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Submitted by Senate Secretary Danny Collum

Meeting opened at 9:01 a.m.

Agenda approved unanimously as submitted.

Corrections noted for the “Attendance” section: Donavan Ramon, listed as absent, has left KSU. Debbra Tate is not a senator. Barbara Witty should be listed as “excused,” not as absent. Minutes were approved unanimously, with these amendments.

Election for a new Faculty Regent will be held September 6-8 through an online platform. Voting will close at 4:30 September 8. Candidates for Regent will be presenting their appeal for faculty support later in today's Senate meeting.

The university will be providing opportunities for vaccination on campus this semester.

Concerns about Covid at KSU should be submitted to covid19@kysu.edu Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) may be obtained from your building coordinator or from Facilities at issac.yett@kysu.edu

President Clay reported that in his meeting with Provost Hamilton they discussed the status of all the university-level committees. The provost also expressed concern that faculty should communicate promptly with students, replying to student inquiries within 24 hours.

The Senate Executive Committee discussed status of past action items. The executive committee also decided to invite Dr. Aaron Thompson to a future meeting.

In his meeting with Acting President Stamps, Dr. Clay reported that she asked that Brand Identity should be notified whenever news media representatives attend Faculty Senate meetings. She said that faculty should be sure to keep Blackboard updated, to hold each other accountable and to avoid speaking negatively about students in public settings.

In his meetings with student leaders, President Clay reported that they would like to see more faculty at non-academic events such as football games and to see all faculty update Blackboard regularly.

By way of announcements, President Clay pointed out that September 10 is the deadline for students to submit degree applications to their academic unit and that university rules are that no Emotional Support Animals are allowed in classrooms.

A senator asked what Dr. Clay thought the acting president meant about faculty holding each other accountable. Dr. Clay replied that she was referring to things like office hours and meeting in-person classes.

Another senator asked if candidates for Faculty Regent could submit statements to the whole faculty in addition to addressing the Faculty Senate today.

A senator asked if, in his communication with administrators, President Clay had learned anything about plans for dealing with the Covid 19 situation, especially contingency plans in case things get worse.

President Clay responded that the Green and Gold Commission meets next week to assess the situation. He noted that we are ready to go virtual if that becomes necessary.

A senator asked what we are supposed to do about student noncompliance with the mask mandate. President Clay replied that we can provide masks to students who don’t have them and ask students to leave if they refuse to mask. Faculty can also report noncompliant students to Dean of Students Arlen Sims.

Another senator asked if the university is requiring vaccinations and the answer was, “No.”

Faculty Regent candidates will address the Senate later in the meeting.

Dean of Students Arlen Sims addressed the Senate saying that masks are required inside all KSU buildings. Students know this. Let Student Engagement know about noncompliance by sending an email with the student's name. There is no wiggle room in this policy. We are working on a student-led "mask up" campaign that will roll out soon.

Excuses for student absences should be coming from Amy Olds, or William Mink while Ms. Olds is on vacation. Contact tracing is handled by Nurse Todd.

A senator questioned whether reporting students to Mr. Sims would solve the masking problem. "It's my word against theirs," the senator said, noting that faculty have not always been backed up by administration in such situations.

Mr. Sims replied that building relationships with students can work, too. He said you can send in the names, or you can also invite me to your class to address the problem.

Another senator reported that he experienced no compliance problems in class, but that in the hallways compliance was zero.

President Clay noted that when he sees this he offers the student a mask. President Clay also noted that he will take up this issue with the Green and Gold Commission and in his next meeting with Acting President Stamps.

Nurse Todd reported that regarding information about Covid cases at KSU, she has provided the link for the Dashboard and asked that it be updated regularly. She hands in weekly updates to Brand Identity, but the Dashboard has not been updated since August 19.

So far this semester we have had 52 positive tests. Twenty-one are already recovered, and there are 21 active cases. In August the school administered 1206 tests, 900 of those were for athletes. Regarding mask compliance, she noted that students show up at Student Health without a mask. When this happens in class, she said, please ask them to leave and report them to Mr. Sims and Dr. Deams.

