Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed the controversial “shared governance” bill, House Bill 2735, that would have stripped historical language in the current statutes to weaken the governing power of faculty and educational members at Arizona’s public universities.
Hobbs explained her decision in a veto letter, stating “faculty play a key role in the shared governance of a university’s academic and research affairs. Limiting their management participation in the academic affairs of the institution has the potential to weaken the institution and limit the perspectives and expertise included in decision making.”
The proposal swaps the faculty, administration and regents’ current shared participation in governance for a vague “consult” role by university educators. Specifically, revisions strike language from Arizona laws that empower faculty members of each university through their “elected faculty representatives” to “participate in” the governance of their respective universities.
The day before Hobbs’ announcement, Penny Ann Dolin, chair of the Arizona Faculties Council, stated the group’s opposition during the Arizona Board of Regents meeting Thursday.
“The Arizona Faculties Council strenuously objects to this bill that could damage the existing shared governance practice we’ve operated under,” she said.
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A guide to shared governance: How it works at the UA and its politicization in Arizona and beyond
For more than 30 years, shared governance — the collaboration in decision making between faculty, staff and students with highest level university leaders — was anchored by existing Arizona state laws…
Many faculty and students have publicly criticized the bill, deeming it unnecessary and harmful to faculty representation in university governance. At a February board of regents meeting, Evan Berry, faculty head and associate professor of religious studies at Arizona State University, called the bill “a serious threat to academic freedom” saying it “will have a chilling effect on free speech.”
For more than 30 years, shared governance — the collaboration in decision making between faculty, staff and students with highest level university leaders — was anchored by existing Arizona state laws dictating faculty’s role in helping guide the university.
The bill originated in the House of Representatives with State Rep. Travis Grantham, a Republican representing District 14 in Maricopa County, as HB 2735’s primary sponsor.
Grantham framed the proposal as a response to the University of Arizona’s financial crisis when it was first introduced to the House Appropriations Committee in February.
“What was going on at UA was more of a holistic approach where they kind of had this model taking place that was shared governance and shared governance is not how the universities are supposed to operate,” Grantham said at the hearing.
All three universities have shared-governance policies. The concept has been a mainstay of higher education since the American Association of University Professors, the American Council on Education and the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges adopted the “Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities” in 1966.
The bill’s passage through the House and the Senate fell strongly along party lines with Republicans voting in favor of the measure.
Grantham and Republicans who voted for the bill insisted the proposed statutory changes were a clarification measure during multiple hearings. However, Jonathan Becker, associate professor specializing in university leadership and an expert in school law and the politics of education at Virginia Commonwealth University, told Arizona Luminaria in February that wasn’t the way he saw it.
“At least one of the changes in the proposed bills inserts the word consult into state statute and to me that’s problematic,” Becker said. “Consultation feels more one-sided, more top-down, it doesn’t feel in the spirit of shared governance.”
State Rep. Nancy Gutierrez, a Democrat representing District 18, has been adamantly opposed to the measure, saying it would jeopardize faculty say in academic matters.
The governor and the other state university presidents, not including UA President Robert Robbins who has taken responsibility for UA’s financial missteps, were against the bill, she said. The board of regents has maintained a neutral stance on the proposal.
“The board of regents shouldn’t have control over academics and what’s taught at the university,” Gutierrez told Arizona Luminaria in March.
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