This discussion of faculty senates examines roles senates are presumed to and actually play in college governance within four organizational models: bureaucratic, collegial, political, or symbolic. It is concluded that any changes must be undertaken carefully so as not to disturb either manifest or latent organizational functions. (MSE)

The roles of academic senates in university organization are discussed. Three symbolic purposes that academic senates may fill are considered first: they may symbolize institutional membership in the higher education system, collective and individual faculty commitment to professional values, and joint faculty-administration acceptance of existing…

Academic senates remain an important feature of higher education governance even though they have been criticized as being ineffective. Senates are examined from the perspective of alternative organizational models, and it is suggested that the functions of the senate are best understood by considering colleges as symbolic systems. (Author/MLW)