Meeting Minutes
ACADEMIC SENATE
Minutes
April 27, 2020
CALL TO ORDER
The regular meeting of the Academic Senate, held on April 27, 2020, was called to order at 3:02 pm by Senate President Julio Facelli. As had been announced on the Senate website and by email, this meeting was held using the Zoom online meeting platform due to the COVID-19 pandemic closure of the University campus. Attendance was confirmed by requiring Senate members (and invited guests) to register in advance for the online meeting.
Present: Alan Abbinanti, Rohit Aggarwal, Sharon Aiken-Wisniewski, AnnaMarie Barnes, Amy Barrios, Pinar Bayrak-Toydemir, Gunseli Berik, Kelly Bricker, Kirsten Butcher, Devon Cantwell, Laurel Caryn, Mike Caserta, Promothesh Chatterjee, Thomas Cheatham, Susanna Cohen, Hilary Coon, Elizabeth Craft, Shanti Deemyad, Ann Engar, Diego Fernandez, Annette Fleckenstein, Candace Floyd, Kenneth (Bo) Foreman, Leslie Francis, Moira Gray, Kim Hackford-Peer, Patricia Hanna, Rebecca Hardenbrook, Andrew C. Harris, Bill Hesterly, Christel Hohenegger, John Hollerbach, Christopher Hull, Luis Ibarra, Srikanth Iyengar, Thunder Jalili, R. James Keddington, Anne Kirchhoff, Keith Koper, Kim Korinek, Anne Lair, Rich Landward, Dale Larsen, Stephan LeBohec, Lauren Liang, Gabriel Lozada, Brad Lundahl, Kelly MacArthur, Sharon Mastracci, Maureen Mathison, Staci McIntosh, Rajesh Menon, Dragan Milicic, Krystal Moorman, Damon Ngo, Kathleen Nicoll, Kent Ono, Rick Paine, Brandon Patterson, Wanda Pillow, Christina Porucznik, Tom Quinn, Kalani Raphael, Angela Rasmussen, Georgi Rausch, Terry Ring, Frank Sachse, Sonia Salari, Wesley Sasaki-Uemura, Amnon Schlegel, Jeff Schwartz, Jon Seger, Varun Selvam, Peyden Shelton, Helene Shugart, Roger Silvers, Debra Simmons, Sara Simonsen, Tim Smith, Brian Snapp, Kathryn Stockton, Dustin Stokes, James Sutherland, Thomas Swensen, Joshua Taylor, Alex Terrill, Sylvia Torti, Elpitha Tsoutsounakis, Kent Udell, Hunter Underhill, Brenda Van Der Wiel, Daniel Vargo, Neil Vickers, Jessica Wempen, Julie Wright-Costa, Jaehee Yi, Feng Zhang, Susan Zickmund, Brandon Zielinski
Excused with alternate: Amos Guiora (alternate Melissa Bernstein), Jeremy Rosen (alternate Anne Jamison)
Excused: Rima Ajlouni, Leslie Halpern
Absent: Shmuel Baruch, Divya Chandrasekhar, Amy Cox, Thomas Crane Giamo, Franz Goller, Gema Guevara, Sierra Holmes, Ken Johnson, Connor Leeming, Erik Lehnardt, Don Ly, Hunter Mansfield, Danielle Martinez, Khue Nguyen, Jon Rainier, Sara Scholes, Ryan Steele, Amrinder Thind, Emily Thomas, Maria Velasco
Ex Officio: Randy Dryer, Julio Facelli, Robert Flores, Michael Good, David Hill, Lisa Hutton, Robert Fujinami, Paul Mogren, Sarah Projansky, Daniel Reed, Thomas Richmond, Ruth Watkins, Bryce Williams, Jane Laird
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes dated March 30, 2020 were approved upon a motion from Pat Hanna and a second by Rebecca Hardenbrook.
CONSENT CALENDAR
On the Senate Consent Calendar for this meeting were the usual faculty matters reports (appointments/ resignations), and by unusual arrangement two items that had been provisionally approved by the Senate Executive Committee on behalf of the Senate, which today were being presented for Senate ratification. First, through an electronic vote on April 24, 2020, the Executive Committee provisionally approved modifications to the Fall 2020 Final Exam Schedule. Senate President Julio Facelli explained that the Registrar, Tim Ebner, addressed concerns about the lateness of some of the exam schedules by providing information about how his office will work with campus safety and transportation to provide security during those times. Julio added that Registrar Ebner’s memo was included in the Senator’s agenda materials.