We encourage students to test. KSU took no cheerleaders to the Capital Classic because seven were positive. The contact seems to be mostly from roommates, not from campus activities. We’ve been blessed that no student has been hospitalized. Young people are being hospitalized in the current surge of cases in Kentucky.

Katianna Yates, director of Campus Life, has announced that all campus events will require proof of vaccination or a negative test within 72 hours.

We know that 374 students are fully vaccinated. Those are the ones who have reported their status to Student Health. This would be an on-campus vaccination rate of 34 percent. So far this semester, three clinics have vaccinated 72 students. Vaccination clinics will be held September 11, October 2, October 4, October 25 and November 15. All clinics will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Exum.

There will be a blood drive September 15 in the Student Center Ballroom, especially promoting blood donation among people of color. There will be gift cards and T-shirts.

A senator noted that a negative rapid test may be inaccurate and give a false sense of security. Nurse Todd replied that the American College Health Association endorses rapid testing. She also noted that she has not been seeing employees at surveillance testing events. She also said that what Ms. Yates is doing with campus events will improve testing. Athletes are tested frequently. Any student with symptoms gets a PCR test even if the rapid test is negative.

Another senator asked, what is the time lag between a student getting a quarantine order and faculty being notified?

Nurse Todd said that her office has to wait for students to provide names of faculty. Also, if a student doesn't follow quarantine instructions, she emails faculty.

Another senator asked if students are being given information about what the vaccine is not? Nurse Todd replied that the required training course for students covers some of the myths. She has also distributed information from one of the agriculture professors specifically about vaccination for students at HBCUs. Also, Anthony Passarette, MS, LAT, CSCS athletic trainer has put together a PowerPoint presentation for student athletes addressing myths about the vaccines.

Dr. Colson-Clark reported that University College is working on the next pre-registration, for Spring 2022 and curriculum maps for all the programs. In her next report, she will update the Senate on progress made with the First Year Experience program. She reported that the first to second year retention rate this year is 80 percent. In the past it was 70 percent. More data is available on the University College web page.

Dr. Schneller reported that Master of Public Administration received a positive initial response on its accreditation, with three questions for follow-up. Business has its reaffirmation site visit in October. Nine grants are in progress with KSU faculty.

Dr. Graves reported that a draft of the Program Review Manual is circulating for suggestions. Assessment reports are due to her by September 15. Also, as faculty make plans, please note that we need to contact her about any new programs or program closures to ensure compliance with CPE and SACSCOC guidelines.

At this point in the meeting each of the five nominees for faculty regent (Alexander Lai, Kristopher Grimes, Wilfred Reilly, Herman Walston and Peter Smith) presented their qualifications for the position and their vision for how they would represent faculty on the Board of Regents.

Kristopher Grimes is chair of APC this year. Buddhi Gyawali is Vice-Chair and Rozina Johnson is Secretary. Priorities for the year include: advising, academic calendar, evaluation process, hiring faculty, evaluation of transfer transcripts.

Changzheng Wang continues as chair. The committee needs another member. A top priority will be following up on past approved action items that have not been implemented.

Gary Stratton reported that PCC will begin by picking up unfinished matters from last year, and he encouraged faculty to submit any new concerns to him for the committee's consideration and possible action.

Jennifer Ballard-Kang is Acting Chair due to illness of Dr. Novelo. She reported six projects on the BASC agenda: Grant training, a plus-minus grading system, recovery of indirect costs from grants, course fees, technology needs of students and monitoring and having input regarding the university's financial crisis.

On that last point, CFO Greg Rush has agreed to meet with the committee on September 24.

Reminder that the Faculty Regent election will take place online Monday 8 a.m. to Wednesday 4:30 p.m.

Meeting closed at 11:15 a.m.

Absent: Nancy Capriles

Guests Mara Merlino Margery Coulson-Clark Sheila Stuckey Debbra Tate Samantha Todd Lauren Graves Herman Walston Scott Wicker Charles Holloway Frederick A. Williams Jr. Yun Jiang Deanna McGaughey-Summers Jyotica Batra Kirk Pomper Clifford Wise Keturah Nix Peter Smith Wilfred Reilly Chandee Felder