Cloaked in bureaucratic language, one piece of paper spelled out the Faculty Senate’s objections to what they deem interference on behalf of Provost Robert Frank.

Their beef with him? According to the resolution, he overstepped his boundaries by creating several ad hoc committees without Faculty Senate consent.

Adding to their disapproval, Frank e-mailed faculty late last week, asking them to urge their Faculty Senate representatives to speed up the revisions to the tenure and promotions policy.

This time, we agree with points made by both sides. Clearly, the provost acted out of line by not following established procedure. That’s not a way to make friends in the Faculty Senate.

It’s obvious the provost is a “get it done” type of guy. His office even added Timothy Chandler as a senior associate provost to help guide the new initiatives.

Unfortunately, this style doesn’t jive with the Faculty Senate, which has a history of moving at the speed of a glacier.

We admire the provost’s determination – to a point. We see his recent actions as a jolt to the faculty, urging them to stop dawdling on important issues.

But the tenure and promotions policy revisions are near and dear to the faculty’s hearts; after all, tenure guarantees faculty members lifelong employment, barring only extreme circumstances that would warrant removal. It’s understandable that they want to discuss it at length before making a decision.

In his e-mail to faculty last week, Frank praised professor C. Owen Lovejoy’s research and urged the university to become more research-oriented. The senate, however, is trying to put more emphasis on better hiring practices so professors are the best teachers possible – proving the two parties to have somewhat of a conflict of interest. Although research should be promoted, Frank’s decision to mention such a topic may drive a bit of a wedge between himself and the senate.

And if we want absolutely anything to get done, fast or slow, we need to have parties that are not feuding.

So both sides need to compromise a bit – more than anything, Faculty Senate needs to pick up the pace, and Frank needs to play by the rules.

Let’s not stop dead in our tracks just because of dissenting voices. There needs to be action.

The above editorial is the consensus opinion of the Daily Kent Stater editorial board.