“Habemus senatum,” Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Tamar Gendler declared, banging her gavel. “We have a senate.”
On Tuesday afternoon, roughly 80 members of the FAS filed into Luce Hall and voted 61 to three, with no abstentions, to approve bylaws regarding the FAS Senate composition and procedures. The historic vote endorsed, with only minimal amendments, the rules detailed in a 23-page report released to faculty last week by the FAS Senate Implementation committee — a group of 11 FAS faculty members tasked in 2013 with outlining the structure and responsibilities of the new legislative body. With the first FAS Senate elections slated for April 2015 and first meeting planned for fall 2015, faculty interviewed were largely optimistic about the future of the governance structure and its impact on the University.