Second was the Community Engaged Practices Graduate Certificate. Due to the special circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, Senate President Julio Facelli had asked the Executive Committee, at its March 16, 2020 meeting, to act on behalf of the Senate to provisionally approve this Certificate among certain agenda items that would usually be presented on the Senate Debate Calendar for a vote. Anticipating that coordinating online Senate meetings would be more complicated than a live session, the Senate Executive Committee had approved placing items which require Senate approval, but did not appear to be controversial, nor have any procedural or content issues, on the Senate Consent Calendar rather than on the Debate Calendar as usual. Julio asked the Senate to ratify the Executive Committee’s specific provisional approvals of the Modifications to the Fall 2020 Final Exam Schedule and the Community Engaged Practices Graduate Certificate, and the general decision to place such non-controversial items on the Consent Calendar in addition to the usual faculty matters reports. These Consent Calendar items were approved by general consent with no objections offered.
SPECIAL ORDER- Annual Elections and Report from the Senate Personnel and Elections Committee
In the absence of Chair Olga Baker, Dale Larsen as Co-Chair of the Senate Personnel and Elections Committee (SPEC) presented SPEC’s annual report, highlighting that the committee had coordinated faculty interest surveys and nominations for 96 committee vacancies on 25 University and Senate committees this year. A SPEC subcommittee had also organized and summarized 18 committee status surveys, and he gave a brief report on the results found. He thanked Olga and the SPEC members for their work and Jane Laird, Secretary of the Faculty and of the Senate, for her management of the surveys, nominations processes, and elections that the Committee oversaw this year.
Dale presented the list of newly elected Senators and Senate committee members who will begin their terms next fall. Richard Landward, SPEC member, noted that vacancies remain on some of the Senate committees and encouraged Senators to nominate either themselves or colleagues to the Senate Faculty Review Standards Committee and the Senate Personnel and Elections Committee.
Senators were then advised that during this Senate meeting they will cast their vote using an online survey platform in the following elections: Senate President-elect; Senate Executive Committee 2020-2021 members; Senate Advisory Committee on University Strategic Planning (SACUSP) members; and one run-off vote required from the Senate committee elections held in April (Note: Due to the unusual circumstances preventing the Senate from meeting in person, the Senate Executive Committee had authorized at its April 13, 2020 meeting a special exemption for the use of an electronic ballot in lieu of a paper ballot for this year’s elections). Jane Laird added that all voting-eligible Senators should have received a link to the Qualtrics election ballot. If any Senators had issues with the link or Qualtrics, they should contact David Hill or Paul Mogren, the elections officials for this meeting, for assistance or to get a Word document version of the ballot.
The two candidates for Senate President-elect, Debra Simmons and Christy Porucznik, addressed the Senate and presented their candidate statements. Voting, using the Qualtrics survey ballot, was then opened for 30 minutes.
SENATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT
Senate President-elect Randy Dryer reported that the Executive Committee met April 13, 2020 using the Zoom online meeting platform, approved today’s Senate agenda, and heard an interim report on usage rates of the recently implemented staff parental leave benefit (and the Senate will receive an updated report next academic year).
Randy announced that the Senate officers wanted to offer a Resolution of Appreciation on behalf of Senate President Julio Facelli at the end of his term. Parliamentarian Paul Mogren read the resolution, which highlighted substantive achievements made during Senate President Facelli’s term in addition to highly lauded leadership exhibited under the current pandemic conditions. Julio said that it was a pleasure to serve the University and confirmed his willingness to continue to do so. He also thanked the administration of President Ruth Watkins for its valuable support for Senate initiatives throughout the year.
REPORT FROM ASUU
Senate President Julio Facelli pointed out that, in today’s meeting materials, of special note was the University of Utah Board of Trustees Resolution in Honor of Anna Barnes. He added the Senate’s congratulations and its gratitude for her work on behalf of the ASUU as President and her valued participation in the Academic Senate this past year.
Anna presented a comprehensive overview and examples of the advocacy, planning, legislative, and strategy contributions of over 150 unique leaders in ASUU over the academic year. She noted that it was a body of work that put student advocacy, accountability, transparency, governance accessibility, and inequity corrections as priorities. In addition, actions aimed at expanding communication with the student body served to bolster visibility and rebuild trust. Along those lines, the ASUU had partnered with University and other organizations that offered resources to students in areas such as safety, education, wellness, and enhanced services. She added that it has been an honor and privilege to serve on the Academic Senate this year and thanked members for their ongoing support and mentorship.
