UB’s Faculty Senate elected Kristin Stapleton, a professor and department chair in history, as its chairperson for the 2025-27 term last December.
Stapleton, involved in the Senate since 2007, previously served as the chairperson in the Faculty Senate’s Bylaws Committee from 2021-23 and ad-hoc Institutional Review Committee from 2023-24.
In an interview with The Spectrum, Stapleton stated that she ran for chairperson to increase the efficacy of the Faculty Senate’s committee structure and organization, citing a report from the ad-hoc Institutional Review Committee that highlighted the Senate’s lack of engagement and influence on matters related to academic programs within UB.
“It provoked periodical discussions but not really leading to much action and that’s the immediate motivation I had for running for Faculty Senate chair, because I’d like to implement some of those things we recommended,” Stapleton said.
Stapleton said that while the Senate is powerful in addressing urgent matters such as responding to police escalation at an on-campus pro-Palestine protest, it is weak in routine activities, especially when advising the UB administration.
“I think that the Senate has been sort of bypassed — at least as long as I’ve been here at UB — so that it’s only asked to make decisions largely after all of the work is done,” Stapleton said. “A lot of it has been done by faculty, but they’re not working in the context of the Faculty Senate, they’re working in the context of being invited by administrators to do that work. And I’d like to see the Faculty Senate kind of in charge of deciding who does that work.”
Stapleton says that one of the main reasons for the Senate’s inefficiency is its weak leadership structure, where traditionally the Faculty Senate’s chairperson is in charge of both the Senate and its Executive Committee. She plans on having the Senate’s Executive Committee elect its own separate chair.
“Right now, the Senate chair pretty much does 80% of the work of the Senate. That’s an exaggeration but it gives you a sense of the imbalance,” Stapleton said. “Having one Senate chair who takes on all the responsibility, I think, is a recipe for a weak institution.”
Stapleton is also considering the creation of a Faculty Senate steering committee where eight to nine members would set the Senate agenda, supervise all committee activities and meet directly with UB’s provost and president.
Having a separate group meet with UB’s provost and president can help keep the Faculty Senate’s Executive Committee focused on its own work, Stapleton says.
“I’m proposing that the steering committee meet with the provost and president, leaving the Faculty Senate’s Executive Committee to do all this important work of meeting with committee chairs, setting agendas, giving committee charges, making sure that resolutions going to the Senate are well-thought-out and publicized to senators, all that kind of procedural work,” Stapleton said.
With stronger leadership, Stapleton hopes that the Faculty Senate becomes more active within the UB community.
“When I got here, I was very surprised that our senate wasn’t more active and I learned a lot about UB through serving on it, but I gradually thought we should be doing more and particularly in times like these, I think the faculty need to speak up and need to have a representative body that can help them speak up,” Stapleton said.
Mylien Lai is the senior news editor and can be reached at mylien.lai@ubspectrum.com
Mylien Lai is the senior news editor at The Spectrum. Outside of getting lost in Buffalo, she enjoys practicing the piano and being a bean plant mom. She can be found at @my_my_my_myliennnn on Instagram.
