The dance and theatre departments are one step away from merging after the University Senate overwhelmingly approved the proposal yesterday.
Student leaders had been concerned that the merger plan did not provide for student representation on most of the new school’s administrative committees — 17 of 18 committees listed in the School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies’ organizational plan do not include student representatives, and the last provides one non-voting seat for undergraduates and one for graduate students. But before the vote, arts and humanities Dean James Harris said a committee would look into adding graduate, undergraduate and staff representatives. The plan passed in a 72-6 vote.
After the meeting, Harris called the failure to previously address the issue of student representation “an oversight.”
Neither graduate student senator Aaron Tobiason nor undergraduate senator Jonathan Sachs raised the issue of student representation during the senate’s most powerful committee — the Senate Executive Committee — and have expressed concern over the issue.
Tobiason, who represents the arts and humanities college, said he had previously considered motioning to send the proposal back to a senate committee because of the lack of student representation. He said he decided against raising the motion because the senate floor was not the proper place to discuss the issue. No one at the meeting argued against the proposal.
After the meeting, Sachs said he did not raise the representation issue because he believes the merger is worthwhile and the issue seems to be being addressed.
“To see a merger like that go down in flames about what we were assured was an oversight didn’t seem pragmatic,” he said.
Combining the departments into the new school will allow for greater cross-discipline collaboration, administrators have said. For example, the proposal states that a new master’s program in the theatre department “has an emphasis on movement practice that a stronger connection with the department of dance will enrich and diversify.”
“I think it’s great,” Harris said. “This is not simply a merger. This is the creation of a new unit.”
Tobiason said he was still frustrated with the process used in developing the merger plan. He said he would recommend the executive committee have another committee look into the protocol for combining departments.
During yesterday’s meeting, the senate also approved a new plan of organization for the information studies college. Before that vote, Tobiason and Sachs both commended the plan for including student representation on committees.
When asked whether his comment was intended as a statement about the dance and theatre merger, Sachs said, “That’s up to whoever interprets what I was saying.”
University President Dan Mote still needs to approve the merger before the departments can combine.
cox@umdbk.com
