Approval of Previous Minutes —

Meeting minutes from 2022-10-18. Motion by Chris Wallace. Seconded by Hollie Hall. Motion passed unanimously

Student Senate Report

Alessia will give report at Thursday’s University Senate meeting.

Staff Senate Report

1. Results from the Staff Satisfaction Survey went out to all Lawrence and Edwards staff. KU is in-line with peer institutions and concerns are similar. Results will be further discussed at Staff Exec meeting tomorrow.
2. Ani asked about what kinds of actions/next steps might be taken after the survey, and suggested Jessica speak at the University Senate meeting in January. Jessica suggested four categories of things to identify: 1) what can Staff Senate/Governance do? 2) what can administration do? 3) what can they do together? 4) what needs to be delegated to third parties? Staff Senate won’t be able to take a lot of concrete actions, but rather advocate and make recommendations to entities that can act. What do we do with all this great information? There are complex issues, so this information will help guide the next few years.

Faculty Senate Report

1. Nate and Ani have been working on disseminating COACHE survey results.
2. There has been recent turbulence at KBOR related to RPK GROUP workforce and academic portfolio work. Had a special meeting last week and RPK met with Board Academic Affairs Standing Committee (BAASC) committee this morning. RPK is getting pushback from universities on lack of faculty insight into this. They are soon launching a website where faculty can ask questions about the process without putting a lot into the process. Nate is unsure about how effective this will be and will report more on Thursday.

University Senate Report

Ani will give report at Thursday’s University Senate meeting.

Unfinished Business —

Shared Governance

1. Ani has met with Mike Rounds and Nicole Hodges Persley. They plan to meet with the Provost and the Chancellor on 11/14/22, with a larger meeting with the Chancellor on 11/15/22. In the meantime, they are thinking broadly about charges, especially the first one (time-sensitive), and envisioning that it will take place on campus in early December. They want to include as many people as possible. Perhaps the GROVE process and tailoring it to work with faculty and students. Ani is researching and learning about it.
2. Jessica asked whether the HR Learning and Development team will be helping lead through the Shared Governance envisioning process. Ani said that Kathleen Ames-Stratton is helping with learning about the GROVE process. Ani notes that many of the materials she’s found about Shared Governance are tailored to faculty, with a lack of best practices documents on shared governance. Perhaps this indicates that KU is progressive in this regard. Ani also mentioned the importance of memorializing this for longevity.

COACHE

Ani and Nate have been working on the COACHE faculty morale survey. They are hoping the message will disseminate on Thursday with the preliminary data. They are working to have recommendations for leadership and working on finalizing the team (initiated by faculty affairs; now the Provost is main team lead, with Ani and Nate as co-directors, plus a group of various faculty).

International Committee Charges

Ani reports that the Chair of IA (Sunita Gandhi) is happy with the changes to the charges, which now need to go to University Senate for re-approval.

Academic Policies and Procedures (AP&P) Recommendations for Active Program

1. Ani shared a draft of the decision on the discontinuance of the Holocaust and Genocide Undergraduate Certificate. The statement conveys value and importance of the work and that courses will still be taught and encouraged.
2. Ani asked Hollie her thoughts on whether this will help students who have been concerned about the discontinuance. Hollie said that the particularly concerned students attended the hearing and were able to ask questions.

New Business —

Excused Absence Policy

1. Ani shared Susan William’s longtime work of codifying the university’s excused absence policy for student athletes and others. Susan has come to understanding with FRPR. Ani is planning on presenting the changes to University Senate this Thursday, with plans to vote at the December meeting. The new text replaces some generic text and makes policy more detailed, specific, and intentional.
2. Nate added that Susan wanted to make sure students who miss class due to university business have those absences excused. It might be good to invite Susan to the University Senate meeting in case people have questions. Ani added that faculty will still have discretion on make-up work.
3. After Thursday meeting, the Governance Office will need to complete 7-day notice before 12/1/22.

Other Pending Policy Updates

1. Ombuds language is currently out to campus for 21-day review.
2. We have approval from the Provost on the co-changes made last year regarding religious observances and regarding academic misconduct. Now they will go to the Chancellor for approval.

Academic Misconduct

Ani spoke to Jen Roberts. The university is working to have a database for academic misconduct so that instructors can better work with students for success, especially in situations of repeated cases of misconduct. The School of Engineering has already been using a database of this nature.

Academic Forgiveness

AP&P Committee is looking at academic forgiveness policy. They are currently researching policies at peer institutions to inform changes we might make to our current policy. They are hoping to make it more conducive for students to return.