“Being aware of our two roles I think was an important first step,” Kaufman said. “We discussed very carefully who we wanted to sit on the docket committee, since they serve a very important function as gatekeepers.”

The docket committee prepares the agenda for each full Faculty meeting and its members are among the few with the power to shape the agenda of highly-scripted Faculty meetings, though any faculty member can offer an item for discussion. During Faculty meetings, the docket committee members also have procedural powers—last spring, the committee members recommended extensions to the two tense meetings preceding the no-confidence vote, and they counted the ballots cast in that vote on March 15.

This year, the docket committee members are Ulrich, Thomas, and Mendelsohn, although Mendelsohn is on sick leave this term.

Kleinman said that docket committee members—whose traditional role during Faculty meetings is simply to announce that the meeting’s docket is in order—will now describe the Council’s business to the Faculty in greater detail.

“Since the Faculty Council is the only elected body of the Faculty in FAS, it is important that it represent the Faculty,” he said. “One of the ways that we’re doing that is by...having more to say of our deliberations in the context of the full Faculty meetings.”

Council members also hope to inform themselves of the concerns of other faculty members. Kleinman is one of several Council members who attend the weekly meetings of the group of department chairs that has gathered regularly since the spring to discuss common problems. Kleinman reports on these meetings to the Council.

Kaufman describes the Council and the chairs’ group as “different sides of the same coin,” both looking out for the welfare of the Faculty.

“The group of department chairs knows that I do this,” Kleinman said. “I think that’s a very important thing....[The chairs’ group] is contributing to important issues at Harvard, like issues of governance and problems facing FAS and facing the University by simply meeting together, getting a general sense of what chairs think on these issues.”

Ulrich emphasized that the Council’s position as the Faculty’s only elected body gives it a responsibility to use its time in addressing Faculty concerns.

“It’s the one group that’s really elected by the faculty,” she said. “We want to make sure that we’re really using our time in a meaningful way.”

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