Faculty Senate Minutes
Monday, March 27, 2017
Clinton Hall 126, 3:30PM-5:00PM
Senators Present: Asaduzzaman, Bolin, Bryant, Castro, Close, Cramer, Decker, Dehner, Ewing, Hendry, Hull, Keene Woods, Johnson, Mahapatro, Mosack, Muthiachareon, Price, Rokosz, Ross, Shaw, Shukaev, Willlis, Yildirm
Senators Absent: Ahmed, Birzer, Bryant, Chand, Chopra, Deibel, eenglish, Koehn, Kreinath, Lancaster, Mooare-Jansen, Myose, Pulaski, Rife, Solomey, Taher, Wehebe
Senators Excused: Anderson, Babnich, Walker
Summary of Action:
Summary of Action:
1. Accepted appointment of LAS Humanities representative Rebeccah Bechtold to the
Library Appeals Committee
2. Accepted appointment of University Libraries representative Mary Walker, LAS Social
Sciences representative Jeff Jarman, and LAS Humanities representative Fran Connor
to the Academic Affairs Committee
3. Accepted appointment of Health Professions representative Kim Darden and Education
representative (alternate) Frank Rokosz to the Academic Appeals Committee
4. Accepted appointment of Health Professions representative Caleb Ediger, LAS Natural
Sciences representative Daowei Ma, and Education representative SoonChun Lee to the
Faculty Affairs Committee
5. Accepted appointment of University Libraries representative Meghann Kukhlmann,
LAS Natural Sciences representative Paul Rillema, and Business representative Mehmet
Barut to the Faculty Support Committee
6. Accepted appointment of Engineering representative Pingfeng Wang, Basic Skills
representative Becky Nordyke, Business representative Chris Broberg, and LAS Social
Sciences representative Shirlene Small to the General Education Committee
7. Accepted appointment of LAS Humanities representative Robert Feleppa, Education
representative Michelle Adler, and Fine Arts representative Kelly St. Pierre to the
Library Committee
8. Accepted appointment of Business representative Dotty Harpool, Universities Library
representative Faye O'Reilly, Engineering representative Rajiv Bagai, Health Professions
representative Trish Self, and LAS Social Science representative to the Rules Committee
9. Accepted appointment of University Libraries representative Lizzy Walker, Engineering
representative Abu Asaduzzaman, and LAS Social Sciences representative Dan Close to
the Scholarship and Student Aid Committee
10. Accepted appointment of Business representative Anthony May, Fine Arts representative
Jennifer Ray, Health Professions representative Kelly Anderson, and LAS Humanities
representative Susan Sterret to the Undergraduate Research Committee
11. Accepted appointment of Fine Arts representative Kirsten Johnson and LAS Humanities
representative Brigitte Roussel to the Admissions/Exceptions Committee
12. Accepted 鈥 Revisions to the membership of the Faculty Support Committee
II. Call to Order 鈥 Meeting called to order at 3:30PM by President Yildirim
III. Informal Statements and Proposals 鈥 None
IV. Approval of Minutes
1. Minutes of the March 13, 2017 meeting were accepted as presented.
V. President's Report 鈥
1. KBOR
i. The KU med school requested multi-year/multi institution contracts. It would provide
them with flexibility. KBOR approved their proposal.
ii. WSU-WATC Affiliation 鈥 President Bardo highlighted for the board the opportunities
as a result of better co-planning and coordination.
iii. AP Cut scores will be revisited after the1st year. Scores will then be revisited
every three years, or as needed.
2. A diversity statement for ads on job searches was provided by Jean Griffith from
the Tilford Commission. The statement is as follows: All employees of 成人头条 State
University are expected to support to WSU Vision, Mission, and Values and to help
foster an environment rich in diversity of culture, thought, and experience. Candidates
for faculty positions should be able to demonstrate the ability to effective education
and empower a diverse student population.
