FAS Dean Smith Expresses General Support for Dowling Report With Some Reservations in Letter

Dean of the Faculty Michael D. Smith expressed his support for the Dowling Committee’s recommendations to simplify the structure of student-faculty committees in a letter sent to Neuroscience Professor John E. Dowling ’57, who served as the chair of the Committee to Review the Undergraduate Council.

Smith stated that he and Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds agreed with the basic recommendations of the committee but still had reservations about some of the conclusions drawn by the report.

“Dean Hammonds and I agree whole-heartedly with the recommendation to simplify the committee structure and to put in place chairs who are in the position to make decisions,” Smith wrote. “I would like to clarify, however, that the role of committees is to provide recommendations to the deans, who then make decisions with the benefit of those recommendations. It is important that we not conflate the two activities, even if the dean empowered to act is participating in the work of the issue.”

While many believed that the Dowling Report left more issues open than resolved, its recommendation that student-faculty committees be organized in a hierarchical fashion and given decision-making power was widely considered to be its most ground-breaking conclusion.

In the letter, Smith disagreed with the committee’s recommendation to have equal numbers of students and faculty members on every committee. Instead, Smith emphasized that this recommendation may only be appropriate in some cases.

The Dowling Report also recommended that the re-organization of the student-faculty committees be accompanied by a restructuring of the UC’s student advocacy committee structure.

UC President Andrea R. Flores ’10 said she looks forward to meeting with Smith.

“I want to talk about implementation which wasn’t addressed in the letter,” Flores said.