November 1, 2021

Nov 01 2021
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Meeting Minutes

ACADEMIC SENATE

Minutes

November 1, 2021

  1. CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME
    The regular meeting of the Academic Senate, held on November 1, 2021, was called to order at 3:00 pm by Senate President Christy Porucznik. As had been announced on the Senate website and by email, this meeting was held using the Zoom online meeting platform due to COVID-19 pandemic conditions. Attendance was confirmed by requiring Senate members (and invited guests and public attendees) to register in advance for the online meeting.

 

Present: Michael Abrahamson, Serena Aeschilman, Sharon Aiken-Wisniewski, Soheila Amirsoleimani, Yoshimi Anzai, Gloria Aquino, Michael Battistone, Erin Beeghly, Matthew Bettini, Melissa Bobick, David Bowling, Simon Brewer, Jonathan Brogaard, Kenneth Bromberg, Jen Brown, Jessica Brown, Erin Castro, Adrienne Cataxinos, Owen Chan, Divya Chandrasekhar, Promothesh Chatterjee, Thomas Cheatham, Gerald Cochran, Hilary Coon, Shanti Deemyad, Nadja Durbach, Stacy Firth, Annette Fleckenstein, Gina Frey, Sydney Gilliand, Lela Graybill, Amos Guiora, Eric Handman, Sara Hart, Bill Hesterly, Anna Hodgson, John Hollerbach, Harriet Hopf, Howard Horwitz, Bradley Hunter, Alexander Hyres, Luis Ibarra, Jeremiah Jaggers, Thunder Jalili, Jay Jordan, James Karner, Seth Keeton, Matti Koenig, Keith Koper, Titus Larrieu, Mike Lewis, John Lin, Shane Lloyd, Kerry Lohmeier, Gabriel Lozada, Robin Marcus, Frank McAlpin, Staci McIntosh, Nancy McLaughlin, Rajesh Menon, Eugene Mishchenko, Ed Muñoz, Anna Neatrour, Adrian Palmer, Marcel Paret, Robert Parker, Jeff Pettey, Tom Quinn, Emi Radetich, Kevin Rathunde, Sean Redmond, Alessandro Rigolon, Ofer Rog, Paul Shami, Xiaoming Sheng, Doug Shumway, Momina Sial, Roger Silver, Tim Smith, Brian Snapp, Taylor Sparks, Ryan Steele, Dave Symons, Maggie Tesch, Hunter Underhill, Jessica Van Der Volgen, Seetha Veeraghanta, Muskan Walia, Crystal Wallenius, Melodie Weller, Peter West, Jessica Wojciechowski, Jaehee Yi, Kilo Zamora, Brandon Zielinski

Excused: Luca Brunelli, Jack Longino

Excused with substitute: Ganesh Gopalakrishnan, Jaclyn Winter

Absent: Rohit Aggarwal, Robert Bowles, Richard Brown, Juliet Carlisle, Holden Cheney, Sarah Creem-Regehr, Stuart Culver, Manu Goyal, Srikanth Iyengar, Youjeong Kang, R. James Keddington, Audrey Laney, Connor Leeming, Lakshan Lingam, Kelly MacArthur, Kent Ono, Susie Porter, Alan Rogers, Jeff Schwartz, Kent Udell, Daniel Vargo, Susan Zickmund

Ex Officio: Randy Dryer, Robert Fujinami, Michael Good, Lisa Hutton, Jane Laird, Paul Mogren, Allyson Mower, Christina Porucznik, Sarah Projansky, Taylor Randall, Daniel Reed, Sonia Salari, Jo Scofield

 

  1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
    The minutes dated October 4, 2021, were approved upon a motion from Serena Aeshilman and a second by Sonia Salari, with one abstention.

 

  1. REQUEST FOR NEW BUSINESS

There were no requests for New Business

 

  1. CONSENT CALENDAR

On the Consent Calendar were the Faculty Matters reports which included:

  • Resignations, Administrative and Faculty Appointments
  • Career-line, Adjunct and Visiting Faculty Appointments
  • Emeritus Appointments

 

Senate President Porucznik explained that items on the Consent Calendar can be pulled to the regular agenda if a Senator would like to discuss it further. Amos Guiora submitted a motion to approve all items on the Consent Calendar. This motion passed after a second from Randy Dryer.

 

  1. REPORTS

 

  1. Report from Administration

President Taylor Randall highlighted recent events from around the campus. These included the Lauren McCluskey Foundation Memorial Walk, his ongoing listen and learn sessions with the UofU colleges, the Mighty Utah Student Section (MUSS) turning 20 years old, and more. SVP Daniel Reed offered insight on how his office is adjusting to increased enrollments, which will require working with colleges that are differentially impacted and developing more student housing options. SVP Michael Good updated the Senate with news from Health Sciences. The COVID rates on the UofU campus are very low, and it is anticipated that children’s vaccines will be approved in just a few days. Health officials are getting ready to plan for that.

