Approval of Previous Minutes —

Minutes from March 10, 2026, SenEx meeting sent ahead of time. Minutes approved without opposition. 

Student Senate Report

No new updates from Student Senate since the University Senate meeting last week. 

Staff Senate Report

• Staff Senate leadership had meeting with Chancellor Girod this afternoon and had good conversation.
• Asked about update on Ombuds Search. Julie Murray is meeting this afternoon with the Provost and HR regarding this. An interim Ombuds will likely need to be appointed as the search likely won’t be completed before Ada leaves. 
• We talked about Shared Governance and One KU, and a strategic plan. There will be feedback sessions regarding One KU. Jessica advocated for shared governance having their own feedback session. 

University Senate Report

• The dean candidate searches for the School of Journalism and Mass Communication are occurring. A reminder to attend the sessions that you can. 
• Misty and Poppy have meeting with Chancellor on Thursday. 
• Final SenEx meeting of the spring semester (before organizational meeting) is next month. We had our last University Senate meeting prior to the organizational meeting last Thursday. 

Unfinished Business —

Unfinished business today relates to staffing the RRB and ACEC committees:

Retirees Rights and Benefits Committee (RRB):

• There has been conversation surrounding allowing a retiree to “chair” this committee. This way the chair is a constituent that is directly implicated and has direct insight. 
• It may draw a little more interest and invigorate the committee. 
• Retirees would need affiliate status. This has been done previously for a retiree that is currently on the committee. 
  • Now that the process has been established and we have previously worked with HR on this, it likely won’t be too difficult. 
  • There are multiple steps but should be more straightforward now that we know what type of affiliate status is needed. 
• Retirees typically don’t get Governance communications, but they do get the Campus Insider – so it may be helpful to spread the word in the Campus Insider. 
• It’s asked what we need to do to move forward with this code change and if it’s possible to get started this spring. 
• It’s possible to get the ball rolling this spring, but the process can’t be fully completed until Fall since the next University Senate meeting in which it could be voted on is not until early Fall – as the next University Senate meeting is the organizational and transitional meeting. 
• This will be the first time this code change for RRB membership is brought up in SenEx – and SenEx agrees, so it seems helpful to get started this spring. 
• SenEx worked on the wording of the code change to RRB membership : “either an active faculty member, active staff member, or university retiree eligible for affiliate status may be appointed as chair.”
• Motion went out to SenEx for changing the Code for RRB membership. Need two-thirds approval. 
• No opposition and unanimous approval.
• This will head to University Senate in the fall. 

Academic Computing and Electronic Communications (ACEC):

• During the organizational meeting, we thought we could rethink and restructure the charges for ACEC to incorporate AI. 
• This can be the focus at the April 21st SenEx meeting.

It was asked if students could possibly chair some of the University Senate committees. While some of the committees may not be applicable, the Environmental and Sustainability Committee may be one that could open the possibility for students to chair if unfilled during the summer by staff or faculty. This Environmental and Sustainability Committee was initiated by students. 

Meeting adjourned.