3. Dr. John Tomblin's YMCA presentation to the faculty senate will be April 10, 2017.
4. The proposed state budget may include a 2% across the board raise for state employees.
VI. Committee Reports
1. Rules Committee 鈥 President-Elect Carolyn Shaw, Chair of the Rules Committee (committee
appointments 鈥 posted under documents) The senate approved the rules committee nominees
for the 2017-2018 Faculty Senate standing committees.
2. President-Elect Shaw presented lecturer appointments across the institution. There
were 267 adjuncts in fall 2016.
3. The Rules Committee proposed limiting membership on the Faculty Support Committee
to exclude chairs and directors. The committee's responsibilities include reviewing
grant awards (URCA and MURPA) as well as sabbaticals. Rationale for excluding chairs
and directors: Chairs and directors already write letters of support for faculty for
grants. Members of the committee who submit grants recuse themselves as do members
who are submitting sabbatical requests. Faculty Senate approved limiting membership
on the Faculty Support Committee to exclude chairs and directors
VII. Old Business - None
VIII. New Business
1. WSU/WATC Affiliation HLC Change of Control Application, 1st reading, Senior Associate
VP Muma, Provost Vizzini, WATC President Sheree Utash
i. WATC President Utash addressed the senate. President Utash stated that this had
been a 24-month project and from WATC's perspective the project was important. President
Utash believes that higher education in Kansas needs to change and this is a model that can be replicated
across the state. According to President Utash the affiliation is a good place for
everyone, gives us all the things that are really good, but doesn't make it messy.
1. The new name for WATC would be the WSU Campus of Applied Science and Technology.
2. The current governing board is appointed by the county manager and currently includes
9 senior leaders from industry. There would be changes to the governance structure
which would now come under KBOR.
3. WATC employees would become state employees.
4. For students, open access and 2 year technical degrees will remain; however, the
affiliation allows opportunities for future degrees.
5. WSU-WATC is a microcosm of business and industry for the community 鈥 a flexible,
nimble model.
As President Utash stated - for all of us the biggest changes are with faculty and
staff (WATC). The WATC faculty and staff are exited and anxious, but believe it is
the right thing to do for the future of higher education. Their day to day operations
will remain the same 鈥 they will keep teaching. President Utash noted that she has
tried to remain as transparent as possible, holding campus meetings and student meetings.
She testified in front of the Education Committee and the affiliation proposal will
go to the house floor next Wednesday.
ii. Question (Q) - With the change in governance, industry leaders to KBOR, how will
you manage to stay current? Response (R) - The industry board will become an advisory
board and will help inform us regarding technology. Both the Regents and the Advisory
Board will be involved. Q. Are your programs approved by the Board of Regents? R.
We have an internal process, and a 2-year process, programs are approved by the Technical
Education Authority (TEA), goes to the subcommittee and then goes to the Board of
Regents. We have more steps - the TEA will not change because this is where we get
our funding. In the affiliation we maintain our federal ID number and can apply to
the Department of Education and the Department of Labor for grants.
iii. Q. WATC offers general education courses, presuming that you need to maintain
these in order to maintain accreditation, how would you envision better coordination?
R. We currently have courses that are transferable to any Regents' institution, and
have the Shocker Pathway. Our opportunities to collaborate is the same as what we
are doing. We can take students through developmental courses and then general education
courses. We meet all of the core outcomes and students are transferring to you today.
Q. Looking at the infrastructure between the two institutions, how are we going to
communicate? The chain of command is all across the top but not at the faculty level.
R. We can put that in the document 鈥 bi-annual meetings of faculty. Faculty comment
- It would that be helpful to include that in the organizational chart. R. It seems
that there should be some coordination. Faculty comment - Faculty needs to maintain
the control of the curriculum just like your senate does. Faculty comment - There
should be something formal in there for coordination 鈥 some formal mechanism would be very good to achieve.
Knowing what other people are doing. R. That is do able. We have lead faculty in different
areas, they are the ones that do the scheduling. Faculty comment - One idea would
be to have a time when lead faculty would meet with the LAS faculty.