 

  1. Executive Committee Report

Senate President-elect Sonia Salari explained that the Senate Executive Committee had met October 18 and approved the agenda presented to the Senate at this meeting. Other informational items included a listing of those appointed to the University Academic Centers and Institutes (UACI) Committee, highlighting that Tom Cheatham was the Senate appointee.

 

  1. Report from ASUU

ASUU President Jessica Wojciechowski reported that the ASUU had had a busy October. One focus was on supporting activities for domestic violence awareness month. ASUU had also hosted a campaign carnival featuring local politicians running in the current election.

  1. NOTICE OF INTENT CALENDAR

There were no items on the Intent Calendar

 

  1. DEBATE CALENDAR

 

  1. Proposed Permanent Rule R1-011A: Body Worn Cameras Regulation

Brian Nicholls, Special Assistant to the Chief Safety Officer, Jason Hinojosa, Deputy Chief of UofU Police, and Keith Squires, Interim Chief Safety Officer, had asked Senators at the October 4 Senate meeting to circulate this permanent Rule information among colleagues and send any feedback prior to the November 1, 2021, Senate meeting.

 

The Rule had been approved as an Interim Rule in July 2021 and then subsequently revised with input from campus partners and stakeholders including ASUU, Senate Executive Committee, Surveillance System Administrators Committee (SSAC), Independent Review Committee (IRC). Brian had discussed the Rule with other student-populated leadership committees including the Black Cultural Center, Native American Resource Center, LGBQT Resource Center, and other student groups. Chief Hinojosa explained that GRAMA or ICE requests to view videos captured through body-worn cameras go through the Office of General Council and other regulatory requirements prior to any release. In addition, his office redacts all information not necessary to an investigation to ensure the privacy of bystanders. However, he added that any system operated by humans is subject to human error, so encourages discussions that prevent violations of privacy.

 

Senator Amos Guiora explained to the Senate, in his role of Chair of IRC, that members of his committee want to remain highly observant of any unauthorized access to and privacy concerns of these videos. His committee members, including students, want to monitor ongoing privacy and accountability issues that could come up from the use of body-worn cameras. The presenters encouraged Senators to book a walk-through with Chief Hinojosa of the body-worn cameras accessibility system or meet with Brian to discuss remaining qualms about the proposed Rule. Harriet Hopf, seconded by Amos Guiora, asked the Senate to approve the permanent version of Rule R1-011A. The motion passed with six opposed and four abstentions. Next, Amos Guiora moved to that the Chief Safety Officer’s office provide a brief report to the Senate in both the Fall and Spring semesters on any breach of privacy issues related to body-worn cameras. The IRC and the SSAC Chairs would also report briefly to the Senate when cases of body-worn cameras privacy violations were being investigated. The motion passed after a second from Brian Snapp.

 

  1. Department of Emergency Medicine

Christy Hopkins, Chief of the Division of Emergency Medicine, reviewed a proposal to advance the Division of Emergency Medicine (EM) in the Department of Surgery, School of Medicine (SOM), to the Department of Emergency Medicine. The current EM division is an outstanding example of academic Emergency Medicine across all three missions of education, research, and clinical care. Department status will increase national prominence and the ability to compete at the highest level for recruitment, retention, and extramural funding. Its proposed three-year budget demonstrates adequate current and future financial resources. Bob Fujinami joined Chief Hopkins in relaying that this proposal had been unanimously approved by the SOM College Council. Harriet Hopf moved to approve this proposal; the motion passed after a second from Yoshimi Anzai.

 

  1. Information and Recommendations Calendar

 

  1. Athletics Director Report

Athletics Director Mark Harlan noted that University of Utah student athletes as a group continued to exhibit academic success in the 2020-2021 academic year, and he reviewed some academic excellence metrics. The Spring 2021 academic semester GPA average of 3.427 represented the 30th straight term of over a 3.0 GPA for the Athletics Department. Graduation Success Rate (GSR) highlights include that the Utah Athletics’ GSR of 94% ties its second highest mark ever and is the second highest in the PAC 12 Conference. New NCAA rules about athletes profiting from their image, name, and likeness have created an evolving landscape that the Athletic Department is actively helping student-athletes navigate.

 

  1. Graduate Council Seven-year Reviews

Seven-year Graduate Council Program reviews were presented by the Associate Dean of the Graduate School Katie Ullman for the Divisions of Medical Laboratory Sciences and Microbiology and Immunology in the Department of Pathology, and the Asian Studies Program. Katie highlighted the three programs’ strengths and current needs. Associate Dean Ullman also suggested that Senators review Graduate Council reports because they identify some of the exciting programs and developments at the university, while at the same time inform other departments of how these reviews are conducted.

 

  1. Senate Presidential Search Task Force

Christy Porucznik reviewed the Senate Leadership’s memo outlining the final charge and membership of the new Senate-authorized Presidential Search Task Force. Its report will be presented to the full Senate no later than April 4, 2022. If accepted by the full Senate at that time, Senate President Porucznik will then present the Task Force’s report to the Utah Board of Higher Education.

 

  1. NEW BUSINESS

There was no New Business requested for this meeting

 

ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 4:30 pm.