee member Bonnie Brownlee said there might be additional resolutions proposed.\n"During a crisis like this, all sorts of people come out of the woodwork and this is an opportunity for them to get their voices heard," Brownlee said.\nSteve Ferguson, president of the IU board of trustees, said he and Patrick Shoulders, vice president of the board, meet with the IU president on an annual basis to review the previous year and the next year's goals.\n"The board always wants to hear the opinions of the faculty and other members of the IU community and any comments we receive or information we receive will be taken very seriously," Ferguson said.\nMacIntyre said since Herbert is considering attending the meeting. Several sources have confirmed that Herbert has invited about 20 University faculty members, including several department chairs, to a Friday lunch.\nFor a copy of the session's rules as distributed to faculty members Tuesday, visit www.idsnews.com.