Minutes
Senate Meeting: November 16, 2021
3:30 p.m. via Zoom meeting
A video recording of this meeting is be available.
Please refer to the recording for details not included in the minutes.
Presentations are available from the agenda for the meeting.
Attendance Record is at the end of the minutes.
Todd Steury, Senate Chair, called the meeting to order at 3:30 pm. The Chair noted the rules that would be used during the meeting. He introduced the officers of the Senate, the Senate administrative assistant, and the members of the Senate Steering committee who approved the meeting’s agenda.
A quorum was established when 53 senators responded to the quorum poll via canvas. In all, 80 senators attended the meeting.
Approval of the minutes from the Senate Meeting of October 19, 2021
Hearing no objections, the minutes were approved by unanimous consent.
Remarks and Announcements
University Senate Chair Todd Steury remarks
Chair Steury noted that the Board of Trustees met and approved changes to the faculty handbook passed earlier in the year by Senate. These included changes to the P&T guidelines.
Provost Bill Hardgrave remarks
Provost Hardgrave spoke further on last week’s Board of Trustees’ meeting, including on the approval of a new undergraduate certificate program in aviation hospitality management and some new facilities projects. He highlighted plans to build new student housing beside the Melton Student Center, replacing buildings currently housing the Marriage and Family Therapy Center, the Early Learning Center, and the Center for Health Ecology and Equity Research (CHEER). Duncan Drive is going to be extended as far as the Gogue Performing Arts Center. A Transformation Garden will run alongside Duncan Drive, from the Arboretum to the Gogue Center.
Duha Altindag (not a senator, Economics) noted that according to the CDC, there is currently “substantial” community transmission in Lee County, and it recommends that people living in Lee County wear face masks. Altindag noted that, given this level of transmission, the recent Auburn University change of policy on masks (no longer requiring that everyone indoors wears masks) is not in compliance with the President Biden’s Executive Order on covid in the workplace, and asked that it should be.
Roy Hartfield (senator, Aerospace) asked about the Board of Trustees schedule for approving handbook changes. He had understood from a previous senate meeting that the BoT had decided to look at handbook changes only during its June meeting and wanted to know what had changed given senate had just been told the BoT had approved handbook changes in its most recent meeting in November.
Provost Hardgrave explained that it was decided that the set of handbook changes passed in the November BoT meeting could be added to the agenda because they originally had been slated for the June meeting but were held up by questions about changes to Student Evaluations of Teaching. He confirmed that the normal schedule would continue to be once a year in June.
Duha Altindag (not a senator, Economics) noted reports in the media on Provost Hardgrave’s track record on tackling issues of diversity. He asked what Hardgrave had committed to do at the University of Memphis in terms of diversity, and why he had not done the same at Auburn.
Provost Hardgrave responded that diversity is not where it should be at Auburn, but efforts have been made through the Presidential Taskforce set up by President Gogue and that there has been improvement in recruitment, needs-based scholarships, and other areas. He noted that there is a long way to go but he is proud of what Auburn has managed to do over the last couple of years.
Action Items
Voting on the nominees to Senate Committees
Presenter: Ralph Kingston, Senate Secretary
Ralph Kingston (Senate Secretary) presented the name of nominations made by the Rules Committee to the University curriculum committee.
VOTE RESULTS: 59 total in favor, 1 opposed, 0 abstaining. The nomination was passed.
Information Items
Current and future OIT and cybersecurity concerns
Presenter: Jim O’Connor, Chief Information Officer.
Jim O’Connor reminded the meeting of the constant risk of cyber-attack in the university. This impacts on the university in important ways. Insurance premiums have increased and have only been mitigated by cuts in coverage and increase in deductibles. In order to mitigate risk, staff have been doing annual training in cyber safety. The same cyber training, taking 30-35 minutes, will be rolled out to faculty, probably in the spring. They have also started phishing training and phishing stress tests.
He also talked about new federal requirements. OIT and the Office of the VP for Research and Economic Development have been working for the last year in ensuring compliance with Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC). They have, however, just been notified that there is a new version of CMMC and they are formulating how to respond. OIT and the OVP for Research and Economic Development will come back in the first quarter of the year to explain how this will impact faculty and faculty research.
He ended his presentation by noting the importance of cyber safeguards in the holiday period.
There were no questions.