R. The intent is to have cooperation.
iv. Senior Associate VP Muma 鈥 There is a prepared website with all the documentation
pulled together. The first document Change of Control Application, almost a year ago
we started planning for this, this document represents the work of those groups. The
change of control is for WATC to now become WSU Campus of Applied Technology. Senior
Associate VP asked for questions. Q. What is being presented to us, is this a document
that requires Faculty Senate approval before it goes to HLC? Is there anything that
we say that will change the document? Is this document being presented to the faculty
senate to endorse the document? R. It is going to be submitted to HLC May 1st. Faculty
have had input along the way, it is up to you how you handle it and whether you want
to endorse it or not. Faculty comment 鈥 All we are looking at is a procedural looking
at this do to assist the process to move it along. R. all of this information is required
for this to become official. Faculty comment 鈥 Don't see where we play a significant
role. R. Normally anything that happens at the university we get clarification to
strengthen what is present. Faculty comment 鈥 It seems to me that we have passed the
point on where to give feedback. R. We are at a point where everyone has. We began
the merger and it became clear later in the process that WATC would not be able to
apply for money, the needed to have their own accreditation to maintain those funding
streams. Now we are asking for feedback on the document. It would be best if we have
an endorsement, it would be stronger thing to do. Faculty comment 鈥 I'm confused because
it was presented on the agenda a first reading. President Yildirim commented if the
faculty senate would like to have an endorsement it can decide. Faculty comment 鈥揝enator
Dehner shared 5.08 Statements on the Professional Rights and Responsibilities of the
Faculty. Then commented: To me this is not an issue to give feedback on, this merger
has never been brought to the Faculty Senate. We have a responsibility as a faculty
to determine whether this is something we have a vote on or not. Faculty question
directed to President Yildirim 鈥 Is this a the first reading and then we come back
to vote? President Yildirim 鈥 I am hoping that faculty will endorse and make the document
better. It is a first reading to endorse the affiliation. Faculty comment: We have
been meeting on this affiliation over the past year with meetings to discuss many
issues regarding this. I think a very good document has been developed and if it was
brought to the entire faculty would they vote based on an opinion or rumor, would
they know all the ins and outs, an endorsement from the Faculty Senate would be very
appropriate. Faculty comment 鈥 We have challenges we were trying to think through
blindly, conversations have included faculty, but not conversations on endorsement.
This procedure should have happened last year. Comment from Senior Associate VP Muma
鈥 None of us have ever done an affiliation before, we would bring folks together then
we had to change course. We struggled for a long period of time and didn't get input
from the committees until December. Q 鈥 When was it submitted to the legislature?
It went to the legislature in January, but it never came before us (Faculty Senate).
R. A lot of stuff has to happen at the same time. It is messy, I agree. Faculty comment
- as one of the stakeholders we should be first and it should have come much earlier
in the process. R. We thought we were doing that. Faculty comment 鈥 We talked about
one slice of the process and there were no faculty at the on whether it was an affiliation
or a merger, looking at one slice is not the same as having faculty at the table.
Senior Associate VP Muma is available if faculty have any questions.
2. Student Concerns on Transparency and Shared Governance
President Yildirim provided the following background - on March 16th the Executive
Committee invited the president and vice-president of the Student Government Association
to the Executive Committee meeting to express their concerns. The Executive Committee
decided that the Ombudspersons could be used as facilitators. They met with the students
and invited them to the Faculty Senate to share their questions/concerns. Vice President
for Student Affairs Dr. Teri Hall was also invited to the Faculty Senate. President
Yildirim noted that the students care and are passionate about the university, they
have concerns and want their voices to be heard.
i. Taben Azad and other students representing We the Students 鈥 shared a PowerPoint
presentation with the Faculty Senate. As Mr. Azad noted that We the Students is a
not a group of angry students, who protest for the sake of protests. Students are
major stakeholders in the university. The demands outlined in the PowerPoint included
an interfaith prayer space, innovation campus and transparency, culture of fear among
staff, and safety for survivors of sexual assault.
