Faculty Senate
March 4, 2014
Michael Barnett called the meeting to order at 7 pm.
Senators in attendance or excused: Mitch Wenger, Charles Ross, Philip Jackson, Patrick Curtis, Adam Smith, Michael Mossing, Hunain Alkhateb, Brad Cook, Carolyn Higdon, Feng Wang, Tom Garrett, Chris Offut, Robert Van Ness, Robert Holt, Oliver Dinius, Noell Wilson, Vanessa Gregory, Donna Davis, Lorri Wiliamson, Brian Young, Jennifer Brosek,, Milorad Novicevic, Milam Aiken, Cesar Rego , Nathan Jones, James Chambers, Mei Yang, Valentina Iepuri, Micah Everett, Jos Milton, Laurel Lambert, Seongbong Jo, Daneel Ferreira, Rahul Khanna, Allison Bell, Robert Barnard, Rich Raspet, Greg Love, Marilyn Mendolia, Christian Sellar, Michele Kelly, Joe Sumrall, Mark Ortwein, Michael Barnett.
Senators did not attend, were not excused: Cliff Ochs, Mustafa Matalgah, Tom Franklin, Karen Raber, Jasmine Townsend, Darren Grem, William Berry, Mitchell Avery, Zia Shariat-Madar, Minjoo Oh. No representative designated from Leadership and Counseling Education.
The full Faculty Senate approved the minutes as written.
Representatives from ASB (Greg Alston, Jessica Brouckaert) made a presentation of a proposed amendment to the current class attendance guidelines. They discussed the current class attendance policy, identifying problems the students see as existing (list of excused absences, make up policy). Seventy minutes of discussion and Q&A occurred. No motion was made by Faculty Senate to accept the proposed amendment, thus the request from ASB died on the floor.
A discussion of how ASB should bring future requests forward to Faculty Senate was then reviewed. The Chair of Faculty Senate stated that he had offered to meet with ASB representatives before the presentation, to suggest some guidance but ASB did not accept that offer.
Bill Cole introduced the UM Big Event and encouraged faculty to offer opportunities.
Dr. Rahul Khanna, FSR to the Sensitivity and Respect Committee on Race Relations and Campus Symbols reported on progress to date. All symbols have been reviewed, the university has invited two nationally recognized individuals to come to campus to meet with committees and individuals over the next few weeks (Dr. Gregory Vincent from UT at Austin and Ms Coleman (?). Michael has been included in these meetings, as the Chair of Faculty Senate. FS question the possibility of increased focus on diversity issues in EDHD classes.
Senate Committee Reports: 1
Executive Committee: No report.
Academic Affairs: Started looking into accommodations issues and difficulties with alternate testing for students with disabilities.
Academic Support: Nothing to report.
Finance: Nothing to report.
Governance: Nothing to report. To have a committee meeting following full Faculty Senate meeting
University Services: Nothing to report. Addressing update on amendment of existing smoke free policy to include all use of tobacco products.
Old Business: Nothing to report
New Business:
(1) Robert Holt and James Chambers, as Faculty Senate Representatives, were appointed to the Provost’s Task Force to Review Faculty Titles, Rights and Responsibilities.
(2) Michele Kelly requested an update on the process that took place through the Provost’s Office with Dr. Wilkin, acting as an ombudsman to the faculty of the School of Applied Sciences to hear their concerns. Michael reported the process in which he had been directly involved, starting with meeting with faculty on December 5, 2013. He met with 18 faculty (individually and in small group) to discuss their concerns about shared governance and the work environment in the School of Applied Sciences. He also has had meetings with the Provost, the Associate Provost and the Dean of the School of Applied Sciences. The summary, per Michael, was that no violations of policy had occurred but there were significant concerns about the work environment. The Dean is reported to be generating a remediation plan to address those concerns.
Donna Davis questioned the appropriateness of Dr. Wilkin, Associate Provost, acting in the role of ombudsman and requested when a report would be made available on the investigation to the faculty involved. She listed investigation flaws and requested that interested parties be able to see the data that was gathered. She also reiterated that the Chair of Faculty Senate was working as a representative of Faculty Senate, without systematic guidelines. Based on what is available, it appears that important governance issues were not addressed and interested parties don’t know the outcomes because they have not seen the report. Additional concerns noted included the lack of an established appeal process for the faculty who have taken time to come forward, if these faculty believe their concerns have been not been heard or addressed.
2
Provost Stocks stated that he believed that the Associate Provost would be contacting interested faculty to provide closure on the process.
Next Meeting: April 8, 2014
Adjournment: Adjourned at 8:55 p.m.
3