Faculty Cancel Quorum Meeting

Just days after the highest governing body of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences proposed to lower the attendance required for official votes at Faculty meetings, the meeting at which the proposal could have been approved was cancelled due to “insufficient business.”

As a result, the discussion of lowering the quorum threshold from one-sixth to one-eighth will be pushed back to the Faculty’s next scheduled meeting on April 8.

The cancellation of the March meeting marks the second cancellation in 2008. This means that the only time the Faculty has actually met this year was in February.

But Faculty leaders have mixed opinions about whether the lack of meetings is indicative of a lack of activity.

“The faculty is getting a lot done,” Dean of the Faculty Michael D. Smith said in an e-mailed statement. “Not all of what it does requires faculty legislation. Please don’t confuse a lack of Faculty meetings with a lack of forward progress.”

Economics Professor James H. Stock, a member of the committee that sets the agenda for each meeting, cited “looming changes” like General Education and the new calendar as a potential reason for the smaller number of “new large initiatives.”

With regard to the upcoming quorum motion, Stock noted the potential for embarrassment if the Faculty fails to have enough members present to vote on the issue.

“Yes, there will be self-evident irony (and perhaps some red faces) if we have a meeting to discuss changing the quorum and fail to get a quorum,” he said in an e-mail. “But that would simply highlight the importance of making that change.”

Music professor Ingrid Monson, who is on the same committee as Stock, cautioned against comparisons to last year’s full slate of spring meetings about General Education. She attributed this month’s cancellation to the Faculty accomplishing more than anticipated at the last meeting.

—Staff writer Maxwell L. Child can be reached at mchild@fas.harvard.edu.