FAS Delays Faculty Senate Vote after Professors Propose Sweeping Amendments

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences postponed a vote on proposed faculty senate bylaws after University Professor Danielle S. Allen withdrew her motion to approve them at a Tuesday faculty meeting.

Allen’s withdrawal followed the circulation of amendments to the bylaws by a group of six faculty members that would reduce the power of the University president in the body, give the senate greater autonomy over committee formation, and allow it to pass resolutions by majority vote.

A group of faculty from across Harvard’s schools tasked with planning the faculty senate released the proposed bylaws after negotiations with representatives for Harvard’s central administration, almost two years after they began work in December 2024. The bylaws envision a more advisory role for a faculty senate effort that once considered legislative responsibilities and giving faculty a seat on the Harvard Corporation.

Professors Mina Cikara, Ryan D. Enos, and Kirsten A. Weld wrote that the bylaws lacked “sufficient efficacy and independence” in a Crimson op-ed published Tuesday. They argued that the proposed bylaws “limit” the faculty senate’s ability to “formulate and share advice — with Harvard’s administrators, boards, faculties, and community” in its advisory capacity.

The amendments were made available to faculty at Tuesday’s meeting but were not discussed after Allen withdrew her motion.

“The decision by some colleagues to introduce amendments meant colleagues would have been asked to take a substantive vote today at what was supposed to be a first discussion meeting,” Allen wrote in a statement. “No substantive votes should be taken on this question before people have had due time for discussion and deliberation.”

Allen also said she plans to make the motion next month.

Proposed by professors Derek Miller, Bernhard Nickel, Bence P. Olveczky, and Walter Johnson along with Cikara, Enos, and Weld, the amendments would remove a presidential veto for future changes to faculty senate bylaws — a provision not present in earlier iterations of the bylaws.

They also address the senate’s private deliberations. The proposed bylaws would allow the ex officio members of the senate, which include central administration leadership and school deans, in closed-door sessions. The motion of the six professors removes this ability and limits closed door sessions to senators.

The amendments would allow the faculty senate to form committees at the discretion of the executive committee. The proposed bylaws permit “Standing Committees only for internal governance.” The amendments would also strike a clause barring the faculty senate for setting up committees that “duplicate or shadow the work or remit of other University wide committees or bodies.”

They would also remove a requirement that resolutions passed by the senate be approved with a two-thirds vote, lowering the threshold to a majority of the senate. The threshold for the senate’s ratification would also be lowered by the amendments: Instead of all nine faculties have to sign on, only six would be required to create the body.

“The full body of faculty should have adequate time to deliberate deeply and fully on the bylaws, so we do plan to return to the motion again,” Allen said as she withdrew her motion at the meeting.

Allen said the FAS delegates plan to hold town halls for faculty members to discuss the bylaws more in depth ahead of the reintroduction of the motion next month.

—Staff writer Abigail S. Gerstein can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at abbysg.97. Follow her on X @abbysgerstein.

—Staff writer Amann S. Mahajan can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at amannsm.38. Follow her on X @amannmahajan.