In historic move, faculty votes to give itself the vote

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted this week to establish an elected faculty senate—the first in Yale’s 312-year history—in a move that one proponent sees as both “a historic shift” and “a no-brainer.”

The vote (49 in favor, 7 opposed, with 4 abstentions) declares support in principle for an elected body to represent arts and sciences faculty. It asks President Peter Salovey ’86PhD to appoint a committee to propose a structure and rules by December 2014, when the faculty will vote again.

“Yale is quite unusual in not having something like this,” says political science professor Steven Wilkinson, chair of the Faculty Input Committee whose recommendation led to the December 9 vote.