Tenured Sociology Professors Adopt Junior Faculty Proposal

The Sociology Department's senior faculty voted unanimously yesterday to allow junior faculty to participate in departmental meetings.

Christopher S. Jencks, professor of Sociology, said yesterday that there had been no opposition to the proposal--initiated by the department's non-tenured faculty--and final approval would come by the end of the week.

Department Chairman George C. Homans will circulate a written version of the measure among the senior faculty this week and the final details will be available Friday, Jencks said.

Mark S. Granovetter, assistant professor of Sociology and co-author of the junior faculty's proposal, said yesterday the vote had turned out as he expected, but added he did not know if the senior faculty had accepted all the junior faculty's requests.

The junior faculty's original letter proposed junior faculty participation in all departmental matters--including hiring new junior faculty, formulating curriculum proposals and assisting in graduate student admissions--except their own rehiring.

Homans, who authored the senior faculty's position, declined yesterday to comment on the meeting and said he did not know when the details of the meeting would be made public.

Theda Skocpol, lecturer on Sociology and co-author of the junior faculty letter, said yesterday she had not been informed of what went on at the senior faculty meeting, but she said the requests are "natural" for any academic department so there was no reason why they would not have been accepted.