Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Staff-Administration Committee records

The Staff-Administration Committee was established at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1938 to promote the free exchange of ideas between staff and administration. (1) The committee was first proposed at a meeting of the American Association of University Professors on January 5, 1938. This committee originated as an advisory committee with no administrative or judicial powers. Members of MIT’s faculty nominated members from the teaching staff to serve on the committee. Among the members of the teaching staff it was designated that one member was chosen from the Student-Faculty Committee and another was a local representative of the American Association of University Professors. Members of the administration were appointed by President Compton, and were chosen from heads of departments, deans, and members of the Executive Committee of the Corporation. Julius Stratton served as the committee’s first chair. The earliest topics considered by the Staff-Administration Committee included dissatisfaction with the Technology Photo Service, complaints about the Hygiene Department, and tenure and promotion problems. (2) The committee would later examine issues involving relationships between administration and faculty or other academic staff with teaching responsibilities. The committee developed ad hoc arrangements to ensure that academic staff not of faculty rank were adequately represented in discussion and debate of issues with special impact upon their interests.

The committee was composed of a Staff Section and an Administration Section. The Staff Section consisted of six elected faculty members and one non-faculty member with the rank of instructor. Each member with faculty rank served a three-year term, with two members being elected each year by the faculty. At least three members were to have tenured appointments and at least two members were to have non-tenured appointments. It was recommended that there be two members of each of the professorial ranks. The non-faculty member served an appointment of one year and was elected by members of the staff with the rank of instructor. (3) In 1953, the Staff Section of the Staff Administration Committee became a standing committee of the faculty.

The committee was renamed the Committee on Faculty Administration in 1979. It no longer included non-faculty instructors among its members. The Faculty Policy Committee absorbed the responsibilities of the Committee on Faculty Administration on April 18, 2007, after being disbanded by vote of the faculty. (4)

(1) MIT President's Report 1939-1940, p. 23.

(2) MIT Office of the President, Records of Karl Taylor Compton and James Rhyne Killian, AC 4, box 206.

(3) MIT Rules and Regulations of the Faculty, Section 17, 1962.

(4) MIT Faculty records, AC 1, series 1, box 7.