Approval of Previous Minutes —

Approval of minutes from September 25th. Henry Whalen motions to approve the minutes. Jari Peters seconds. Minutes approved without objection. 

Guest Speaker Presentation —

• Jeff shares an update about the current financial landscape and some of the challenges we’re facing as a university.
• We now have one of the highest enrollments in the history of KU, which has been very helpful, but it’s expected to drop next year which means less tuition revenues coming in and fewer out of state students. We need to figure out recruitment which includes enrollment strategies and scholarship.
• The world is changing with higher ed. This is not just a KU thing – Jeff is collaborating with colleagues at other Big 12 schools. They are also dealing with enrollment cliffs.
• We need to recruit non-traditional students that still want to go to college or maybe didn’t previously finish and want to come back. We need to be online and remote and use prudent procurement.
• We’re going to be doing procurement reform and have a “One KU” finance model to do budgeting the same way on both campuses. We also need to invest in artificial intelligence because that’s the future of the country and higher ed in the world.
• The Gateway Project Phase 2 is paid by donors and developers - and by economic incentives from the city and the state. Because that's happening, we're getting a facility that is largely donor funded, state funded and developer funded. This will also be critical for recruitment.
• We’re looking at energy centers as part of our research here:  bringing in solar, gas, electric, and wind because we have more multiple energy sources in Kansas than any other state combined. Energy and expertise generates revenue.
• What can we stop doing so we can do the things we need to be doing? We need to address our facilities and get everybody to market pay. Where can AI come in to help us be more productive? AI is here to stay, similar to Excel spreadsheets that are still being used today. 

Student Senate Report

• Student Senate has funded several student organizations and have right around 32K left in our Wednesday Night Fund – this is to fund various student organizations across campus.
• Our speaker of Student’s Assembly and our treasurer attended the Big 12 Conference in Morgantown, West Virginia. They came back with a lot of good ideas from the conference and we’re optimistic about some changes we’ll be able to implement.
• The Homecoming Parade is coming up. We’re proud of this and optimistic about how it will go.
• Some changes are coming to parking as well that we’re hopeful about. 

Staff Senate Report

• We finished our Docking Institute Survey and are currently scheduling feedback sessions for the fall.
  • We have one coming up for IT next month and are finalizing the dates for Facilities, KU Libraries, and a few other units.
  • This is to obtain up-to-date feedback from staff.
• We plan to have a campus-wide presentation/forum in the spring.
• This month we had the Center for Service Learning present at our Staff Senate meeting and learned about the resources available for students, and how we can utilize the office for staff as well.
• Governance Leadership is having annual meeting with Policy Office to learn more about the policy process. 

University Senate Report

• We had the KBOR Campus Visit last week, which was a productive conversation.
• We brought up some concerns including e-mail template policy and contract negotiations, and we shared those same concerns with Provost.
• We are looking into how Governance leadership can be more involved with the Provost search.
• The Governance presidents (student, staff, university, and faculty) met with the Ombuds Office. Poppy is preparing that report for the next semester. 

New Business —

New Business: USSR Article IX: Guidelines for dealing with Allegations of Research Misconduct

• We need to suspend the rules today to make a motion to vote on this amendment.
• Natalie Holick provides additional insight along with Susan McNally and Ryan Werth.
• The changes provide a little more flexibility on the assessment period. Currently the article requires a 14-day assessment. This amendment allows for a little more flexibility if needed.
• There are also a few changes surrounding assessment, inquiry and investigation.
• Natalie, Susan, and Ryan worked hard to make sure to still include protections for respondents that were already in the policy. This is going into a one university policy to combine with the Medical Center -- so there is one policy and process for all campuses to create better alignment.
• If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Natalie, Susan, or Ryan.
• A motion is made to suspend the rules in order to vote on this at the same time it’s introduced to University Senate. Jessica Chilcoat Motions. Evanna Dominic seconds. Motion passes.
• A poll goes out to suspend the rules: 25 in Favor / 4 Not in Favor.
• Brendan Mattingly motions to vote on the amendment. Henry Whalen seconds.
• A second poll goes out for a vote on this amendment: 27 in Favor / 3 Not in Favor. Amendment passes for USRR Article IX: Guidelines for dealing with allegations of research misconduct. 

Program Discontinuances

• These have been sent ahead of time. If there are no questions or concerns, motion to vote on the program discontinuances at one time.
• After a brief discussion, Brendan Mattingly motions to vote. Glennda McKeithan seconds. 

• Poll goes out for vote on program discontinuances: 26 in Favor / 5 Not in Favor. Program discontinuances pass and will be sent to Provost. 

   

Dialogue on Compact Agreement 

FacEx met the other day and discussed. University Senate wants to wait until receiving additional information and possibly discuss later if there is need. 

Meeting adjourned.