The goal of the Faculty Senateis to serve as the voice of the faculty of Southern University, however due torecent controversy its purpose has been hindered.
Conflict within the senate and accusations of a biasadministration, particularly involving Chancellor Edward Jackson and ViceChancellor of Academic Affairs Johnny Tolliver, has caused division in theorganization and has resulted in an undeclared leader and a sense of confusionand duplicity between the faculty and administration.
Elections were held on May 6,2004 for new senators and executive officers; but due to differentinterpretations of the faculty senate constitution, claims of invalidnominations and illegitimately formed committees; separate elections took placeresulting in two senate presidents.
Election results in James Halldeclared Eva Baham of the department of history, president, while results inthe Mocha Room of the Smith-Brown Memorial Union left incumbent, Sudhir Trevidiof the college of computer science, president.
This outcome including thevalidity of the election committees was contested with no mutual agreementbetween the differing parties.
At the resignation of Dr. Baham,newly elected Vice President Dr. Diola Bagayoko, professor of Physics anddirector of Timbuktu Academy became acting president. This caused disorder within the senate as several membersconsidered the election of Baham void as well as the installation of Bagayoko as vice president.
“As a scientist I have learnedto go by the facts and that election (Mocha Room) was sabotage grand scale,”Bagayoko said.
“The election held in the JamesHall was valid because it was run by people who were appointed by thesenate.”
He argued that because thedismissal of election committee chair, Marilyn Goff of mass communication, wasunconstitutional the election which she presided over (James Hall) waslegitimate.
Based on the interpretation of the constitution by theparliamentarian, the president of the senate cannot dismiss a member of acommittee.
”It is the parliamentarian’s job to interpret theconstitution but that does not mean he is always right,” Trivedi said.
At the time of thatinterpretation Bagayoko served as parliamentarian.
“He (Bagayoko) was disqualifiedas well, because of his interference with the election held in the Mocha Room,therefore he was not vice president then and he isn’t president or vicepresident now,” Trivedi said.
Since the dispute had not beensettled, the fall and spring semester started with two senates, one withTrevedi presiding, and the other with Bagayoko. In recent emails disbursed tothe faculty Trevedi has accused the administration particularly ChancellorEdward Jackson and Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Johnny Tolliver ofhijacking faculty elections in order to obtain a more susceptiblerepresentation.
“If it had not been for theChancellor’s actions to cause confusion, apparently to benefit from confusion,we would not have been in this mess today and would have had a president and avice president in September,” Trivedi wrote.
In an effort to mend thesituation another election was held under the mandate of Tolliver.
“This mandate is a form ofpartisanship. That election is a joke,” Trivedi said.
On January 25, voting was heldin the Blue and Gold Room of the union.
The final election resultsconcluded with Eva Baham as president along with new senators representing theColleges’ of Education, Arts and Humanities, the School of Nursing and SULaboratory.
“The focus of the senate will beto establish what the faculty means to the university and we will ensurepositive and productive relations between the faculty, administration and boardof supervisors while maintaining a firm hand on issues withoutcontention,” Baham said.
“I am a historian and I havelearned that when situations arise we must learn from them. We must not dwellor linger on the past but use it to move forward. A lot of good faculty membersdid not give up but tried hard to bring resolution. I must grow fromthem.”
In an official memo sent out bythe Chancellor, he stated that his administration would recognize Baham aspresident. The faculty senate will begin the semester with its first meetingwithin the following weeks. The meetings are open to the university and thepublic.
