Resolution calls for UT president’s office move

Some predict the proposal will not pass in its present form.

“I suspect it may be amended not to require a residence in Nashville,” said UT professor Beauvais Lyons, president of the UT-Knoxville Faculty Senate.

But Lyons said the “heart of the matter” — bolstering the authority of the chancellor at Knoxville — would remain.

Actions by the faculty senate are not binding, but Lyons said many people have expressed concern over the issue of UT-Knoxville’s autonomy in relation to the rest of the system for some time.

“I believe the resolution will pass,” he said.

The resolution in its present form states that the chancellor at UT-Knoxville “should be vested with the sole responsibility for the academic, athletic and alumni development on that campus,” and UT’s president should facilitate the work of all five UT campuses and represent it across the state.

Both UT Interim President Joe Johnson and Loren Crabtree, the chancellor of UT’s 25,000-student Knoxville campus, have offices on the Andy Holt Tower’s eighth floor.

“It tends to create problems,” Lyons said of the presence of both offices in Knoxville, and he added that it can sometimes create confusing lines of authority.

He said, for example, if someone doesn’t agree with the chancellor and wants to try and bypass him or her, it’s more likely to happen on the Knoxville campus than at one of UT’s other campuses.

The resolution basically states that the UT-Knoxville chancellor should have the same authority as, say, the chancellors at UT-Chattanooga or UT-Martin, although Johnson ultimately has authority over all of UT’s five campuses.
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Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel, http://www.knoxnews.com