Faculty Senate Minutes
September 30, 2014
LC 243, 3:00-5:00 pm
Present: Scott Abbott, Christa Albrecht-Crane, Steve Allred, Anne Arendt, Nicholas Ball, Howard Bezzant,
Debanjan Bhattacharjee, Kathy Black, Dean Bohl, Mark Borchelt, Mark Bracken, Clayton Brown, Monica
Campbell, Leo Chan, Marty Clayton, David Connelly, Karen Cushing, Courtney Davis, David Dean,
Matthew Draper, Debora Escalante, Wioleta Fedeczko, Doug Gardner, Gloria Gilmore, Tracy Golden,
Barry Hallsted, Laurie Harrop-Purser, Vance Hillman, Matthew Holland, John Hunt, Ellis Jensen, Ryan
Leick, Dianne McAdams-Jones, Gary Measom, David Morin, Tyler Nelson, CheolHwan Oh, Jeff Olson,
Dennis Potter, Sheri Rysdam, Makenzie Selland, Leslie Simon, Cyrill Slezak, Allison Swenson, Craig Thulin,
Violeta Vasilevska, Mallory Wallin (UVUSA), Alex Yuan
Excused or Absent: Jon Anderson, Deborah Baird, Joel Bradford, Kat Brown, Carolyn Howard, Yang Huo,
Dianne Knight, Gary Mercado
Call to order – 3:02 p.m.
Approval of Minutes from September 16, 2014. Minutes approved.
President
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A Five-year report from the current Administration will be coming out this next week. We have
tried to focus on the newer developments that have occurred at the institution. This is a way to
get a lot of information out to the community and households.
Productive session at the Board of Regents last week. We did receive approval to hire general
counsel at UVU.
Some of the Regents are interested in pursuing something more in terms of education from a
state perspective similar to the Transportation Plan. Holland will bring anything back if the
Regents do pursue this venture.
Acute Equity Exercise
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Connelly provided and overview of the exercise and asked senators to think about ideas they
would like to put forward for Acute Equity and note them under the specific focus area.
Afterward they would prioritize the lists.
Albrecht-Crane commented on adjunct pay and trying to get the commitment from UVU to
increase adjunct pay. She quoted MLA on their suggested pay for adjuncts which was about $7K
per three credit hours. Holland responded in regards to equity money and that one of his
priorities was to address adjunct pay. He noted that he committed $2M of the $21M from the
very beginning towards adjunct pay. Connelly noted that compression is a problem nationwide.
UVU has been working on bringing faculty salaries up to a level that is competitive with the
market.
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Borchelt noted the culture for advisors needs to be addressed and he proposed more mentoring
of students to help them become self-reliant.
Simon expressed concern for more funding for research that is not GEL dependent because
some individuals do not conduct research that is student dependent. Potter feels “engagement”
excludes the liberal arts. Connelly recommended inviting Fred White to Faculty Senate and have
a discussion about engaged learning.
Cushing will compile all the information and forward the information to Connelly for
distribution. Please be prepared for emails that might need more clarification and do not
assume that your ideas are off the table.
MOTION - Dennis Potter motioned to reorder the agenda moving the Debate Calendar up in the order.
Howard Bezzant seconded. All in Favor? Motion passed.
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Policy 502 – Determination of Utah Resident Status for Tuition Purposes - Andrew Stone provided an
overview of the policy and the accompanying changes. He reported the policy will state we are in
compliance with federal, state, and Board of Regents policy so we do not have to revise the policy
every time after a legislative session. It also outlines the appeals process for the student who applies
for residency and does not get a determination they desire. Item will move to an action item in two
weeks.
Policy 204 – Appropriateness of Expenditures – Michelle Taylor noted this has been opened for
Limited Scope and is only looking at 5.33. She indicated that we did not have a specific place where
we outlined speaker fees. Student Affairs is asking for any fees between $10,000 and $19,999 need
to be approved by a VP and anything above $20,000 needs to be approved by President’s council.
Taylor informed Senate that the intent of the policy is to follow sound fiscal policy. Potter responded
that he feels the policy is problematic as there are no guidelines. Thulin asked what the guidelines
for a fiscally sound decision are for a speaker. Taylor responded that the Vice President’s know if
there are sufficient funds available. Thulin noted that with a lack of guidelines there is no reason a
Vice President should need to approve. Bracken noted that if students have a speaker fund they
should have the ability to make the decision and not the Vice President’s. Simon would like to see
the language on the policy of free speech that Taylor referenced would be coming soon. Potter
noted he would like language added that states something like “on the basis of financial
responsibility alone” before he would vote in favor. Abbott would like to see the opposite done in
policy. Bracken recommended the individual responsible for the index code should be the one to
approve. Hallsted noted that we are looking at the funds as being our department’s money, but the
funds really belong to the state and this process allows for checks and balances. Connelly noted that
irrespective of the limited scope that there is a default level of $25,000 already in the current policy.
Wallin expressed her support of the limited scope revision on behalf of UVUSA. Olson noted that he
disagrees with Potter, but noted that there is potential for abuse. Potter noted that with policy
recently we can see interpretation can come into play. When given the responsibility for accounting,
the individual who has that financial responsibility should have the ability to make decisions. Taylor
noted that we can match the threshold in current policy which would give the departments the
freedom to bring in speakers lower than $25,000. Item will move to an action item in two weeks.
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Policies 141, 303, 305, and 321 will be put on next agenda. Connelly will invite the stewards.
Information item means senate has been made aware of it and they need to review the item. Then
stewards are brought in to address any questions, and then it moves to an Action item.
Shared Governance
o A proposal was made to the Executive Committee that we try to hold two events starting in
spring. Plans are to invite faculty to come in and have a conversation of academic freedom
and how it currently sits on this campus and per the USHE model. A second meeting was to
have a discussion about given that scope, what exactly does that mean for UVU and what
can we do. Another suggestion is to invite other USHE institutions to campus for a
discussion to see where commonalities lie. The Executive Committee planned to focus more
on UVU directly.
UVUSA
o October 9 – Noon – Grande Ballroom - Kweku Mandela is coming in support of our Peace &
Justice Studies. Email Mallory Wallin if you need additional information or would like to
work with her.
MOTION – Dennis Potter motioned to adjourn. Leslie Simon seconded. Meeting adjourned at 4:42 pm.