The University of Missouri Faculty Council addressed a voting rights proposal to non-tenure track, or NTT faculty at its most recent meeting in Memorial Student Union.
The change will allow NTT faculty to vote on University matters. NTT faculty members are hired under one- or three-year contracts. The exclusion of NTT members has ocurred for years at MU, but has now been brought to the council as a proposal.
MU Math Professor Stephen Montgomery-Smith introduced the proposal after becoming Chairman of the Faculty Affairs Committee. Smith supports the proposal, but said he is concerned about NTT members feeling comfortable to openly express their views.
“If an administrator wanted a certain position to be supported on faculty council, they could lean on certain faculty members and ask them to vote in a way that maybe they really didn’t want,” Montgomery-Smith said.
Smith said despite his concerns, he does support the proposal.