November Updates from University Governance


Dear all,

We want to thank all the faculty and staff who volunteered for the University, Faculty, and Staff Senate committees. We received more requests than we had openings and evaluated the self-nominations on the basis of relevant work expertise to the responsibilities of a given committee. Those of you who we were able to accommodate on a committee should have received meeting invitations by now.

Before we update you on some of our ongoing activities in Governance, we would like to take a moment to commend the Staff Senate for their ongoing advocacy around university employees receiving a week off during the Winter Break. Advocacy is often a path of some uncertainty around outcomes; Staff Senate has put considerable time and care into advocating for all staff on this topic. Morale is low and the opportunity to take a break is essential. We are grateful that the Board of Regents and the Provost and the Chancellor decided to afford this opportunity to all KU employees.

Some of our ongoing activities in Governance follow below.

Shared Governance Advisory Committee

We are excited to see the work on Shared Governance moving forward. The advisory group has met and is planning Phase 1 of the Chancellor’s charges. You will receive more detailed information on this initiative soon, but we plan to have a visioning exercise for all of campus around what it means to be an exceptional learning community. We will use the Grove Visioning Process to carry out these discussions, because it can help structure conversation around history, political and academic contexts that may affect our work, and the future outcomes we seek. We have a vision statement as a university, so the goal here is to add values-based contexts to that vision to help articulate, among many things, how we approach each other and how we might work together to feel more included and empowered in our roles.

COACHE Faculty Satisfaction Survey Advisory Group

The COACHE advisory group will hold its first meeting after Thanksgiving. At the moment, the group is working to produce additional data reports. They will also produce a data engagement plan to engage with different academic units and constituent groups on campus in order to hear additional feedback and guidance from you on the data itself and also your thoughts on recommended actions to address morale at KU.

GRF Funding Allocation

The General Research Fund (GRF) at KU is a program to enhance faculty research at KU. The process governing the allocation of these funds has not changed significantly since the mid-1990s. Our Restricted Research Committee in Faculty Senate has worked to create a proposal to revise GRF allocations across units. However, in the interest of modeling the standards of Shared Governance we seek to advance, given the potentially substantive nature of the changes, we would like to allow the opportunity for faculty to hear the recommended changes and share their views of the proposal before we finalize the decision. To this end, we will devote the Faculty Senate meeting on December 8 (3:15-5, via Zoom) to have a broad discussion about the GRF allocation strategy. Feedback from this meeting will be incorporated into the recommendations prior to the committee moving forward with any alteration of the program. We will share the proposed changes with you in coming weeks so you can have all the necessary information to evaluate the proposal.

KBOR Academic Portfolio and Workload Review

The Kansas Board of Regents is working with rpk Group Consulting to conduct an Academic Portfolio and Workload Review of the KBOR bachelor’s-granting-institutions in Kansas to ensure that they are meeting Kansas’ goals for higher education. We encourage you to learn more about the process here.

In addition, you may offer feedback and request more information at this hyperlink.

University Policy Changes

  • University Senate Rules and Regulations amendments were finalized to allow students to make up examinations around mandated religious observances that may conflict with examinations (USRR 1.3.12).
  • An additional change to the USRR was finalized to prevent students who have been charged with academic misconduct to bypass the sanction of “Reduction of grade for the Course” by changing to credit/no credit (USRR 2.6.5).
  • Changes were made to help clarify the hiring processes for the Ombuds Office and the required qualifications for the position of Faculty Ombuds. These revisions went out for 21-day review and received no objections, so they have been forwarded to the Provost and Chancellor for approval;(USRR Articles 5 and 6).
  • The Faculty Rights, Privileges and Responsibilities (FRPR) committee has sent back to the University Senate Executive Committee a revised draft of the Excused Absences proposed policy for Article 2 of the USRR. The goal in this policy revision is to articulate a number of legitimate reasons (athletics, academic, health, and other reasons) for why students should be able to have an excused absence at the university. The University Senate discussed this policy on 11/3/22 and will take it up for a vote on 12/1. Please be on the lookout for our 7-day code change notification email coming soon and let us know if you have comments or concerns.
  • Finally, the Academic Policies and Procedures committee is working to consider revisions to our Academic Forgiveness policy.

Upcoming Opportunities For Your Participation

  • Please join us today at the Faculty Senate, to hear Vice Provost Roberts discuss the University’s efforts with respect to the Higher Learning Commission Accreditation.
  • Join us on 12/1 to hear Provost Bichelmeyer speak to the University Senate.

Thank you for all you do,

Ani Kokobobo, University Senate President

Nate Brunsell, Faculty Senate President