Faculty Senate Meeting Agenda – March 29, 2022 – Faculty Senate

FACULTY SENATE MEETING AGENDA

Mar 29, 2022

3:30 PM – ZOOM

Roll Call and Quorum Check – (Barb Dahlbach)

Approval/Correction of the Minutes for Feb 8, 2022 – (Barb Dahlbach)

Guests: Ashley Ewing – OIT

President’s Report – (Chapman Greer)

Ukraine and our Ukrainian UA community members: FS response (see appended documents)
FS Meeting lengths
Chime-In Survey:

https://oira.ua.edu/chime-in-2018/
campus-wide survey findings (gets you to the comparison to SUG)
https://oira.ua.edu/chime-in/

Student debt cancellation proposal (see appended documents)
SAFE Center support
- April 10 2022, Student Center Ballroom

Vice President’s Report – (Matthew Hudnall) – No Report

Secretary’s Report – (Barb Dahlbach)

Senate Elections’ progress, including Ombudsperson votes
Updating FY2022 on the Gorgas Library Terminal
Legislative Bills affecting retirement: https://www.rsa-al.gov/about-rsa/legislation/

Senate Committee Reports:

Taskforce for Transforming Campus Culture
- Vote on Campus Culture report to send to OAA
Faculty & Senate Governance – (Ibrahim Çemen & Jeri Zemke)
- Mediation Committee Nominations
- Ombudsperson Nominations
- Faculty Senate Executive Elections
- Mediation Committee Faculty Liaison
  - Faculty Liaison: Annually, the Provost, with consultation of the President of the Faculty Senate, will select a senior tenured faculty member as faculty liaison who will act as a liaison between the petitioner, the respondent, and the Mediation Committee and/or Tribunals and/or Compliance Tribunals. The faculty liaison will also be responsible for supplying any support services or advice needed by tribunals, including helping with investigations, arranging hearings, and establishing timetables and schedules that will result in fair and expeditious hearings. In particular, the faculty liaison will prepare a model set of timetables for a Tribunal to consider when adopting its rules. The faculty liaison also will be responsible for training the Mediation Committee and Tribunals discussed below
Academic Affairs – (Rona Donahoe & Babs Davis)
- Faculty Handbook changes –> FS vote on 3.22.22
Faculty Life – (Heather Elliott & Ruth Ann Hall)
- Childcare Proposal
- Ukrainian Resolution
- Retirement emails
Research & Service – (Shanlin Pan & Douglas Bish)
- Cochairs met with Lesley Reid about postdoc minimum and ceiling salary issues. Current postdoc salary distributions of each unit were reviewed. Lesley is drafting new postdoc salary review/approval procedure to facilitate communication between PIs, HR, and OSP
- VPRED Dr. Russell Mumper met with the committee and provided updates on AARC facility support, ORED Office for Sponsored Programs Pre-Award Survey, and several other critical issues related to research
- Graduate School’s Strategic Graduate Partnerships initiative led by Dr. Emmett J Lodree
Financial Affairs – (Mary Stone & Byung-Cheol Kim)
- Meeting with Matt Fajack re: Concur
Community & Legislative Affairs – (Joy Burnham & Steven Yates)
- Hourly staff employee-match (retirement)
- Flexible work schedules
IT & Strategic Communications – (Patrick Kung & Nathan Loewen) – No Report
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion – (Lyndell McDonald & Luke Niiler) – No Report
Student Life – (Jennifer Dempsey & Amy Traylor) – No Report

Reports from Other Committees

Compliance Committee (Babs Davis)

Old Business

New Business

Reminders

Next SC meeting Apr 12^th – Venue: TBD

Adjourn

Appended Agenda Documents

The University of Alabama’s Faculty Senate Statement on the Crisis in Ukraine

The University of Alabama’s Faculty Senate condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has given rise to a terrible humanitarian crisis. Two million Ukrainians have sought refuge in Europe, primarily in Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia, and Romania. Nearly 2 million Ukrainians are displaced within Ukraine itself, and others can only shelter in place as the war rages around them. The United Nations estimates that as many as 4 million people may flee Ukraine in the coming weeks.

The UA Faculty Senate is deeply concerned for the safety of the people of Ukraine, including those who are members of the University of Alabama family: faculty, staff, students, and their families, as well as alumni, scholars who have visited UA, research partners, and their families. We also worry for the safety and well-being of members of our community who come from other countries in the region, who face the prospect of extended military conflict and instability. Our concern is heightened by the recent damage to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Enerhador as well as the abhorrent bombing of a maternity and children’s hospital in Mariupol. We are troubled by emerging reports of dire living conditions and human rights abuses in the areas of Ukraine under Russian occupation.

