Steinmetz Motion to Abolish FPPC Fails, Leads to Thorough Review
By Jenny Mertz-Shea
News Associate

After narrowly escaping the axe at last Friday's faculty meeting, the Faculty Position Planning Committee (FPPC) is now under examination by the Executive Committee, the primary committee of faculty.

In a March 28 meeting, Chemistry Professor Wayne Steinmetz brought a motion to abolish the FPPC. But the motion was tabled until April 4, when the faculty held a voice vote and ultimately voted the motion down.

"I am greatly concerned that the central teaching mission of the college is at risk," Steinmetz said. He explained that some faculty are advocating a reduction in the teaching load, which would mean significant cuts to Pomona's curriculum.

"The lean as well as the fat would be cut away," he claimed. "A better way to provide faculty more time for teaching and research is to cut away at the time spent on administrative duties. The FPPC is an obvious target."

However, Anthropology Professor Mark Jenike disagreed. "It takes a lot of time," he admitted, "but part of our job description is service. We all expect to serve on committees."

When departments submit new faculty position proposals, the FPPC, a subcommittee of the Curriculum Committee, evaluates them. It then ranks positions by priority and issues a recommendation to President Stanley, who ultimately makes the decision.

According to FPPC member and Academic Affairs Commissioner Sam Glick '04, an A ranking equals "current top priority," a B means "high among current priorities," and C is "not a current top priority." Regarding the latter, Glick added, "Departments are never happy about that, so those [C ratings] tend to be more controversial."

Glick serves on the committee along with Mary Farnsworth '03 and Robin Kirschbaum '03. The six FPPC faculty representatives are Steinmetz, Jenike, Sociology Professor Jill Grigsby, Music Professor Gwendolyn Lytle, Physics Professor Bryan Penprase, and the FPPC Chairwoman, Romance Languages & Literatures Professor Mary Coffey. Dean of the College Gary Kates, Associate Dean of the College Shahriar Shahriari, and the Registrar are also members. Only Kates and the faculty actually get to vote, however.

According to Coffey, the FPPC came into being back in 1998. "The faculty decided that it wanted to have a voice in the process of deciding on new faculty hires and replacement positions," she said. "I do not believe this opinion has changed."

Glick, who was present at the faculty meetings, claimed that some faculty have criticized the FPPC for being "ineffectual," "arbitrary," and "political… dependent on who's on the committee." But, he added, some have argued very strongly for the other side.

"It was a long discussion, and people had very strong opinions on both sides of it," he said.

Ultimately, the faculty decided not to abolish the FPPC for the time being. Instead, the Executive Committee was directed to study how well the FPPC works and report back with suggestions for improvement by the end of next semester. Jenike described the committee's mission as "kind of open-ended."

Steinmetz said this review of the FPPC is the one good thing that has come from the motion.

"I doubt that the Executive Committee would have targeted the FPPC for an evaluation if I had not made the motion to abolish it," he asserted.

As for the fate of his motion, Steinmetz admitted to some amount of dismay. "Many faculty who opposed the FPPC and were in favor of my motion did not attend the faculty meeting. I am disappointed by their lack of support," he said.

He conceded that the FPPC does, "on occasion, yield some benefits," but said that they are outweighed by the costs. His fellow committee members begged to differ.

"I've been very impressed with people on the committee's ability to rise above their own parochial departmental concerns," Jenike said.

Coffey made similar claims. "What has pleased me is to have seen how carefully the members approach their task and how fruitful discussions within the FPPC have been," she said. "When six faculty members, two administrators, the Registrar and three students put their heads together to explore an issue, positive things happen."