University of Mississippi Faculty Senate Minutes
February 18, 2014
The seventh meeting of the University of Mississippi Faculty Senate was called together at 7:00 PM on February 18, 2014.
Senators Attended or Excused: Mitch Wenger, Charles Ross, Philip Jackson, Patrick Curtis, Cliff Ochs, Michael Mossing, Hunain Alkhateb, Brad Cook, Carolyn Higdon, Feng Wang, Tom Garrett, Mustafa Matalgah, , Chris Offut Karen Raber, Robert Van Ness, Robert Holt, Kim Bebun, Oliver Dinius, Noell Wilson, Vanessa Gregory, William Berry, Jennifer Brosek, Brian Young , Milorad Novicevic, James Chambers, Mei Yang, Valentina Iepuri, Micah Everett, Jos Milton Laurel Lambert, Seongbong Jo, , Allison Bell, Robert Barnard, Rich Raspet, Greg Love, Marilyn Mendolia, Christian Sellar, Michele Kelly Minjoo Oh, , Debby Chessin, Mark Ortwein, Michael Barnett,
Senators Absent: Tom Franklin Darren Grem Zia Shariat-Madar, Karen Raber Jasmine Townsend Donna Davis, Cesar Rego, James Chambers Lorri Williamson Milam Aiken, Nathan Jones Mitchell Avery Daneel Ferreira Rahul Khanna Joe Sumrall
Guests: none
Senator Barnett called for approval for January, 2014 minutes, which were moved, seconded and passed without comment.
Senator Barnett presented a message from Chancellor Jones about the incident occurring on Sunday, February 16, in which a rope noose and a pre 2003 Georgia state flag were hung from the James Meredith statue on campus. The chancellor apologized for not being able to be present at this senate meeting, stated than an investigation is under way, and encouraged questions and inputs from the faculty senate
Senator Sellar reported the senate about the ongoing search of a Senior International Officer (SIO) and the convocation of a Taskforce to Study a Potential Ombuds Program. The SIO search committee has concluded his work and issue a statement of acceptability of the four candidates who came on a campus interview to the Provost. Provost Stock will now gather information on the acceptable candidates and will make an offer. The Taskforce to Study a Potential Ombuds Program was convened on February 13 and received the following charge from the chancellor: 1. Is the role of an Ombuds useful for our University?
2. If so, would the role be specific or board? Who would it serve and/or what combination? Faculty, Staff, Students?
3. What are the staffing options? Part-time, full-time? Current faculty or staff? What set up would be useful and effective? 1
The Chancellor is committed to the process and will likely honor the suggestion of the committee however, he will have to consider and be sensitive to (as we should) competing resources.
A timeline was not established for two reasons 1) the Chancellor recognizes that this in new information and a new topic that will need to be researched and 2) The Chancellor does not want the appearance of over involvement by establishing a firm timeline.
Senate Committee Reports:
Academic Affairs: No formal report
Academic Support: No formal report
Finance: No formal report
Governance: No formal report
University Services: reported on the tobacco policy. The current policy does not include smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes. Lack of enforcement of the existing policy was also noted
Executive Committee: reported on the faculty excellence document. The strategic planning council (SPC) charged the faculty senate with providing inputs on a document prepared by the faculty excellence task force. As such, the senate acted as consultive body of the SPC. The senate Executive Committee has worked for around one year on a document responding to the inputs of the SPC. Senator Barnett circulated a draft of the document. Faculty made some suggestions to the format, and particularly about being intentional on the order of priority of the suggestions presented. Further suggestions were encouraged, to be sent via email to senator Barnett.
Senator Barnett encouraged further nominations for the Mortar Lecture
Old Business: No old business outstanding at this time, other than what has been referred to committee.
New Business: No new business
Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 8:10 pm.
2
All Senators are thanked for attending to the university business on this date.
Respectfully submitted,
Christian Sellar
Vice Chair of the Faculty Senate, 2013-2014
3