Update on Vaccine Mandate
Presenters: Kelli Shomaker, Vice President for Business and Finance/CFO, and Jaime Hammer, General Counsel
Chair Steury asked how we were doing in terms of meeting the current vaccine requirement. He asked how many people had completed the verification process. The deadline for compliance has been moved, but originally termination letters had been scheduled to go out this week.
Kelli Shomaker told the Senate that the status of 68.6% of employees has been verified with their Human Resources liaisons (HRLs). 4% of employees are in progress.
Brigitta Brunner (substitute senator, Communication and Journalism) asked if faculty would be allowed to continue to require students to wear masks in classrooms in the spring, and, if so, would the university provide guidance on language for syllabi.
Jaime Hammer said that it was her understanding that this would be the case and that the language used this semester could still be used.
Duha Altindag (not a senator, Economics) asked the General Counsel about the guidance on President Biden’s executive order as it related to wearing masks. The executive order said that masks did not need to be worn in low or moderate transmission areas, but Lee County is “substantial.” Nevertheless, Auburn had removed its mask mandate.
Jaime Hammer responded that “area” and “county” were not necessarily the same, and that, while she was not a medical professional, her understanding was that community transmission in the Auburn area was quite low.
Richard Sesek (senator, Industrial and Systems Engineering) noted that 68.6% of people verified is quite low. He wondered how the university had expected to have the process completed by November 15, when termination letters were scheduled to be sent out (before the deadline was moved)? He proceded to ask how many employees have requested exemptions and how the university would ensure that unvaccinated employees will be masked.
Kelli Shomaker noted that the 68.6% includes not just those who are fully vaccinated but also those who received accommodations / exemptions. The 4% “in progress” includes employees who have notified their HRL that they have received a first shot, and are waiting for a second shot, or who are waiting for a determination on a request for exemption. HRLs will begin to directly contact people who have not responded at all in the coming weeks.
Jaime Hammer added that 68.6% is a blended average of employees across campus. There may be higher rates among faculty than among student workers, for example. She noted that currently mask compliance is “on your honor” but supervisors would be notified in January of those who had received an accommodation. Those supervisors would be responsible for making sure that those employees wore masks.
Richard Sesek asked for clarification as to whether supervisors would be able to require those with exemptions to the vaccine mandate (but not an exemption in terms of mask-wearing requirements) to wear masks. He asked again the percentage of employees who have requested exemptions.
Jaime Hammer said they did not currently have a number for exemptions. The way that accommodations would work is that supervisors would be informed of both types of exemption – vaccination and mask. Jaime Hammer believed that not wearing a mask when unvaccinated was a “group 1” violation and would be treated as such.
John Beckmann (senator, Entomology & Plant Pathology) asked if anyone was counting people who had had covid and had immunity after recovery. This would be useful in terms of determining whether or not the university community had achieved any form of herd immunity.
Kelli Shomaker said they were not tracking this information. Robert Norton (Covid Resource Center) said that tracking this information was too complex as people were getting treated by a range of private providers and there was no good way to collect this information.
Chair Steury noted in addition that there was no good definition of what a community needed in order to achieve herd immunity. Norton responded that a good estimate was about 80% andexpressed his opinion that given the vaccination and case numbers on campus, it was likely the university was approaching some level of herd immunity. Richard Sesek (senator, Industrial and Systems Engineering) argued that it was impossible to say whether we are approaching herd immunity given the lack of data available.
Karla McCormick (Associate Vice President, Human Resources) spoke to give more specific information on the verification of the vaccination status of university employees. There are currently 368 people who have secured approved religious or medical exemptions to the vaccination mandate. Over 8000 out of 9288 employees have shown proof and have been verified as vaccinated. Almost 90% of 9-month faculty have been verified. 90.5% of 12-month faculty have been verified. The lowest numbers are in units that employ larger numbers of students and temporary employees. Only about 46% of student employees have been verified.
Hans-Werner van Wyk (senator, Mathematics and Statistics) asked if there was a way of tracking campus transmission, and whether there were any triggers that might lead to the reinstatement of the mask mandate.
Kelli Shomaker responded that the university relied on a range of expertise, including medical advice, CDC and state guidelines, local transmission rates. All of these are taken into account when determining what the best policy for Auburn is at any given time.
Chair Steury added that any decisions being made on campus related to masks ultimately will have to be made under the rules of the executive order.
Kelli Shomaker noted that campus will not have to be compliant with the executive order until January 18.
