===== PAGE 1 ===== # Minutes of Faculty Senate 4/11/17 Meeting 101 Bradford Hall

Senators	Changzheng Wang (at large)
Ibukun Amusan (Math & Sci)
Ken Andries (AFE)	Ex Officio Members and Guests
Nancy Capriles (BSS)	VPAA Candice Jackson
Rene Desborde (Business)	Mara Merlino
Gary Elliott (WYS) E	Cynthia Shelton
Maheteme Gebremedhin (AFE) E	Roosevelt Shelton
Caroline Gibson (FIAR)	Tierra Freeman
Cindy Glass (BSS)	Al Level
William Graham (EDU)	Marlin McKay
Robert Griffin (FIAR)	Donavan Ramon
Buddhi Gywali (AFE)	Nkechi Amadife
Dantrea Hampton (Library)	Faculty Regent Elgie McFayden
Jens Hannemann (Comp Sci)	Victoria Bruce
Ashok Kumar (at large)	Helen Smith
Vikas Kumar (AQU) A	Gavin Washington
Li Lu (Math & Sci)	Jae Won Kim
Patti Marraccini (Nursing)	Staff Regent Derrick C. Gilmore
Rebecca McCoy (Nursing) E	John Sedlacek
Joe Moffett (LLP)	Kirk Pomper
Narayanan Rajendran (at large)	Associate VP Deneia Thomas
Reba Rye (at large)	LeChrista Finn
Rita Sharma (Math & Sci) A	Assistant General Counsel Christina Leath
Kimberly Sipes (at large)	David Shabazz
Peter Smith (LLP)	Registrar Marquettia Bivens
Stephen Ulrich (PUA, CJ, SW) A

Changzheng Wang (at large) ### 1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 11:04 am. Fifteen Senators were present. ### 2. Approval of agenda A senator made a motion for FCC's item to be moved before the standing committee reports. Concern was expressed that action items might not be addressed if they are not placed first as per senate guidelines. Three voted for the motion; seven voted against; the remainder abstained. President Sipes requested that Other Business be added to the agenda. The motion passed unanimously. ### 3. Report of the Curriculum Committee – Ken Andries ===== PAGE 2 ===== ### 16 -17.52 Delete EDU 464, 474, 484, 494 and create EDU 454 Chair Andries explained that having one 12 hour course would make things much simpler for Education faculty. The item passed unanimously. ### 16 -17.53 Revise Mathematics from BA to BS Math proposed to change its degree from a BA to BS based on the rigors of program. The program itself would not change, just the nomenclature. The item passed unanimously. ### 16 -17.54 Develop a BA in Pure Mathematics This proposal indicated that the only BA in Mathematics would be in Pure Mathematics. A senator asked how many elective hours it would include, to which President Sipes responded 22. The item passed unanimously. ### 16 -17.55 (a) and (b) WYS / IGS revision This set of changes was divided into (a) and (b) parts since (a) was a proposed program change and (b) was course changes. Part (a) requires more levels of approval than (b). WYS Chair Dr. Cynthia Shelton explained that these changes served several purposes, including offering a special topics course so instructors can propose various course topics; eliminating problems with no faculty to teach certain courses due to retirement or attrition; and mitigating inconsistencies in catalogue course titles. Dr. Shelton noted that IGS courses don’t show up on the fall 2017 schedule yet since she has been waiting for these changes to be approved. The item passed unanimously. ### 16 -17.56 Africana Studies These proposed changes better aligned the program with the university’s goals, as well as eliminated pre-requisites, altered course descriptions, and increased cross-listing with IGS courses. Dr. Shelton reported that Africana Studies 101 and 102 were gateway courses for the old AWA program, but they were never taught. Nevertheless, they remained as pre-reqs for other courses and thus prevented students from taking those courses. The item passed unanimously. ### 4. Report of the Professional Concerns Committee – Cindy Glass ===== PAGE 3 ===== Chair Glass spoke briefly about the action item on eliminated sick leave hours that had been passed at the previous senate meeting. She went on to describe the second action item that had been proposed for that meeting but which had not been addressed due to time constraints and issues with establishing a forum. This second item called for the joining of tenure and promotion. Consultant Cary Nelson had recommended this action as well. While PCC is looking at the Faculty Handbook overall, it wanted to be sure this item in particular would be reviewed by the Board. The resolution passed with all in favor and one abstention. Chair Glass then discussed the faculty annual review rubric that PCC had provided to Dr. Jackson and Chairs for review. This form lists criteria by which faculty will be judged. Points will be awarded appropriately depending on which items the faculty member fulfills or achieves. In preparing this criteria, PCC reviewed divisional benchmarks. The numerical scoring has been developed so that a faculty member in meeting criteria “meets expectations,” although it is also possible that a faculty member could exceed expectations. In doing so, PCC reasoned, faculty may be made eligible for merit pay if that incentive system returns. Consideration was put into being sure the form could be used across the university, including for individuals who have research as a formal component of their appointment. Alternative forms of assessing scholarly productivity were also consulted while developing the form, specifically the Boyers model. Chair Glass stressed that this was not a voting item, but rather being presented as an information item. She encouraged questions and comments to be sent to her through email. A motion to extended time for 2 minutes passed unanimously. A senator expressed appreciation for the work that has gone into this document and praised the fact that it encourages a more objective form of assessment. He inquired if this item had been considered in light of the post-tenure review process. Chair Glass said it had not. He also pointed out that some tasks, such as coordinating a program, are paid positions. A guest pointed out, however, that this is not always true and that coordinators in LLP, for example, do not receive pay. ### 5. President’s report In responding to a petition delivered to her on 2/27, President Sipes reviewed the senate policies by which a petition consisting of 20% of the faculty can be submitted to request a full faculty meeting to address an action of senate. Since the petition from 2/27 did not call for this action, it was unclear as to how to respond. President Sipes consulted with General Counsel Gordon Rowe on the issue. A senator expressed frustration with senate not observing written policies, such as sufficient notice for an upcoming meeting. He believed policies were followed inconsistently, although he conceded that in some cases policies do not exist to offer guidance on