A 'silly' name for a serious committee

The University's Committee on Committees helps keep things running smoothly. Poring through the rolls of official University committees yields some fairly predictable names. There's the Facilities Committee, the Student Affairs Committee, the Safety and Security Committee -- and the Committee on Committees. This last tongue-twister actually lies at the core of some of the most important decisions at the University. The Committee on Committees, comprised of faculty, students and staff, reviews each University Council committee, pinpoints issues of importance and recommends members to sit on the Committee on Committees for the succeeding year. "When I heard the name of that committee, well, the name is so silly," said Associate University Secretary Connie Goodman. "But it is an extremely important committee and serves a critical function in the quality of work done by committees." In other words, the name may be strange, but the committee isn't the University's answer to the Firesign Theatre's "Department of Redundancies Department." In fact, the Committees Committee is one of the original branches of the University Council, the advisory group to the president and provost that first met in the 1960s. The chairperson of each of the University Council's 14 committees sits on the Committees Committee to evaluate the others, thereby assessing the need for each committee's existence. And since its supervisory functions ensure that the 14 other committees work together smoothly, it's not uncommon for the Committees Committee's name to turn up in Council minutes. But this year, the Committee on Committees hasn't even chosen members, much less held a meeting. This is normal, Goodman said. Last year, its first meeting was held in February, and it took roughly five meetings to accomplish its goals. "It is not a committee that meets all year long," Goodman said. "It must meet before the last meeting of the Steering Committee so that names suggested by the Committee on Committees are approved." The Steering Committee of University Council sets the agenda for each Council meeting, and agendas frequently include reports from other committees -- just to be confusing. At each session last year, the Committee on Committees dealt with roughly four other committees, discussing recommendations, membership and whether the chairperson wishes to retain his or her position. "The goal is to get the very best faculty to serve on these committees," said Goodman. "The president, in the past year, has been referring issues for consideration to Council committees, and that's extremely important, because committees want to know that their time is being well spent."

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