The UA family includes students, faculty, and staff from around the world, including Ukraine and Russia, as well as other nearby countries. Many members of our community have family members who live in this region and have been directly impacted by the invasion.

We stand with the international community in urging a restoration of peace in Ukraine so that the Ukrainian people, as well as those of other nations in the region, can return to their lives, secure from the tragedy of war. We support the immediate establishment of humanitarian corridors. We also intend to lend our support in other concrete ways, including helping those in need through the organizations recognized by US AID (https://www.cidi.org/disaster-responses/ukraine-crisis/) as effectively responding on the ground in Ukraine and nearby, and we encourage members of the UA family who have asked how they can help to do the same. We are hopeful for a swift end to the bloodshed and a return to peace in Ukraine and we offer our continued compassion and support for all of those affected during these troubling times.

In line with our own support, we request that the UA administration reach out to help Ukrainian students, faculty, and staff who may be experiencing anxiety and trauma over these disturbing events. This is especially critical for those whose periods of study, fellowships, or employment were scheduled to end this spring semester and who are now facing visa issues and other legal and economic hardships. We ask that the UA administration ensure that these individuals receive the support they need and that their immediate and future concerns are addressed with urgency and care. Other academic institutions, such as Michigan State University, have even appealed to the U.S. State Department for assistance on behalf of their students and have delivered public statements accordingly. We also ask the UA Administration to consider additional support for UA employees and students whose loved ones in Ukraine have been displaced by the conflict and are in need of urgent humanitarian, legal, and / or medical assistance.

We therefore ask that our administration, using both public and private channels, include a statement that condemns this invasion, that highlights the specific tangible actions UA is taking to support affected individuals, and that provides information on resources available to affected members of our community, including, but not limited to, the Counseling Center; The Capstone International Center; the Financial Aid Office; and The Employee Assistance Program, among others.

STORIES ON UNIVERSITY RESPONSES

https://www.highereddive.com/news/how-us-higher-ed-is-reacting-to-russias-invasion-of-ukraine/619547/

ORGANIZATIONS OF SCHOLARS

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00601-w

ORGANIZATIONS OF UNIVERSITIES

U.S. PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES

U Wisconsin: https://www.wisconsin.edu/news/archive/statement-from-uw-system-president-tommy-thompson-in-support-of-ukraine/
Penn State: https://www.psu.edu/news/story/message-university-community-conflict-ukraine/
UC Davis: https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/chancellors-statement-crisis-ukraine
Michigan State: https://president.msu.edu/communications/messages-statements/2022_community_letters/2022-02-25-Supporting-our-Spartan-community.html
U Florida Graduate School: https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2022/02/pinto-ukraine-statement.html
Indiana U: https://global.iu.edu/about/leadership/statements/ukraine.html

U.S. PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES

CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES

University of British Columbia: https://president.ubc.ca/blog/2022/02/24/statement-on-russia-and-ukraine/

EUROPEAN UNIVERSITIES

AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES

Australia National University: https://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/anu-statement-on-ukraine
University of Sydney: https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2022/03/03/message-of-support-on-the-conflict-in-ukraine.html

CORPORATE RESPONSES

From Yale University: https://som.yale.edu/story/2022/over-300-companies-have-withdrawn-russia-some-remain

Correspondence on Student Debt Cancellation Proposal

Dear leaders and former leaders of faculty senates,

My name is Jennifer Mittelstadt, and I’m a founder of Scholars for a New Deal for Higher Education, group of scholars and educators who are working for national reform in higher education, partnered with AAUP.

If you’re receiving this email, it comes from the email list collected from the National Council on Faculty Senates two years ago — the most recent list available. We are trying to reach faculty senates across the nation to ask whether they might consider this resolution calling for the cancellation of student debt on April 4th. The resolution is part of a day of action created by the Debt Collective and supported by AAUP and many others, who are concerned that the $1.6 trillion dollars in unplayable student debt in this country is harming not only students in higher ed, but their families and also the faculty and staff teaching and supporting students and their families, who themselves carry this debt.

The links here are to the model resolution and to the larger debt cancellation tool kit. It would be wonderful if the faculty senate to which you belong, or at your institution, might consider passing the resolution, or at least bringing it to discussion.

If you are no longer on the senate at your institution, I’d be grateful to receive an email and name for the current officer.

Thank you for your consideration,

Jennifer

Jennifer Mittelstadt

Co-founder, Scholars for a New Deal for Higher Education

Jennifer Mittelstadt
Professor of History
Rutgers University

Faculty Senate Meeting Agenda – 03-22-22 – PDF Version