Faculty Senate closes nominations for upcoming elections

ãThe election process is not as simple as one might assume,ä said Christopher Colthorpe, an associate professor and chair of the Faculty Senate governance committee. He explained that there are seven electoral units: College of Medicine Clinical Sciences with more than 700 voting faculty; College of Medicine Basic Sciences with more than 150 voting faculty; College of Health Professions with 81 voting faculty; College of Nursing with 38 voting faculty; College of Dental Medicine with 49 voting faculty; College of Pharmacy with 38 voting faculty; and general or non-aligned faculty with 34 voting faculty. Thus there are more than 1,100 members of the MUSC faculty with voting privileges. All full-time faculty with the rank of instructor or above have voting privileges within their electoral unit and may serve on the senate.

While the governance committee, which is responsible for overseeing the elections, would have liked to have finished the elections by the end of May, committee members decided it would be best to avoid some of the problems that have occurred in the past.

ãDue to the dynamic nature and size of the university, it is really difficult to obtain an accurate and up-to-date list of faculty at and above a specific rank at a specific time,ä Colthorpe said. Between new hires, those leaving the university, retirees, promotions, deaths and even transfers to different colleges, the governance committee soon realized that determining who is eligible is difficult.

ãWe devoted more than seven weeks working with the Center for Computing and Information Technology (CCIT), the deans of each college, and the Provostâs Office, and we believe we have an accurate list,ä Colthorpe said. ãThis list was used to mail out nomination slips and more than 175 individuals were nominated.ä

Colthorpe pointed out that ãin theoryä those wishing to nominate someone are requested to check with that individual to determine eligibility and willingness to serve. ãBut theory and practice donât always coincide,ä he said. ãWe have learned the hard way that not everyone who is nominated can serve. So this year the committee decided to contact every nominee before sending out ballots. As hard to believe as it may seem, even with fax, audix, secretaries, beepers, telephones, and carrier pigeons, it took the better part of four weeks to find everyone. In fact, weâre still looking for some of them.ä

The committee, Colthorpe said, was able to determine that of the 175 nominees, 80 could not have served if they had been elected. ãYou can imagine the chaos had we conducted the election and then had to disallow nearly 50 percent of the candidates,ä Colthorpe said. ãWe believe our time has been well spent.ä

While the committee believes it has compiled the most accurate faculty list available, it would appreciate direct input from the faculty at large. Colthorpe has placed a copy of the list in the university library and has requested that faculty members check to be sure they are accounted for. Individuals are listed alphabetically by college and department. The senate also plans to place the list on its web page, making it computer accessible.

Any errors concerning faculty appointment should be brought to the attention of Colthorpe, Department of Educational Services at 729-4979.