Meeting of the Faculty Senate
Executive Committee
327 Graff Main Hall
9 February, 2015
2014-2015 Members: Bradley Seebach, Chair
Martin Allen, Vice-Chair
Janet Kirsch, Secretary
Natalie Eschenbaum, At-Large
Biology
Computer Science
Chemistry & Biochemistry
English
Members Present:
Allen, Eschenbaum, Kirsch, Seebach
Guests/Consultants:
Nizam Arain, Director of Affirmative Action; Georges Cravins, Faculty
Representative; Heidi Macpherson, Provost
The meeting began at 2:31 PM
I.
Provost's Report:
A. Report from the Regents' Meeting:
1. It will be late February before UW-L knows the total amount of their share of the budget cuts.
The $6 million figure that was initially estimated (based on UW-L's proportion of past cuts)
does not include some fringe benefits, public utilities, etc. It is possible that the cut will be
closer to $7 million.
2. A joint Budget Council has been called together that will include representatives from all
governance groups, college deans, AVCs, and the Chancellor, Provost, and CFO. This group
will start meeting next week.
B. A group of students are interested in increasing response rates for SEIs. Provost Macpherson
turned the matter over to SEC for them to forward to the appropriate faculty group (see point
V.A. below).
C. The 25th Annual Political Science fundraising even was held recently. It was very well attended
by people from both political parties, and included a lot of talk about the need to support UWSystem.
II. Title IX Compliance (Nizam Arain):
A. Director Arain noted that there has been heightened attention recently toward how campuses
address issues of sexual assault, primarily as it relates to students, but also to faculty and staff.
B. The proposed changes to UWS 4, 7, and 11 are designed to bring UW-System into compliance
with federal guidelines. The changes are primarily related to updating codes of conduct, burdens
of proof, and rights of parties.
C. Director Arain explained the varying levels of legal burdens of proof to the SEC.
1
D. The Faculty Senate bylaws may need to be updated to refer to these policies, but otherwise, there
does not appear to be a conflict between the proposed changes and policy that is currently in
place for groups like the Hearing Committee and CGAAF. Providing useful training for members
of these committees would help them identify the proposed standard.
III. UW-L's Mission, Values, and Vision Statements (JPB revisions):
A. JPB is continuing to construct Values and Vision Statements in anticipation of the upcoming
HLC accreditation visit, but this process was recently slowed by the budget announcement. Vice
Chair Allen will keep SEC informed about JPC's progress in this regard.
IV. Proposed Student Affairs Administration Ed.D. online degree:
A. UW-L is part of a consortial group of four institutions who have put together a proposal to
System for permission to offer this degree program. Chris Bakkum (Registrar and SAA faculty
member) is heading up UW-Ls participation in this program.
V. Online Course Evaluations:
A. Chair Seebach was recently approached by a company selling online student evaluation software
that guarantees a 65% response rate. Based on recent conversations in the Academic Technology
Committee, Faculty Senate, and in departments, the SEC decided to form an ad-hoc committee to
look into this issue. Chair Seebach will send out a call for membership soon.
VI. Faculty Senate response to proposed state budget:
A. Rep. Cravins discussed his plans for working with the other Faculty Representatives at the
upcoming March 5 Board of Regents meeting. He is going to encourage them to work on
alternative policy for Chapter 36 that leaves governance groups intact.
B. The SEC discussed the possibility of bringing a Regent to campus to facilitate communication
regarding the effects of the proposed budgetary and policy changes.
C. Vice Chair Allen offered to formulate a draft of the Faculty Senate position on the proposed
changes. The SEC noted that the draft should include statements that address budgetary
opposition and retention of faculty governance.
The meeting adjourned at 4:20 PM
Submitted by J. Kirsch