1. Interfaith prayer space: Students are asking for wash stations, security cameras,
lighting, lockers, institutional recognition (external signage and on the University
webpage). Faculty comment there are some things that because we are a public institution
cannot be done. Asked if students had been in touch with the Foundation. Mr. Azad
stated that students have asked for meetings since February, there has been lack of
support since October 2015. Mr. Azad stated that students are confused; there is confusion
regarding funding and the university's position.
2. Innovation campus is getting precedence over the main campus. Shared governance
should not be a simple checkmark, it is allowing representation of students in appropriate
decision-making stages. Dr. Tomblin was quoted as telling SGA March 1st, if students
don't want the YMCA, they will take it off the master plan. March 9th, Dr. Hall stated
that the SGA vote is more of a recommendation. Faculty comment: I agree about transparency
and the YMCA, since they want to use fees to pay, is there a way of getting money
for a wash station.
3. Culture of fear: Mr. Azad noted the number of recent resignations among staff
who were advocates for and supported students. Most recently 鈥 March 9th, Eric Maki
and March 17th Christine Schneikart-Luebbe
4. Safety for Survivors of Sexual Assault: Students are calling for guidelines on
the process of reporting. Mr. Azad stated that students would like to have an advocate
on campus and that student safety should be top concern.
The broader idea the students wanted to communicate was the need for shared governance, transparency, and equal representation. Mr. Azad provided a handout for the member of the senate. Faculty question: Why don't student, faculty and staff senates convene? Care for the institution and the wish for dialog is very powerful. President Yildirim commented that there have been some preliminary discussions on creating a university assembly.
ii. Vice President for Student Affairs, Teri Hall addressed the Faculty Senate. She stated she never said that Muslim students should use the janitor's closet. It was offered as a short term solution during construction that has been wildly misquoted.
1. Dr. Hall noted that Mr. Azad had been notified of the progress being made in a series of e-mail messaged. Q. Do you have any timeframe for when these things are going to get done? R. In the RSC we should be able to get that in May; the lighting could be done soon. Q. We can't call it an interfaith prayer space? R. Grace Memorial Chapel open to all faiths 鈥 we can put that in the documents to promote it more broadly. Faculty comment 鈥 May be we should think about it as interfaith spaces. This is the opportunity to think about the whole campus. Faculty comment 鈥 I am concerned that students are this upset. What is your plan going forward to repair the unhealthy relationship? R. We reached out today to students in the President's office last week. We could argue that they are not usually this way. After the elections would like to build relationships with the new SGA representatives. Q. Are there plans for transparency and shared governance? R. We need to fix this relationship. Joseph (SGA President Shepard) and I have a meeting with the President this week. Q. The YMCA was sprung upon them, what will you do? R. We will have a student hearing fee to address this issue and to have a conversation. We to move it back and not hurry it through. The process wasn't followed. Q. Can you give us an answer on why Mr. Azad was removed as vice-president of SGA and chief election commissioner? R. I cannot have those conversations with you. I cannot speak about a conduct issue. Q. The election commission has a faculty observer, was there a reason why, if there is bias on the election commission, the faculty observer was not involved in the discussion? R. There are times when the university feels it must take measures in the investigation. Faculty comment 鈥 There was a faculty observer but his opinion on the matter was never solicited. Faculty comment 鈥 The issue is much larger and more systemic than shared governance, we need to understand the role of shared governance, a lot of conflict could be better channeled if we understood the role of SGA in the university. R. What is shared governance, who are the representatives, not very well spelled out right now.
iii. President Yildirim 鈥 The Faculty Senate and Executive Committee in particular will offer its help to be a bridge between students and administration.
IX. As May Arise None
X. Adjournment 鈥 at 5:18PM