Dear Editor:

Provost (Virginia) Hinshaw has devised a scheme for diluting the academic and administrative authority of departments. The scheme is constituted by the so called "Research Initiatives" that, for the first time, are used to allocate FTEs and redirect the campus research priorities using the office of college deans, and not the academic plans of departments. It works as follows:

The dean appoints a search committee to hire, say, a chemist without asking the Department of Chemistry for any input in formulating the job description and without following the campus diversity plan. Furthermore, the job description may state: "Departmental affiliation/split to be determined by agreement among the successful candidate and the department of, say, LAWR, chemistry and/or other departments at UC Davis." The faculty of the Department of Chemistry does not participate, as a unit, in the selection of the candidate. After the successful candidate has been selected by the search committee, a home must be found for this chemist.

This process is a recipe for cronyism and mediocre candidates. In the meantime, the needs of the department of, say, chemistry, to fulfill its obligations toward undergraduate and graduate students go unmet.

The hiring process has been turned on its head, and deans, associate deans and administrators have usurped, without competence, the proper role of departments. Above all, they have turned faculty against faculty: As the Romans once and forever said: Divide et impera. The Academic Senate must put a stop to this nonsensical squandering of resources.

Quirino Paris

Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics

Editor's Note: The following is a reply to Quirino Paris' letter:

Professor Paris' letter identifies important concerns that have been the subject of discussions within the senate and with the campus administration. The current round of faculty position allocations was undertaken with unprecedented cooperation among the deans, the school and college faculty executive committees, and the Committee on Planning and Budget. The Committee on Planning and Budget did not specifically endorse the initiative concept, but most of the position allocations made by the provost are consistent with the Planning and Budget committee's recommendations. The Davis campus is committed to interdisciplinary research programs. Faculty recruitments that cross traditional departmental boundaries facilitate our pursuit of knowledge in new directions. The evolution of interdisciplinary research programs requires flexibility.

The particular recruitment that raised Professor Paris' concern was terminated because of concerns raised by senate committees, several faculty, and the affected department.

In the meantime, the Committee on Planning and Budget has recommended that multidepartment recruitments be conducted under the auspices of a lead department, which is the case with most of these searches. Further, the senate, in discussions with the administration, is formulating an approach that recognizes the need for participation at all stages by faculty of departments affected by a multidepartment recruitment including membership on search committees and review of recruitment plans and position announcements. Ultimately, the members of a department have the right to vote on appointment of any individual to the department.

Daniel Simmons

Chair of the Davis Division of the Academic Senate