Faculty Senate Chair Kathleen Brown spoke about the role of shared governance at Penn at a Thursday event.
The Jan. 29 discussion — hosted by the Penn Forum for Women Faculty and Gender Equity — focused on the role of the Faculty Senate in informing University decisions. At Penn, shared governance allows faculty to “heavily influence” decisions that fall under their responsibility.
During the forum — which was led by PFWFGE chair Janine Remillard and Brown — online participants expressed a belief that shared governance implies “decentralization” and “meaningful decision-making.”
Brown defined the practice as “appropriate joint-effort and planning,” drawing on the 1966 Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities published by the American Association of University Professors. She characterized the system as “mutually influential” between the University's administration and faculty.
“To fulfill the responsibilities of shared governance, the faculty need timely and accurate information from the administration, and the administration needs regular and reliable communication from faculty,” Brown said. “It works best with administrative observance and respect for faculty engagement.”
According to Brown, faculty should oversee academic content and staff composition while administrators manage the University's budget. She added that budget and policy decisions still affect areas under faculty purview, making communication a key step to shared governance.
“The faculty have the right to determine course content, department curriculum, and their own research topics,” Brown said. “Administrators who exert control over the budget cannot possibly stay in their lane without an impact on the faculty lane — and conflict emerges in shared governance.”
Faculty members can engage with the Senate to support shared governance by reaching out to the committee's tri-chairs and Senate representatives with questions and concerns, according to Brown.
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Brown explained that the means to “get some representation for non-tenure-track faculty is an open issue right now,” and is a subject the tri-chairs are discussing.
“Some of that consulting doesn't take place in the SEC meetings,” Brown said. “The tri-chairs get informed by SEC members, and then bring that to consultation.”
The panel also featured Faculty Senate Executive Assistant Patrick Walsh, who provided an overview of the body's function and mission. The Faculty Senate — which currently consists of over 2,700 standing faculty and educators — was meant to protect “academic freedom” during the “McCarthy Era,” according to Walsh.
In December 2025, members of the University Council voted on a motion to rename its “Committee on Diversity and Equity” to the “Committee on Community and Equal Opportunity.”
At the shared governance event, Walsh explained that the renaming was “done through great effort and collaboration between the faculty senate and student groups.”
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Staff reporter Cathy Sui covers federal policy and can be reached at sui@thedp.com. At Penn, she studies finance and statistics.
