You know that feeling when you sit down to plan your week, and you think you've got a handle on things, and then someone just rearranges the whole calendar on you? That's kind of the energy coming out of Jacksonville State right now. The university's administration has voted to dissolve its faculty senate. Not restructure it. Not review it. Dissolved it. For those of us who spend our days grinding through syllabi and club meetings, that's a loud move. It's the kind of decision that makes you look up from your coffee and ask, "Wait, who's actually in the room when the big calls get made?"
Here's the thing: shared governance is one of those quiet structures that keeps a campus running. It's not flashy. It's not a football game or a new dorm. But it's the table where faculty actually get a say in what a degree means, what a curriculum looks like, and where the institution is headed. When you dissolve that table, you're not just changing a policy. You're sending a message about who gets a voice. And for students, that matters more than we often admit. We're not just customers buying credits; we're part of a community. When faculty lose their seat at the table, the ripple effects hit our classrooms, our mentorship, and the quality of our degrees. It's worth watching how this plays out, especially as other schools navigate similar pressures. If you're keeping an eye on how universities are handling leadership and accountability, you might also want to check out how Utah University Apologizes After Dropping College Republicans Probe plays into that same tension between institutional control and open dialogue.
I get it. Administration is hard. Budgets are tight. People want results, and they want them fast. But there's a difference between making tough calls and cutting off the people who do the actual teaching. Faculty senates are messy, slow, and sometimes frustrating. They're also where a lot of institutional memory lives. They're where the professor who's been there for twenty years can say, "Hey, we tried that in 2009, and here's what happened." Removing that check might make the short-term paperwork easier, but it doesn't build trust. It erodes it. And trust is one of those things that's way harder to rebuild than a syllabus. For students, this is a reminder to pay attention to the governance structure at your own school, not just the course catalog. Ask questions. Go to open forums. Know who's making decisions and why. You don't have to become a policy wonk, but being informed is part of being a responsible community member. It's also smart prep for the real world, where every workplace has its own version of this dynamic.
So what would I tell a student who asked me about this? I'd say: don't panic, but don't shrug it off either. This is a specific moment at one university, but it's part of a bigger conversation about who owns the educational experience. Watch how the faculty respond, how students organize, and whether the administration leaves room for dialogue. And if you're feeling motivated, get involved in your own student government or faculty committees. Show up. That's how you build the kind of community you actually want to be part of. The takeaway here is simple: when the structures that give people a voice start to disappear, the people who stay quiet lose the most. Don't let that be you.
