Faculty members will have an opportunity to voice concerns with University President Bruce Speck during a series of listening meetings next week.

Speck announced his plan for the sessions last week during the Board of Governors meeting.

“I certainly want to make sure that I’m available to faculty to talk about whatever their concerns are,” Speck said. “This appeared to me to be a way to get out to faculty, to provide a time, and anybody who wants to can come and say ‘here’s an issue I have or here’s a concern I have.'”

Speck said he did not schedule the meetings the week before a full faculty vote on confidence in his leadership as a means to influence voters.

“That’s not my intention,” he said. “I would have very little hope these would influence people in terms of a vote that way. My intention, more than anything else, is to make sure we deal with whatever long-term issues there are that we need to deal with.”

Board president Rod Anderson said the meetings were a step in the right direction toward repairing relations between the president and faculty, and Faculty Senate President Roger Chelf plans to attend each session.

“Dr. Speck came here being everybody’s friend and we seem to have gone through a change of heart,” Chelf said.

“I have faculty handing me questions to ask him,” Chelf added. “I guess they don’t necessarily want to ask him themselves. I, as Senate president, will be at all four meetings if I can make it. I plan to go mainly as an observer, but I do have a question or two myself and I will certainly ask no more than one or two questions per meeting.”

Turnout

Speck said he is unsure how many faculty members will choose to attend each meeting, but he had a responsibility to find out what needs to be done to make the relationship better and he was attempting to do that through the listening sessions.

“I really have no idea,” Speck said of what turnout he anticipates. “I tried to schedule them at times faculty would be available, and we really tried to make it so they’re at easy locations to get to. I don’t know what will happen in terms of faculty turn out.”

Chelf anticipates high turnout for the events.

“I think people are going to turn out, yeah, but we’ll find out,” he said.