Anna then introduced ASUU’s new President for the 2020-20212 academic year, Ephraim Kum. Ephraim gave the Senate a little of his background and explained that he is excited about building on ASUU’s and Anna’s accomplishments, and will focus on improving student access in the areas of safety, connectivity, affordability and more. He added that he looks forward to working with the Senate this coming year.
REPORT FROM ADMINISTRATION
President Ruth Watkins began with messages of gratitude. She thanked outgoing ASUU President Anna Barnes and welcomed Ephraim Kum to his new role. She offered great appreciation for the leadership of Senate President Julio Facelli, Past President Tom Richmond, and President-elect Randy Dryer, and special thanks to the Senate members for their time commitment in helping guide the University forward; “the University is a better institution because of their contributions.”
President Watkins was also grateful for the work of the University’s health professional and academician teams providing testing and services to Utahns during the pandemic, and health and safety guidance to university administration and the public as plans evolve. As the University charts its way forward during this time of uncertainty, health and safety will guide the decision making.
The administration was currently aiming to be open on campus for the fall term. However, because of the uncertainty, the University was actively working on a variety of plans and scenarios. For instance, SVP Daniel Reed was coordinating input and options of how academic instruction might proceed gradually going forward and how operations might need to respond to any developments in the coming summer and fall.
There would be a virtual and televised commencement Thursday, April 30, 6:30 pm, and she encouraged all to watch and send graduates off on a celebratory note.
DEBATE CALENDAR
COI Policy Revisions
Andrew Weyrich, Vice President for Research, and Marc Rinehart, Director of the Conflict of Interest Office, presented proposed revisions to Policy 1-006: Individual Financial Conflict of Interest and Procedure 1-006: Reviewing Individual Conflict of Interest Disclosure Forms, and three new Rules. Andy expressed gratitude to the many people who have helped UofU research activities thrive under the COVID-19 restrictions. He explained that the proposed COI policy revisions were developed by undertaking careful reviews and extensive discussions across campus. The goal is to clarify and simplify University policy, while also addressing changes in federal and state laws. The changes will help the University respond to recent requests by federal agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, that institutions more proactively identify and manage conflicts of interest related to foreign entities. The key revisions include adding an annual disclosure process for certain employees; simplifying the disclosure financial threshold for all employees; clarifying and simplifying the event-based disclosure and review process. Most of the proposed changes are not major and are consistent with existing requirements. Marc added that three new Rules based on individual job responsibilities are part of the proposal. The intent for those is to give more focused guidance to faculty and staff. Pat Hanna moved to approve the COI policy proposal. After a second by Debra Simmons, the motion passed.
Two Proposals for Action on the ASUU Resolution for the Support of a University Strategic Divestment and Reinvestment Plan
Senate President Julio Facelli updated the Senate on the background of the two alternate proposals. Rebecca Hardenbrook, Senate Executive Committee ASUU member, had introduced a proposal to the Senate Executive Committee April 13–spearheaded by concerned students and supported by a joint resolution of the ASUU legislative bodies and the UU Staff Council–to reactivate and populate a special Senate committee to review the current issues and opportunities surrounding the University endowment’s fossil fuel industry investments. The purpose of asking the Senate to look at this issue again would be to bring together representatives from across campus to consider additional research now available on fossil fuel divestment and reinvestment in alternative industries. The Senate Executive Committee decided to pose two alternative ways for the Senate to pursue this issue, the proposal from Rebecca, and an alternative from Committee member Pat Hanna.
Rebecca presented background and reasons why the issues concerning fossil fuel divestment should be reinvestigated and outlined a proposal to reactivate an ad hoc Senate Committee, to be named the Senate Ad-hoc Committee for Divestment and Strategic Reinvestment Investigation. Its purpose would be to inform the Academic Senate, with regards to the divestment of the University’s endowment fund, on best actions that balance the economic, ethical, community, and environmental concerns of the University. The committee would have three main tasks: investigate how the endowment fund is invested in the fossil fuel industry and how different levels of divestment and responsible reinvestment options would affect various sectors on campus; host campus-wide information panels and discussions at least once a month; and draft a full report and 10-year proposal regarding next steps. Membership would represent a broad array of constituencies, viewpoints, and knowledge.
