EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES
Present: Adenwalla,
Buan, Franco Cruz, Gay, Hanrahan, Kolbe, Latta Konecky, Minter, Peterson,
Purcell, Vakilzadian, Woodman
Absent: Fech
Date: Tuesday,
March 17, 2020
Location: Zoom
Meeting
Note: These
are not verbatim minutes. They are
a summary of the discussions at the Executive Committee meeting as corrected by
those participating.
______________________________________________________________________
1.0
Call (Hanrahan)
Hanrahan called the
meeting to order at 2:30 p.m.
2.0
Announcements
2.1
Joint Statement on AAUP
Guidelines in Response to COVID-19
The
Executive Committee worked on a draft statement that will be jointly
distributed by the Senate Executive Committee and the administration regarding
AAUPÕs guiding principles on addressing the COVID-19 situation.
Adenwalla raised concerns that there is not enough
equipment available to allow all faculty members to deliver their courses
online. Hanrahan
stated that the administration realizes that not everyone has access to the
equipment needed to conduct a course online which is why the administration is
encouraging faculty members to consider a variety of other ways to deliver a
course, such as using Canvas or Google classroom. Kolbe and Woodman noted that
Canvas crashed Friday evening and Google crashed on Monday. Hanrahan
acknowledged that the capacity for some programs to handle the huge influx of
use could be problematical.
Gay
reported that Interim EVC Moberly sent an email recently stating that
instructors could not have one-on-one meetings with students. Hanrahan
noted that as we get stronger guidance from federal and state agencies, the
university administrationÕs messages are becoming clearer. Buan
pointed out that the literature coming out from researchers is that the reason
for the guidance to meet in groups of 10 or less is because of asymptomatic
spread which will have a huge impact on the increase of infection.
Woodman
pointed out that it would be helpful to have one source for academic
information. Hanrahan stated that he has said this to the administration
and he thinks this is starting to happen.
He stated that he hopes to see more coordination between the Faculty
Senate and the administration as we deal with the impacts from COVID-19. Buan
pointed out that there is a banner on the top of the unl.edu website about
COVID-19 and resources which are available to help faculty, staff, and
students.
Hanrahan reported that at the recent Town Hall
meeting the question was asked who would pay for administrative leave taken by
staff if they are paid on a grant.
He stated that at this time it is not clear whether the University would
pay or whether payment would come from the grant.
Franco Cruz stated that a faculty member is concerned with students who do not finish a course this semester that is considered a prerequisite for a course the students would take in the fall. He noted that this could cause some issues later on. Hanrahan agreed that some students may be at a disadvantage for the next semester, but he believes the faculty will do their best to get the students where they need to be in their academic progress, although there may need to be some alterations of things in the future. Kolbe pointed out that if the virus situation becomes worse, things may need to get shut down and we need to remain as flexible as possible as we move forward. Hanrahan stated that the kind of decisions that will need to be made need to be done by faculty working together. He encourages faculty to work together on remote instruction problems and to discuss impacts on future courses.
3.0
Approval of March 10,
2020 Minutes
Hanrahan asked if there were any
further revisions to the minutes.
Hearing none he asked for approval of the minutes. The minutes were
approved by the Executive Committee.
4.0
Unfinished Business
4.1
Diversity and Inclusion
Committee Syllabus Draft
The Executive Committee
reviewed a draft syllabus for a Senate Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Revisions were suggested, and
Peterson moved to remove one of the responsibilities that charged the Committee
to communicate with various groups, both internally and externally. Kolbe seconded removal of the
particular charge. Minter
made a friendly amendment to incorporate some of the language of the
responsibility into the preamble of the syllabus. Buan seconded
the friendly amendment.
Peterson accepted the friendly amendment. Motion approved.
The Executive Committee
then discussed the membership of the Committee. Suggestions were made to increase
the number of non-tenure track faculty members and to include two staff
members. Hanrahan
stated that he would make the suggested changes and share the draft document
with VC Barker to get his input.
He stated that he would like to present the motion to create the
Committee to the Senate at the April 7th meeting.
5.0 New
Business
5.1 Upcoming
Faculty Senate Meetings
The Executive Committee
discussed conducting the April 7th and April 28th Faculty
Senate meetings via Zoom. Hanrahan stated that Zoom has polling capability and it is
anonymous which could be used for Senate voting. Buan suggested
that any PowerPoint presentations be given to the Senators ahead of the meeting
for them to review.
The Executive Committee
agreed to conduct the meetings via Zoom and noted that the chat function will
be used. Hanrahan
stated that he might create a video to show people how to use Zoom and then
distribute it to the Senators for their use.
5.2 Ad
Hoc Lecture Committee Report
Minter reported that the
Ad Hoc Lecture Committee was a very good committee, and she feels comfortable
with the draft report. She noted
that she received an email from Dean Button thanking the Committee for sharing
the report and for the work of the Committee. She stated that Interim EVC
Moberly has said that he would pass the information on to EVC Spiller.
Woodman stated that a
goal of the Ad Hoc Committee is to improve lecturer positions, and possibly set
up a structure for promotion, but these would need administrationÕs
approval. He noted that an
idea of the CommitteeÕs is to create levels of lecturer.
Minter reported that the
open meetings with lecturers and chairs had quality conversations. She noted that the information
gathered by the Faculty Senate from the non-tenure track faculty forums was
helpful, and pointed out that the information collected by Professor Pascha Stevenson and Professor Katherine Johnson propelled
the Committee to do its work and she wanted to give them recognition for their
contributions. She pointed
out that that the lecturers who were members of the Ad Hoc Committee did the
additional work without receiving any compensation or recognition for their
service in an annual evaluation for their work.
Hanrahan asked if the next step
would be to give the report to EVC Spiller for review and to see if she will
accept the recommendations of the Committee. Minter stated that she thinks the
colleges could decide what it feels is appropriate for the pay structure of
their lecturers. She stated
that what is needed is a consistent definition of the lecturer role across the
campus and this should come from the EVCÕs office. Woodman pointed out that the Ad
Hoc Lecturer Committee encourages the EVC office to consider the report in a
timely manner, and to issue a response about the feasibility of the
recommendations.
Hanrahan wanted to thank
everyone who served on the Ad Hoc Lecturer Committee. He stated that he hopes the
recommendations of the report will serve as a model for the rest of the
University.
5.3 Agenda
Items for Chancellor Green, VC Boehm, and EVC Spiller
The Executive Committee
identified the following agenda items for its meeting with the administrators:
- What
is the next step on the recommendations in the Lecturers Report now that it has
been delivered?
- Updates
on VSIP
- Updates
on Searches
- Updates
on UniversityÕs response to COVID-19 and the projected end of the extraordinary
measures being taken.
- Any
ideas regarding summer sessions?
- Confidentiality
Statement – are there alternate forms, and if so what has changed?
The meeting was adjourned at 4:41 p.m. The next scheduled meeting of the Executive Committee will be on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 at 2:30 pm. The meeting will be conducted via Zoom. The minutes are respectfully submitted by Karen Griffin, Coordinator and Joan Latta Konecky, Secretary.