Minutes
Senate Steering Meeting
January 11, 2022, 3:30 pm
Via Zoom

Present: Todd Steury (Chair), Donald Mulvaney (Immediate Past Chair), Ralph Kingston (Secretary), Mark Carpenter (Chair elect), L. Octavia Tripp (Secretary elect), Emmett Winn, Robert Norton, Danilea Werner, Robert Cochran.

Not present: Bill Hardgrave, Cheryl Seals

Guests Present: Linda Gibson-Young, Ali Krzton, Tony Moss.

Senate Chair Todd Steury called the meeting to order at 3.30pm.

Approval of Steering Minutes from November 9, 2021:
Hearing no objections, approved by unanimous consent.

Chair’s Announcements

Steury informed Steering that an ad hoc Committee on new Professorial Ranks is now in place. It has been tasked with exploring the addition of up to two more ranks above the level of full professor. The current administration is supportive of Senate exploring the idea.

He then updated the committee on the progress of the search for the new President.  The advisory committee met candidates before Christmas and submitted their individual viewpoints on the individuals they met to the board. He had not been informed if the search committee will have any further involvement in the process of nominating candidate(s) for President.

In terms of COVID, the vaccination mandate is still on hold pending determination on its legality in federal courts. The portion of the executive order in regard to masks has not been stayed, and the university will have to be compliant with the executive order with regard to masks from January 18 on.  Steury noted that the university would be putting personnel to enforce mask wearing in buildings.  There had also been discussion in the President’s cabinet in terms of how to encourage people to wear better quality masks, but no announcement had been made on this. When asked, he confirmed the university would not be moving to supply faculty and employees with better-quality masks. 

Discussion and approval of Senate Agenda for January 25, 2022, at 3:30 pm

Presentation by Linda Gibson-Young, Chair Faculty Research Committee and Ali Krzton from Library on Proposed Research Data Policy

Linda Gibson-Young introduced the members of the Steering Committee to the Research Committee and its work. The committee has been working on creating a university wide policy on research data. The purpose of the policy is to help faculty who need such a policy in place as a requirement for applying for grants (most other universities already have similar policies in place.)  Ali Krzton explained how the policy under discussion has been vetted widely across the university, including in a presentation to Senate as an information item last year.  She noted that there is some pressure to get the policy moved forward at this point as some major grant sponsors (for example, the NIH) require grant applicants to have a data management policy in place.

In response to questions, Linda Gibson-Young confirmed that the VP for Research and Economic Development was fully engaged in the creation of the policy and would oversee it. The Research Committee has also had buy-in from the Associate Deans for Research in the schools and colleges. In practice, compliance with the policy would be the responsibility of individual faculty members.

Asked about how this policy might impact on contracts that involved specific conditions on the sharing of data, Ali Krzton noted that the language of the policy was designed so as to defer to specifics in particular contracts or grants.

Given the increasing urgent need for a policy to be put into place, and the fact that the policy had been presented to Senate in June 2021 and received feedback from senators at that point, the Steering Committee decided that it should be presented as an Action Item and voted on in the January 25 senate meeting. The Steering Committee advised the Research Committee to produce a FAQ to accompany the policy, which could be circulated with the meeting agenda.

Presentation by Emmett Winn, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs on Classroom Visitor Guidelines

Emmett Winn spoke briefly on a set of guidelines on classroom visitors created by the Provost’s office in consultation with the General Counsel’s office, the chair of the Faculty Handbook Review Committee, and members of the Senate Executive committee.  These guidelines had already been circulated to the Senate Steering committee for approval.

These guidelines replace a handbook change passed by Senate in September 2021 which was rejected by the Provost on the advice of the General Counsel’s office.

Provost’s guidelines do not need to be approved by a Senate vote. These will be linked to the agenda for the January meeting. Emmett Winn expected the Provost would briefly address the guidelines in his remarks in Senate. 

Vote to continue holding Senate meetings via Zoom

This vote is needed to comply with the amended motion passed in senate in August 2021, requiring the decision to hold senate meetings on zoom to be reviewed at the start of this semester.  Chair Steury noted that he did not see the need to schedule regular reviews of this kind in advance.  Any member of senate can propose a return to in-person meetings at any point simply by making a motion and triggering a vote.

Vote on motion to request that the Board of Trustees consider Faculty Handbook changes at regular meetings

This motion was made by Roy Hartfield (senator, Aerospace Engineering) in the November senate meeting and will use the language agreed during the meeting.

Vote on motion on graduate student fees

The language of this motion was submitted and read out by Tony Moss (senator, Biological Sciences) in the last Senate meeting.  Tony Moss joined the discussion to speak to the content of the motion and to explain its importance to the members of Steering.

The Steering Committee discussed who might be best equipped to speak to the substance of the issues referenced in the motion. It was decided to contact the Dean of the Graduate school and the President of the Graduate Student Council (who is, in any case, a serving senator) to inform them the motion would be under debate, so they could contribute to the discussion as they wish. Tony Moss will have the opportunity to speak on the motion first.

Vote on nominees to Senate Committees

Ralph Kingston presented the name of a nominee to the Faculty Grievance Committee elected by the faculty of the School of Nursing, who will be presented for Senate approval in the upcoming meeting.

A motion to accept the agenda for the January 25 meeting was made by Don Mulvaney and seconded by Robert Norton.  It was approved by voice vote.

Discussion of appointment of Interim Provost

Steury informed the Steering Committee that the Senate Executive Committee had been asked by the President to advice on how an interim provost should be selected. The executive is recommending that the President should issue a call for nominations, and appoint an advisory committee to review those nominations, organize the collection of materials, and schedule open listening sessions.

Adjournment – Chair Steury adjourned the meeting at 4.41pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Ralph Kingston
Secretary, University Senate