Steering Minutes
June 6, 2019
206 Samford Hall


Present:   Michael Baginski (Chair), Beverly Marshall (Secretary), Nedret Billor (Chair-Elect), Adrienne Wilson (Secretary-Elect), Dan Svyantek (Immediate-Past Chair), Emmett Winn (Associate Provost), Michael Tillson, Robert (Bob) Norton

Absent: Bill Hardgrave (Provost), Jung Won Hur
Chairman Baginski called the meeting to order at 3:30 pm. The committee was provided with an agenda via email prior to the meeting.

Agenda items:

  1. The minutes of the May 19 Steering Meeting were approved by unanimous consent.

  2. Susan McCallister, Director, Campus Safety & Compliance, Campus Safety and Security provided an overview on the Clery Act. Under the Clery Act, Auburn is required to keep and disclose information about crimes on and near our campus. The definition of campus can extend to other properties controlled or used by Auburn. Clery Geography can be confusing but is very important when it comes to reporting and collecting statistics. Steering asked her to provide more background around the law itself but think it is very important to continue to inform campus since there are potential civil penalties against institutions for failure to report (underreporting). 

  3. Beverly Marshall, Secretary, asked for approval of two volunteers to the University Professorship Committee. The Rules committee previously approved these volunteers. Steering voted unanimously in favor of these volunteers.

  4. Beverly Marshall, Secretary, said that after her review of the transcript for the May 21 meeting she realized she misheard one of the faculty questions and so her answer did not exactly match the question regarding a faculty member’s requirement in their syllabus for the student to contact them immediately regarding a missed exam. She asked whether she needed to clear this up at the meeting. There was continued discussion regarding the current makeup policy. One of the biggest concerns was the need to minimize the number of makeups, particularly in large sections, and the timeliness of makeups (so that faculty could hand back exams to the class). The committee discussed ways faculty might encourage students to notify them in a timely manner regarding a missed exam without violating the intention of the policy. Despite efforts that faculty may use to limit the timeframe allowed to initiate a makeup, the language in the policy clearly indicates that the student has one week from the end of the period covered by their excuse to initiate a makeup. The committee agreed however that the policy does not preclude a faculty member from initiating contact with the student regarding a makeup. The Steering Committee decided that there was no need to bring it back to the Senate floor.

  5. The Committee unanimously approved the Agenda for the June 11 Senate meeting.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 4:20 p.m.
Beverly B. Marshall, Secretary, AU Senate