Approval of Previous Minutes —

The minutes from Feb. 3, Feb. 17 and March 3, 2026, were sent before the meeting. Brendan motioned to approve the minutes. Hearing no objections, the minutes were approved. 

New Business —

KBOR Awards. Every year we are asked to submit faculty for the KBOR Award. We plan to update the language from last year and send it out to department chairs and deans and give people by April 30 to submit nominations. A subset of FacEx will need to look at the submissions. How many awards are there? There are three awards. Misty shared the announcement from last year. We will share this with directors and allow 21 days for responses. 

Process of confidence/no confidence vote. Misty shared the steps taken. Misty and Poppy sent a report to the Chancellor and chair of KBOR. A reporter from KCUR did an open records request from KBOR and reported it. There were some negative remarks in public spaces, and some remarks were reported in the media. Misty confronted the individuals. There have been some reports in the media about misinformation. Misty felt personally and professionally attacked with some comments. Misty and Poppy will meet with the Provost and Chancellor next Thursday. They are hoping for more direct conversations. The message today is how Misty would like interaction with faculty to be in the future. 

Poppy added some comments. The press has some misinformation. Poppy hopes for more transparency going forward, especially with the Gateway Project. Misty commented that their attempt to inform the community was met with efforts to undermine. Misty and Poppy are meeting with the Chancellor next Thursday. Misty said they need to be on top of what they are saying about finances. About $30 to$ 40 million that the academic part of the University will be asked to swallow. This may not be clear. The attempt to put all hope for university with Gateway and Athletics is risky. Just knowing the plan is important. Misty said they owe the Chancellor and KBOR Chair a final report. This can come from FacEx, to show a force of governance. There should not be an expectation of privacy for the memo. It would be good to work under the umbrella of governance. This was the main opposition administration had against us since it was sent as individuals. The process will be that Poppy and Misty will come up with a draft with the two final reports and send that to FacEx for a vote. We could then bring it to the April 9th Faculty Senate Meeting. Then it would come from the full senate. 

The process for voting at Faculty Senate was discussed. If Faculty Senate approves, the final memo will be sent on behalf of Faculty Senate. Our goal previously was to have an earnest discussion with leadership and faculty. This time, we can send it from Faculty Senate and send it to the Chancellor and Board of Regents. There is value is having bullet points summarizing the information. 

There was a discussion on health and well-being. Students and faculty have been getting sick. There was a reminder to stay safe. Another comment was made on the importance of a healthy environment in the classroom. There were comments shared about bugs, mold, and dust in the classroom and buildings. Issues about the building and any related health problems should be brought to the Union. There should be someone in HR who can be contacted about any sensitivity to anything in the work environment. The name of someone in HR’s ADA department was shared in the chat. 

Meeting adjourned.