Pat Hanna proposed alternatively that that this critical issue be assigned to an existing Senate committee, the newly established Senate Advisory Committee on University Strategic Planning (SACUSP). SACUSP could prioritize the project and add members so to include the comprehensive expertise and views that would be necessary for this study, and otherwise adopt the committee’s charge, timeline, goals, and other specifics as outlined in Rebecca’s proposal. She noted that she agrees with the importance of looking into divestment issues but wants to ensure it is handled in the most efficacious way. During discussion, Senate members offered that establishing the new ad-hoc committee might be the better option to ensure member commitment to the issue and allow the necessary expertise and viewpoints for a thorough examination.
Julio explained to the Senate that voting members will receive a link to an online ballot on Tuesday morning, April 28, so to vote on their preferred way of assigning the divestment investigation project. The ballot will be open for 24 hours, and results reported to the Senate on Wednesday, April 29. The ballot included 4 options, including the two described proposals for approval this year, or delaying, or taking no action.
Update: By email April 29, the Senate was notified that the option to approve a new Senate ad-hoc committee, as described in Senator Hardenbrook’s proposal, received the most votes. The ballot instructions and vote report for this action are included in the Appendix of these minutes.
NOTICE OF INTENT CALENDAR
There were no items for this meeting’s Notice of Intent Calendar.
INFORMATION & RECOMMENDATIONS CALENDAR
Surveillance Systems Administrators Committee Update
Harriet Hopf, Chair of the Surveillance System Administrators Committee (SSAC), presented an update of SSAC’s efforts since its formation. When Policy 3-234 passed the Senate in January 2019, going into effect July 1, 2019, the next step was to constitute this new oversight committee with representation from the faculty, students and staff, as well as various administrative officers associated with the operation of the surveillance systems at the University. Harriet reviewed the SSAC membership roster and added that it now reports to Marlon Lynch, Chief Safety Officer. SSAC has met by video conference, every 2-4 weeks. Its priorities include updating the surveillance registration system and oversight to comply with Policy 3-234; updating Rule 3-234A; defining minimum standards for building access; and centralizing all video and building access systems. Challenges have included locating independent surveillance systems that still need to be registered as part of an effort to centralize the University’s systems. The committee has been coordinating with the University’s purchasing department to make sure new systems purchased are registered. Also, many buildings do not currently have electronic access. There is a cost in updating these buildings to allow more secure access, so SSAC submitted a budget request to phase in these upgrades over a five-year period.
Items approved by the Executive Committee April 13, 2020, for the Senate Information and Recommendations Calendar
Julio Facelli explained that the reports assigned to the Senate Information and Recommendations Calendar usually have a representative present them at the Senate meeting. Because of the complexities of holding this Senate meeting online, he had asked the Executive Committee to approve that the following reports be available to the Senate, but not require individual presentations. He encouraged Senators to review the following, if they had not already, and forward any questions to the Senate office for any needed follow-up:
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- Senate Advisory Committee on Student Course Feedback annual report
- Undergraduate Council University Professorship Award to Ann Cook
- Distinguished Research Awards to Bruce Gale, Professor, Mechanical Engineering; Shelley Minteer, Professor and Endowed Chair, Biological Chemistry; David Bowling, Professor, Biological Sciences
- Proposed Guideline 1-012B University Non-discrimination Policy
SPECIAL ORDER – Annual Elections
Announcement of 2020-2021 President-Elect and Senate Executive Committee Members
The in-meeting Senate elections results were announced by Dave Hill and Paul Mogren as follows:
Senate President-elect
- Christy Porucznik, School of Medicine
Senate Executive Committee Members 2020-2021
| Sharon | Aiken-Wisniewski | (Education) |
| Thomas | Cheatham | (Pharmacy) |
| Shanti | Deemyad | (Science) |
| Leslie | Francis | (Law) |
| Kim | Hackford-Peer | (SCST) |
| Sara | Hart | (Nursing) |
| Harriet | Hopf | (Medicine) |
| Howard | Horwitz | (Humanities) |
| Dale | Larsen | (Libraries) |
| Sonia | Salari | (CSBS) |
| Helene | Shugart | (Humanities) |
| Julie | Wright-Costa | (Fine Arts) |
Julio thanked both the President-elect candidates for participating on the ballot for this important position, and congratulated the winners announced.