Duha Altindag (not a senator, Economics) asked about the advice and guidance being currently provided by medical experts to the University. He noted again that Lee County transmission rates are not low. He asked if the university’s medical advisors could share the information used to make their determinations.
Kelli Shomaker noted that the East Alabama Medical Center (EAMC) publishes local statistics and the university has used these.
New Business
Proposed motion on BoT consideration of changes to the faculty handbook
Roy Hartfield (senator, Aerospace) asked if the senate could ask the Board of Trustees to reconsider their schedule for reviewing changes to the faculty handbook. He proposed that the BoT might consider handbook changes quarterly rather than once annually.
Jaime Hammer (General Counsel) spoke about this practice from a practical standpoint. She explained that when changes are proposed to the board, the board does not just review the individual changes but the changes in the context of the entire handbook. It is more efficient for Trustees to consider multiple changes to the same chapter of the handbook in one go.
Roy Hartfield proposed a motion, for consideration in the next Senate meeting, that the university senate request that the Board of Trustees review changes to the faculty handbook quarterly. Ralph Kingston (Senate Secretary) asked for clarification as to what “quarterly” meant, and Hartfield confirmed that he meant four times a year, for example in meetings in June, September, December, and March. Chair Steury noted that the BoT meets only five times a year in total.
Michael Stern (not a senator, Economics) noted that the change to the schedule is relatively recent. He suggested that the announcement that the BoT was only considering handbook changes once a year might have been made in order to cover a lack of movement on approving some changes passed by senate. He called for better communication between Trustees and the senate, including more transparency when the BoT disagrees with items passed in senate.
Chair Steury noted that the Senate executive is engaging on the issues that were holding up the passage of handbook changes, albeit not directly with the BoT but through the administration. He will report to senate when there is some sort of resolution to report on.
Chair Steury thenconfirmed the wording of Roy Hartfield’s proposed motion – that senate “requests that the Board of Trustees evaluate changes to the faculty handbook during its regular meetings.” Roy Hartfield agreed to this wording.
The motion was seconded and Chair Steury confirmed that it would be included on the next senate meeting’s agenda.
Graduate Student Fees Senate Resolution
Anthony Moss (senator, Biological Sciences) brought up the issue of graduate student finance and in particular increase in student services fees. He asked faculty present to consider signing a petition to reduce student service fees which will be sent to relevant administrators.
He asked that the Senate consider the following resolution in its January meeting and to vote on its adoption.
“Grad Student Fees Senate Resolution
Whereas graduate students, who serve as graduate assistants (GAs), graduate teaching assistants (GTAs), and graduate research assistants (GRAs) are critical educators and scholars who work tirelessly and diligently to further the missions of Auburn University, and
Whereas continued increases in student services fees have become a significant economic hurdle, hurting graduate students who depend upon their stipends for living expenses and making their financial situation untenable, and
Whereas an unannounced 66% (from $350 to $582) increase in student fees was incurred during the summer of 2021 and
Whereas a reduction of that amount by $100 appears to be a one-time adjustment, without proffered increase in salary structure, and
Whereas the summer session is 2/3 of the length of a standard semester (10 weeks vs 15 weeks) and
Whereas the University levies a Summer charge identical to those of the Spring and Fall semester for enrolled students, and
Whereas graduate assistants must enroll in the summer session to retain employment, thereby incurring a fee,
Be it resolved that the Auburn University Senate affirm the importance of graduate students to teaching and research at Auburn University.
Be it further resolved that the Senate ask the University administration clearly communicate, in early 2022, a decision on student services fees for graduate assistants to the entire Auburn University graduate student community.
Be it further resolved that the Senate advocate for the University Administration to consider ways to mitigate graduate student services fees for specific categories that are not frequently used by graduate students, so that fees are commensurate with the services used by the graduate student population
Be it further resolved that the Senate advocate for the University Administration to reduce graduate student services fees that are charged in the summer semester for graduate assistants, in order to ease the disproportionate impact of the summer service fees on the graduate population.”
This was seconded by Roy Hartfield (senator, Aerospace Engineering).
Steury confirmed that this motion would be added to the Senate agenda for January and that the full text would be posted.
