Raoul Spronken, currently the only support staff representative on the Faculty Council, stated that he has been gaining a lot of new colleagues in recent years. Full-time equivalent staff numbers have increased from 54 in 2004 to 82 last year. He argued that a second seat would better balance representation between support staff and the five academic staff members on the council. “I want to be better represented”, said Spronken. He noted that, in his absence, there is no one to step in to discuss or vote on important issues.
Adding a support staff seat would change the council’s current composition of twelve members. If Spronken were joined by a colleague, a corresponding seat would need to be added for the student delegation (currently six members), as the council must have an equal number of students and staff.
Change
“I have reservations about expanding the council”, said Dean Jan Smits, and he wasn’t alone in this opinion. Smits pointed to the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE) and the School of Business and Economics (SBE), whose councils each have two support staff representatives and just four academic staff representatives. Would that be an option for the Faculty of Law?
“Having more people delve even deeper doesn’t always help the discussion”, said academic staff representative Jasper Korving. “It would be rather odd for us to suddenly have fourteen members, compared with other faculties.”
“But nothing has changed for a long time”, countered Spronken. “Maybe other faculty councils should consider changing their compositions too.” He was backed by academic staff representative Agustin Parise, who argued that expanding the council makes sense given the growth of both the faculty and support staff. However, his proposal to put the matter to an immediate vote was rejected. A vote has now been scheduled for December. If the Faculty Council approves a second support staff seat, the Faculty Board and the university’s Executive Board will still need to weigh in.