The University Record, April 24, 1995
Loup looks back over year, forward to challenges for Senate Assembly
By Jane R. Elgass
Jean Loup told Senate Assembly members last week that ahead of time she would not have been able to describe what the past year has been like. “I grew more than I did when I was 19 years old,” said the outgoing chair, before passing the gavel to George Brewer.
Loup said that in the past year the Assembly and the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs have drawn attention to, and made progress on, several issues.
These include “establishing the concern of the faculty” about the right of a dean to suspend governance, greater cooperation and response in the project to evaluate deans, and the issuance of tenure and faculty of color reports “that are good statements and a basis for action.”
Loup said two things surprised her during her term of office: a high level of anger among the faculty and fear for her safety.
She called the anger “sad,” adding that it can be very destructive.
She feared for her safety three times, including two in which she thought a gun might be in a briefcase.
She hadn’t realized, she said, “how vulnerable people are who stand before others, the risks we take if anger is present.”
Challenges Loup identified for next year’s Assembly include the issue of tenure, the grievance process, state relations and the faculty’s role in that arena, and national discussions about affirmative action and their impact on the Michigan Mandate and the Michigan Agenda for Women.
Possibly the biggest challenge, she concluded, is for faculty to work “in a spirit of cooperation, to commit themselves to working on the best solutions for the University.”
In brief remarks, Brewer asked for feedback on two proposals that will make Assembly meetings “more lively and reflective of University values.”
He proposes to have each meeting focus on a single topic for debate and discussion, with tenure being an obvious one, and that, in cooperation with the president, there be a featured speaker following adjournment, someone of “high profile that would add significance to the meeting and the body.”