Adjournment
Hearing no objections, Chair Steury declared the meeting adjourned at 4:31pm
Respectfully Submitted,
Ralph Kingston
Secretary, University Senate
Attendance Record – November 16, 2021
Senate Officers
Present:
Todd Steury, Chair;
Mark Carpenter, Chair-Elect;
Ralph Kingston, Secretary;
Don Mulvaney, Immediate Past-Chair;
L. Octavia Tripp, Secretary-Elect.
Administration
Present:
Janaji Alavalapati, Dean, Forestry and Wildlife Sciences;
Ana Franco-Watkins, Interim Dean, College of Liberal Arts;
Joseph Hanna, substitute for Annette Ranft, Dean, Harbert College of Business;
Jeffrey Fairbrother, Dean, College of Education;
Vini Nathan, Dean, College of Architecture, Design and Construction;
Cris Roberts, Dean, Samuel Ginn College of Engineering;
James Weyhenmeyer, Vice President for Research and Economic Development.
Absent:
Royrickers Cook, Associate Provost and VP, University Outreach;
Gretchen Van Valkenburg, Vice President, Alumni Affairs.
Ex-Officio Members:
Present
Bill Hardgrave, Provost;
Shali Zhang, Dean of Libraries;
Rett Waggoner, SGA President;
Robert Norton, Steering Committee;
Cheryl Seals, Steering Committee;
Danilea Werner, Steering Committee;
Robert Cochran, Steering Committee.
Absent:
Oluchi Oyekwe, GSC President;
Clint Lovelace, A&P Assembly Chair;
Ashley Reid, Staff Council Chair.
Senators:
Present:
Lisa Miller, Accountancy;
Roy Hartfield, Aerospace Engineering;
Valentina Hartarska, Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology;
Molly Gregg, ACES;
Vinicia Biancardi, Anatomy, Physiology & Pharmacology;
Jacek Wower, Animal Sciences;
Kevin Moore, Architecture;
Kathryn Floyd, Art and Art History;
James Birdsong, Aviation;
Anthony Moss, Biological Sciences;
David Blersch, Biosystems Engineering;
Mark Tatum, Building Sciences;
Bryan Beckingham, Chemical Engineering;
Wei Zhan, Chemistry;
J. Brian Anderson, Civil Engineering;
Brigitta Brunner, substitute for Robert Agne, Communication and Journalism;
Nancy Haak, Communication Disorders;
Shenenaz Shaik, Computer Science and Software Engineering;
Peter Weber, Consumer & Design Sciences;
David Han, Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences;
Chris Schnittka, Curriculum & Teaching;
Feng Li, Drug Discovery and Development;
Liliana Stern, Economics;
Karley Riffe, Educational Foundations, Leadership & Tech;
Michael Baginski, Electrical & Computer Engineering;
Sunny Stalter-Pace, English;
John Beckmann, Entomology & Plant Pathology;
Damion McIntosh, Finance;
Nathan Whelan, Fisheries & Allied Aquaculture;
Zhaofei (Joseph) Fan, Forestry & Wildlife Science;
David King, Geology & Geography;
Kimberly Garza, Health Outcomes Research and Policy;
Zachary Schulz, History;
Daniel Wells, Horticulture;
Scott Ketring, Human Development & Family Studies;
Richard Sesek, Industrial and Systems Engineering;
Andreas Kavazis, Kinesiology;
Kasia Leousis, Libraries;
Jeremy Wolter, Marketing;
Alan Walker, Management;
Hans-Werner van Wyk, Mathematics and Statistics;
Sabit Adanur, Mechanical Engineering;
Virginia Kunzer, Music;
Chris Martin, Nursing
Kevin Huggins, substitute for Baker Ayoun, Nutrition, Dietetics, & Hospitality Management;
David Mixson, Outreach;
Peter Christopherson, Pathobiology;
Sarah Cogle, Pharmacy Practice;
Tom Lockhart, substitute for Jennifer Lockhart, Philosophy
Michael Fogle, substitute for Luca Guazzotto, Physics;
Peter White, Political Science
Joe Bardeen, Psychological Sciences;
Meghan Buchanan, substitute for Janice Clifford, Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work;
Rebecca Curtis, Special Ed. Rehab. Counseling/School Psychology;
David Strickland, Supply Chain Management;
Amit Mitra, Systems and Technology;
Nate Conkey, Lieutenant Colonel, ROTC Army;
Matthew Roberts, Captain, ROTC, Naval;
Adrienne Wilson, Theatre;
Robert Cole, Veterinary Clinical Sciences;
Zachary Zuwiyya, World Language, Literatures, and Cultures;
Absent:
Ben Bush, Industrial Design;
Ken Macklin, Poultry Science;
Charles McMullen, Lieutenant Colonel, ROTC, Air Force.