University of California, Irvine. Academic Senate.

Organizational History

The Irvine Division of the Academic Senate, established December 1, 1965, is the faculty governing body of the University of California, Irvine. The UC-wide Academic Senate is empowered by UC's governing body, the Board of Regents, to exercise direct control, subject to the board's approval, over academic matters of central importance to the University. These include matters of educational policy and approval of programs, courses, and grades. The UC Academic Council acts as the executive arm to carry Senate business forward to the President and the Board of Regents.

In 1963, UC President Clark Kerr formed advisory committees for each of the new UC campuses, the members of which were drawn from the older campuses. Among other duties, these advisors recommended salary levels for incoming faculty, made final appointments of academic administrators, and organized the academic programs on the new campus. The Irvine Campus Academic Advisory Committee was led by John Galbraith of UCLA until 1964, when H.T. Swedenberg assumed his place. The committee held its last meeting in May, 1965.

By the fall of 1964, 86 faculty members were eligible for Senate membership at UCI. A committee, composed of Abraham Melden (Chair of Philosophy); Jack Peltason (Academic Vice Chancellor), and Edward Steinhaus (Dean of Biological Sciences) developed the bylaws and part of the Senate's constitution. By May 1965 a draft of these documents was ready. In fall 1965 three more members were elected to the committee and on June 7, 1966, a final draft was approved. Melden was the first chair of the Senate.

In 1968, department members of the School of Humanities voted three assistant professors-- George Kent, Donald Brannan, and Stephen Shapiro--off the faculty. The young professors were all popular among students, and there was uproar among both students (calling themselves the KBS Committee after the names of the three professors) and junior members of the faculty. The issues of tenure and review fall under the jurisdiction of the Academic Senate, and an emergency meeting was called on February 20, 1969 to address a call for a retroactive moratorium on dismissals, until tenure policies could be reviewed. The moratorium was voted down and the dismissals were appealed individually. Only Kent was eventually granted tenure.

Every regular faculty member at UC Irvine is a member of the Senate and until 1976, all UCI faculty were eligible to participate in all Senate meetings. In November 1975, because of increasing numbers of faculty, the Senate voted to specify the number of representatives from each school or college to serve on a voluntary basis through appointment in the Divisional Senate Assembly.

The Chair of the Academic Senate is advised by the Senate Cabinet, standing committees, and special committees. Following are some of the most important Academic Senate standing committees : Educational Policy (CEP), Academic Personnel (CAP, previously called the Budget Committee), Coordinating Committee on Graduate Affairs (CCGA), Planning and Budget, Privilege and Tenure, and Admissions and Relations with Schools.

The Special Committee on the Nixon Library was appointed by the Chair in 1983 to research and develop recommendations relating to the possibility of the Nixon Presidential Library being located on the UCI campus. The Committee recommended several conditions that the Nixon Archives Foundation felt were overbearing. As a result, UCI was not chosen as the site for the Nixon Presidential Library.

From the guide to the University of California, Irvine, Academic Senate records, 1966-2009, (Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine Libraries)