Minutes
Senate Steering Meeting
October 5, 2021, 3:30 PM 
Via Zoom
Present: Todd Steury (Chair), Don Mulvaney (Immediate Past Chair), Mark Carpenter (Chair elect), Octavia Tripp (Secretary elect), Ralph Kingston (Secretary), Cheryl Seals, Bob Cochran, Danilea Werner, Bob Norton, Emmett Winn, Laura Kloberg (Senate Administrative Assistant).

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

Approval of Steering Minutes from September 7, 2021: Approved by unanimous consent.

Steering Discussion of Agenda items for Senate Meeting, October 19, 2021

Motion to review PTR process (action item) – Todd Steury

This was a motion to review PTR and to suspend all ongoing PTR reviews until the review was completed. was made from the floor at the last Senate meeting by Roy Hartfield (senator, Aerospace Engineering). The Executive had already decided to go ahead with a review of PTR, and will ask the Rules Committee to appoint an ad hoc committee to do so. There are currently no faculty members under PTR review, and so there are no reviews to suspend.

Voting on nominations to Senate Committees (action item) – Ralph Kingston

Kingston presented a list of 2 nominees which would be presented for Senate approval on October 19.

Voting on PTR change to FHB – Todd Steury

This was presented as a pending action item in Senate on September 7, 2021.  Steury noted there was a suggestion of tabling this motion in that Senate meeting, but it was not formally moved. He said he would put this to a vote if it was brought up again.  There was, however, no reason Steury saw for tabling the proposed policy changes, which are separate from the issue of the review and are overall beneficial for faculty.

Voting on changes to FHB re: removal of lectures committee (action item) – Todd Steury

It was noted that this would require 2/3s of senators to vote in favor in order to pass (59 votes).  Steury asked the Senate Secretary to remind senators in advance of the importance of attending the meeting for the vote.  It would appear as near to the beginning of the agenda as possible.

Voting on changes to FHB re: Zoom meetings (action item) – Todd Steury

Steury began by noting that this was actually two separate votes –a vote to change the Senate Constitution and a vote to change the University Faculty Constitution.  The Steering committee agreed to separate the proposed change to the University Faculty Constitution, removing it from the Senate agenda for October 19, and adding it to the next General Faculty meeting on October 26. The vote on the proposed change to the Senate Constitution would remain on the agenda for October 19 and would be introduced as near to the beginning of the meeting as possible.

Members of the Steering Committee then discussed questions brought up in recent Senate meetings about the use of zoom meetings. It was noted that the original move by the Senate to zoom meetings was made because of university restrictions on in-person meetings. The choice was between having meetings on zoom or suspending the university Senate. The Senate as a body voted to continue meeting on zoom at the start of this semester.

Senate Chair’s remarks

At this point, Chair Steury shared that his intention was to share the current status on changes to the Faculty handbook on the use of Teaching Evaluations. Senate voted for these changes last year and they were signed off on by the President, but they have not been taken to a meeting of the Board of Trustees.  Steury has met with the Provost and is working to get information to board members in order to move the issue forward.

The meeting then moved on to discuss items which will not be part of the October 19 Senate agenda.

Covid Resource Center Updates – Robert Norton

Norton noted that covid-19 case numbers were down. There were a lot of questions about masks, including faculty requesting an end to the university mask mandate. Norton noted that while no decision had been made to abandon the mandate yet, his best guess was that the mask mandate would not survive indefinitely. Steury noted that he has been constant in communicating to the administration that if they remove the campus-wide mask mandate, it should redouble its efforts to support faculty requiring masks in classrooms.  

Discussion of Decorum in Senate meetings

Steury noted that his goal in the upcoming meeting was to ensure that behavior that did not meet the expectation of decorum should not be tolerated.  He did not want to limit anyone’s right to speak before the Senate, but just to change the manner in which faculty members express themselves.  He will address the topic of decorum in his initial comments.

The meeting will enforce Robert’s Rules of Order. In particular, speakers will have to direct their questions to the Chair. When asked about the 10-minute limit on individuals speaking, Steury noted that this rule really applies more to debate rather than to questions, but that it will also be applied.  He also noted that Senate can set a lower limit, but it would require 2/3s of senators to vote for it as it restricted the rights of members to speak.

University Faculty Meeting

Steury noted that the General Faculty meeting would take place in three weeks time.  He asked Steering Committee members for their opinions on whether the meeting should be hybrid, in person or on zoom.  Danilea Werner noted that zoom meetings allow more faculty to participate, and in particular female faculty and faculty with children. The committee discussed how it would be easy to allow faculty to watch an in-person meeting on zoom but providing an opportunity for both in-person and remote attendees to vote simultaneously would be difficult.  It might be possible that remote attendees might be allowed to ask questions, however. 

Approval of Agenda for 10/19/2021 Senate meeting.
The Steering Committee voted unanimously to adopt the Senate agenda for October 19, 2021 as amended.

Other Business – None

Adjournment – Chair Steury adjourned the meeting at 4.58pm

Respectfully submitted,
Ralph Kingston
Secretary, University Senate