University at Buffalo’s Office of Shared Governance celebrated the 10th annual Shared Governance Day; which is declared as the first Tuesday in March.
Dr. Philip Glick, a professor of surgery and management as well as one of the hosts for the celebration, mentioned that now more than ever shared governance is essential.
“We need to be proactive, not reactive on important issues,” said the board-certified pediatric surgeon of more than 35 years. “We all need to be at the table with a voice and a vote. And I think in these tumultuous times that we're living in right now, that paragraph is even more meaningful.”
Glick was the former chair of the Faculty Senate before leaving office in 2019. He mentioned one of the final things done before leaving that office was passing the doctrine of shared governance by a unanimous vote. Codifying everything learned and the current practices in place.
Graduate students were invited to speak on the impact shared governance had for them. Isaac Kolding, Graduate Student Association President is humbled for the opportunity to learn and be part of the process.
“I want to express gratitude for their patience, because grad students don't know everything about how an organization this complicated functions,” he said.
And Kolding understands the work is not easy, and more lays ahead as grad students continue their organized labor efforts.
“There are a lot of challenges [still], obviously, that we're both facing as an institution. Many graduate students are spending three-quarters of their income on rent,” he said. “The union is heading into day 613 of the contract negotiations. A.I. leads us to ask fundamental questions about what it means to learn. To do intellectual work; and as we work together to address all these kinds of challenges, please invite your graduate students to be a part of that conversation.”
