The Faculty Senate Task Force set up a subcommittee Friday to work on establishing the prerogatives of the proposed faculty senate.

William Monat, task force chairman, said the committee has been looking over committees at 26 other universities similar to the proposed faculty senate. “It has been useful to look at other institutions, but none of them will give us a model,” he said.

The faculty senate would primarily face issues such as faculty budget, facilities, compensation and benefits, Monat said. There are no committees that include these issues, he said.

Monat said the establishment of the senate will “eliminate” the present faculty assembly. He said it will have a “larger body” with more representation.

The faculty assembly does not have a committee structure that addresses the “primary concerns of the faculty,” Monat said. The faculty senate will meet once a month and have 60 to 75 members who will provide good representation of all faculty branches, he said.

The task force elected a subcommittee that will meet and discuss the prerogatives of the Faculty Senate. The subcommittee will include Monat, economics professor Jack Skeels, mathematical science professor Linda Sons and art professor Gordon Dorn.

Monat said the subcommittee will begin by defining the purpose of the faculty senate and also address the issue of equal representation of faculty offices.

Sons said the faculty senate is needed because the faculty does not have accurate knowlege of faculty concerns at NIU. She said the faculty needs a place where they can bring up topics that do not go through other institutions.

“It will prevent untruths from being spread around,” Sons said.

Dorn said, “Gossip is the only form of communication that exists between faculty.”

He said, “Matters that primarily concern the faculty would start out in the faculty senate and not in the University Council. The University Council would not have any authority (concerning faculty issues) until the issue has gone to the faculty senate.”

Monat said, “I think most academic administrators will welcome the faculty senate.”