appropriate actions. President of FCC Dr. Roosevelt Shelton explained that while some who signed the petition also have concern with how it was delivered, the main issue is how it was responded to and a lack of ===== PAGE 4 ===== transparency. He argued that there should be a policy for having confidence votes so that the voice of dissenters can be recognized and so that votes can be carried out with an agreed upon process. President Sipes explained an ad hoc committee would be created that would include members of senate standing committees, members of the FCC, and members drawn from the faculty at large to review the recommendations of both consultants (Dr. Wohlford and Dr. Nelson) as well as FCC’s recently submitted Resolution for Reconciliation. This group would produce a single document that could be presented to the Board of Regents. President Sipes noted the overlapping issues cited by the FCC Resolution—including pay, tenure and promotion, and money spent on instruction—and what had originally been presented as grounds for the confidence vote. A complementary ad hoc committee, similarly composed, would consider ways in which senate guidelines could be updated, particularly with regard to ensuring even representation of different campus groups. President Sipes said that she had spoken with University President Thompson about bringing in a consultant to work on race relations on campus and that he expressed support of the idea. FCC President Shelton argued that there is too much room for interpretation in the current Faculty Handbook and Senate Constitution. He expressed frustration that there was no explanation of what recourse a faculty member had who was unhappy with the way policies were enforced. Past Senate President Tierra Freeman suggested the creation of an ombudsman position to mediate faculty concerns and grievances. A motion to extend time for 10 minutes passed unanimously. A guest explained that there was now “collateral damage” resulting from how the vote was carried out that ranges from distrust and hurt feelings to deeper issues such as institutional racism. He argued senate should have come up with policies about how to carry out the vote before the vote itself was actually conducted. Conversation ensued as to whether or not sufficient effort had been put into bring the issues cited in the vote to the Board for resolution. President Sipes responded that past administrations have not been receptive to addressing the concerns. FCC President Shelton asked how recently this had been attempted, to which President Sipes responded this past year. Chair Rye pointed out that these issues have been the topic of discussion for years, particularly in the wake of the Baker/Hostetler report. VPAA Jackson argued that she has not been given the opportunity to rectify these issues with the Board and she reminded those attendance about her efforts to bring tenure back. She said that some faculty agree with her and the Board that the promotion process has not been rigorous enough. She noted that some are dealing with “post-traumatic stress” from racism and that faculty have to have the hard conversations about these issues. She posited that history is ===== PAGE 5 ===== personal and the university cannot afford to gloss over history and trauma related to race issues. The work had not been done to make sure policies were in place, she said, and now the campus has to deal with the fallout. It will remain in the same place until faculty have the hard conversations. A motion to extend time for 20 minute passed unanimously. Dr. Jackson went on to say that the problem will fester if not addressed, and her role is to look at the bigger picture for the institution. A guest noted that the problem is less about traditional black and white issues, but rather systemic racism where what was once a majority African American faculty at the university is now 15 members, and this should not be the case at an HBCU. He argued the university needs to identify funds that can be used to “brown” the institution. A different guest added that in order to improve diversity, the university needs to have a hiring process that begins early. There need to be more African American faculty, but the university has to be purposeful about how it attracts them. The best people are gone by April. Chair Rye noted that search committees have always tried to identify African American candidates, but there is always a problem with paying them at a rate equal to other universities and thus retaining them. She cited consultant Mary Pat Wohlford's recommendation that there needs to be a standing, well-trained, university-wide search committee with overlapping members to do true national searches. The search has to be much more intentional than simply advertising in the Chronicle. Dr. Jackson encouraged faculty to reach to out to promising young scholars of color who faculty may encounter at conferences or other professional situations. President Sipes began to address the second petition, but since the response covered much the same ground as the previous one, members of FCC asked her to stop. Dr. Jackson asked that it be noted in the Minutes that she had requested for the Senate Executive Committee to delay the confidence vote and “was summarily dismissed.” ### 6. Other Business President Sipes explained that elections need to take place soon, but there are problems with policy there too, specifically the number of days that must fall between nominations and votes. A motion to set aside the time limits was approved unanimously so the votes could be conducted in the time left in the semester. A motion to extend time for 10 minutes passed unanimously. President Sipes checked to be sure there was still a quorum. Fourteen members were present. The distinguished professor award had not been announced as it should have been, and the committee had not been assembled as it should have been at the last selection. President Sipes conferred with Dr. Jackson and Gordon Rowe and they felt it should move forward. A motion to proceed with that process passed unanimously. ===== PAGE 6 ===== ### 7. Adjourn A motion to adjourn carried at 12:37 pm. FCC President Shelton thanked President Sipes and the Executive Committee for considering the FCC Resolution and noted he was encouraged by what he had heard at the meeting in terms of faculty coming together. He did not feel that faculty needed a “svengali” to come in to fix racial divisions but rather faculty can and should do the hard work themselves. Respectfully submitted, Joe Moffett, Faculty Senate Secretary [Unanimously approved, as distributed, at the 5/1/2017 Faculty Senate Meeting]