Note: the following other elections results were subsequently reported to Senate members by email on Wednesday, April 29, 2020.
Senate Advisory Committee on University Strategic Planning (SACUSP)
| Janet | Lindsey | (Medicine, Basic Sciences) |
| Kent | Ono | (Humanities) |
| Teneille | Brown | (Law) |
| Rohit | Aggarwal | (Business) |
| Thomas | Cheatham | (Pharmacy) |
| Linda | Edelman | (Nursing) |
| Diego | Fernandez | CMES |
| Cindy | Furse | (Engineering) |
| Kevin | Hanson | (Fine Arts) |
| Wanda | Pillow | (SCST) |
| Thomas | Richmond | (Science) |
| Michael | Varner | (Medicine, Clinical) |
Senate Faculty Review Standards Committee-run off for the College of Social Work seat
- Brad Lundahl, Social Work
OPEN DISCUSSION
Senate President Julio Facelli extended special thanks to Jane Laird for her work this year. He then thanked Past President Tom Richmond, who has served the Senate very well for the last three years. With that, he introduced Randy Dryer, the new Senate President.
Randy thanked the Senators whose terms were over for their service over the years. He welcomed the newly elected Senate Executive Committee members, noting that he looked forward to working with all of them.
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting adjourned at 4:52 pm
APPENDIX:
Two Proposals for Action on the ASUU Resolution for the Support of a University Strategic Divestment and Reinvestment Plan
The ballot circulated to Senators and final vote results are included below for the record.
Summary Report
Senate Vote: Proposals for ASUU Divestment Resolution
April 29, 2020 12:10 PM MDT
Q1 – VOTING INSTRUCTIONS: Vote for one
- Approve proposed study, charged to new special temporary committee as described in Sen. Hardenbrook’s proposal.
46.03% 29
- Approve proposed study, assigned to expanded existing Senate Advisory Committee on University Strategic Planning (SACUSP +added membership), as described in Sen. Hanna’s proposal.
38.10% 24
- Take no action at April 2020 Senate meeting— no committee is formed or assigned to study divestment issues at this time.
11.11% 7
- ABSTAIN.
4.76% 3
Total Votes: 63
Ballot from the Qualtrics Survey Platform
Question Block
Senate Vote on Divestment Investigation Committee Proposals
Review the options below that were presented at the April 27, 2020 Senate meeting
Visit h ttps://utah.instructure.com/courses/51590/modules to refer to
the materials presented
Option 1: Proposal to form a special Senate committee:
The proposal from student senator Rebecca Hardenbrook is to form a temporary special Senate committee, with members representing certain designated areas, including faculty, students, staff, and University offices. It includes representation from the existing Senate Advisory Committee on University Strategic Planning. This proposal includes the charge of the committee for issues to study and a timeline to report back to the Senate with recommendations regarding divestment or other actions. The final membership, and the charge and timeline would be subject to adjustment by the Senate Executive Committee and then fine tuning by the Senate President.
Option 2: Proposal to Assign to an existing Senate committee
The proposal from faculty senator Pat Hanna is to not form a temporary special committee, but rather have
the work assigned to the existing standing committee—the Senate Advisory Committee on University Strategic Planning, and to add to that existing committee some additional temporary members representing students and staff constituencies and expertise related to the divestment topic. The additional membership would be recommended by the Senate President and approved by the Senate Executive Committee. The committee charge, project timeline, and other details from the Hardenbrook proposal would generally be followed by this expanded existing committee, although subject to adjustment by the Senate Executive Committee and then fine-tuning by the Senate President.
Option 3: Take no action
There are three voting options. First, to approve the proposal for a study, to be conducted by a temporary special committee as proposed by Senator Hardenbrook. Second, to approve the proposal for a study, to be conducted by the expanded Senate Advisory Committee as proposed by Senator Hanna. Third, for the Senate to take no action on the proposal for a study, such that no committee will be formed and no charge issued to any committee for studying the divestment issues at this time.
VOTING INSTRUCTIONS: Vote for one:
- Approve proposed study, charged to new special temporary committee as described in Sen. Hardenbrook’s proposal.
- Approve proposed study, assigned to expanded existing Senate Advisory Committee on University Strategic Planning (SACUSP + added membership), as described in Sen. Hanna’s proposal.
- Take no action at April 2020 Senate meeting— no committee is formed or assigned to study divestment issues at this time.
- ABSTAIN.