Faculty Senate Agenda – December 5, 2017
Present:
Jeff Pickerd, Nancy Wicker, Brice Noonan, Brad Jones, Brenda Prager, Randy Watkins, Tossi Ikuta, Byung Jang, Beth Ann Fennelly, Adam Gussow, Andrew Lynch, Zachary Kagan Guthrie, Vivian Ibrahim, April Holm, Antonia Eliason, Stacey Lantagne, Dennis Bunch, Kimberly Kaiser, Cecelia Parks (Alternate), Amy Gibson, John Berns, Sumali Conlon, Sarah Wellman, Mary Roseman, Chalet Tan, Meagen Rosenthal, Gary Theilman, Deborah Mower (Alternate), Breese Quinn, Younghee Lim, Ana Velitchkova, Marcos Mendoza, Mark Ortwein
Absent:
Patrick Alexander, Zia Shariat-Madar, Chris Mullen, Aileen Ajootian, Lei Cao, Ethel Scurlock, Jennifer Gifford, KoFan Lee, Evangeline Robinson, Alysia Steele, Cesar Rego, Martial Longla, Tejas Pandya, Stephen Fafulas, Thomas Peattie, Tim Nordstrom, Marilyn Mendolia, Christian Sellar, Roy Thurston, Rory Ledbetter
• Call Meeting to Order
o Called to order 7:01
o Please be sure that you let Brice know if you are not going to be attending the Senate meeting.
• Approval of November 14 2017 Minutes
o Approved (unanimous)
• Committee Reports
o Academic Instructional Affairs
 No report
o Academic Conduct
 No report
o Finance & Benefits
 No report
o Development & Planning
 No report
o Governance
 No report
o Research & Creative Achievement
 No report
o University Services
 No report
o Executive Committee
 Draft resolution: Faculty Senate Resolution Calling for a Continuation of Efforts to Present UM’s History and Provide Context.
• Michael Barnett: motion to begin discussion
• Antonia Eliason: seconded
 Discussion
• Q: Why doesn’t the resolution say to just move the statue?
• A: There was discussion of two separate resolutions one specifically pertaining to that issue. But we wanted to start with this resolution to continue the efforts of the previous Contextualization Committee to have community wide discussions to address all areas of campus that may need consideration
• Q: Did the question of including language about people’s comfort in coming to campus make come up for consideration in the resolution?
• A: There was a discussion with the executive committee and other members of the administration about actively engaging visitors of the campus in tours and helping everyone to understand the history of our campus.
 Motion to bring resolution to vote: Michael Barnett
• Seconded: Rory Ledbetter
• Vote: All in favor (33)
• Old Business
o None
• New Business
o Brice has received a draft recommendation from NNT faculty task force, the executive committee will be reviewing over the break and will be bringing to Senate first thing in January
o Provost Wilkins
 Tax legislation
• We continue to support the tax reduction of athletic seat license (tax of 1/3 seats)
• Remove small business tax license
• Remove repeal of the advanced refunding of bonds
• Maintain the tax-free tuition waiver
• Chancellor Vitter has personally made phone calls to the MS delegation when at APLU meeting and talked to a number of university presidents to make sure that everyone was contacting their representatives. He also met with more than 50 staffers in November to make sure that everyone was aware of the University’s position.
 Travel ban
• The office of global engagement has communicated that this will have an immediate impact on some of our campus members
o Travel visas banned from particular countries
o Potential issue for current students who want to visit home and come back given visa restrictions
o Jean Robinson has stated that there is no way to bring Iranian professors to campus currently
o Check the OGE website (https://international.olemiss.edu/immigration/) and NAFSA.org
o Questions:
 Q: Bringing someone to campus from Iran is problematic, but what about ongoing searches for people who are already in the country?
 A: If they are already here and their visa is current that shouldn’t be a problem, but any travel will be problematic under the travel ban.
• Adjournment
o Adjourned 7:18