The task force proposed in a resolution unanimously adopted by the Faculty Senate on Tuesday, Sept. 24, is already in the process of being formed, and many in The University of Alabama community are hopeful about the continuation of the efforts to create effective changes in the greek system and around campus.
Students, faculty and the administration have begun working together to move forward in the joint goal of ending discrimination and corruption, Archie Creech, a sophomore and one of the student leaders of the Stand in the Schoolhouse Door 2013 protest, said after the Faculty Senate approved the resolution.
“I feel very confident in our ability to move forward,” Creech said. “It all depends on how we work together to make the change happen.”
On Wednesday, Sept. 25, Steve Miller, the Faculty Senate president, hand-delivered the Task Force Resolution to UA President Judy Bonner. Miller told The Crimson White that Bonner accepted the resolution “in her usual gracious style.”
“We appreciate that the faculty senate is willing to be part of this process as we move forward to make lasting changes in our greek community,” Bonner said in an emailed statement.
The adopted resolution outlines the membership of the task force as consisting of five faculty members, three students and two members of the administration. Three of the five faculty positions will be reserved for non-senators. Two of those at-large faculty positions will be voted on by the Faculty Senate at their next meeting Oct. 15, and the other will be chosen by the Black Faculty and Staff Association.
Last week, Miller, sent an email to the UA faculty listserv calling on any interested non-senate faculty members to nominate themselves for the task force. Miller said that several faculty members had responded with positivity and interests in being “part of the solution.”
The other two faculty members will be senators that will also self-nominate and be voted on by the senate. The three student representatives to the task force will consist of an SGA appointee, an appointee of the Faculty Senate President and one graduate student appointed by the dean of the Graduate School. The two administration representatives will be appointed by President Bonner.
Miller said that while there is no mandate deadline for the appointment of the task force members, he is confident that each organization will decide their representatives by the Oct. 15 Faculty Senate meeting so the task force can begin its work. The task force itself also has no scheduled meeting times but will establish its own timeline when it first convenes.
“I am hoping that the other members, to be selected by their organizations, will also be in place by [Oct. 15],” Miller said. “It is up to the task force to meet and begin its work.”
The University did not respond to inquiries by The Crimson White as to who Bonner will appoint to the task force. Still, Miller and many students and faculty members remain optimistic that the administration will continue to work in unison with the other parts of the UA community to bring about lasting change.
“Students, faculty and administration are all rowing in the same direction,” Miller said.
