Faculty Senate Meeting
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
3:30-5:30 pm
Minor Hall, Room 125
Meeting commenced at 3:35pm.
1) Introduction
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Nina Solenski, Chair-elect, opened the meeting.
2) Remarks by President Teresa Sullivan
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The President provided the Senate with a number of updates:
o The Board of Visitors has named a new residence hall in honor of the Gibbons
family, an enslaved couple at the University until 1865 and significant
contributors to society after that. Only UNC has named a building after a former
slave; UVA is the second university to do so.
o The Board has approved the construction of a new medical tower, of which the
first floor will serve as a replacement emergency room. The cost is $305M and
will be financed through clinical revenues and debt.
o The Board voted to add a faculty non-voting member, who will begin his/her term
in the summer. This person must be an elected member of the faculty, and will
therefore likely be chosen from amongst Faculty Senators.
o The Board also approved long-range financial plan, which was created by making
changes to the tuition structure. We have called this plan “Affordable
Excellence.” Tuition will increase with the rate of inflation this fall plus $1,000,
and the same will occur the following year. After that, tuition will rise with the
inflation rate only. Affordable Excellence reduces the loan caps for middle
income families from $28,000 to $18,000 and for lower income families from
$14,000 to $4,000. This means that lower income students from Virginia will
graduate with no more than $4,000 in debt. The national average for college
graduate debt is $25,000, so we are well under that average. The new model also
offers a stronger degree of predictability for families over the course of a
student’s four-year career on Grounds. The model will help us sustain the high
quality of our academic programs and will ensure that we will be able to make
essential investments to implement the Cornerstone Plan.
o Two weeks ago, we released a new interim policy on sexual harassment. The new
policy applies to all members of the University community, with separate
procedures for reports against students and employees. The policy provides
trauma-informed practices that encourage reporting and participation,
incorporates due-process protections, and supports our ongoing efforts to provide
a safe and non-discriminatory environment on Grounds. Preliminary planning for
this policy began last spring. Nearly 600 individuals responded to the draft of a
revised student policy we posted for public comment, and a summary of these
comments can be found online. The policy is considered interim because of the
evolving requirements and laws at the state and federal levels which will
inevitably require periodic revisions to the policy. We expect additional revisions
from OCR, our independent consultants O’Melveny and Myers, SACS, the
Governor’s Task Force on Combatting Campus Sexual violence, and my Ad-Hoc
Group on Climate and Culture. The Clery Act also received revisions in spring
2014 require us to select a number of faculty and staff members to serve as
Campus Security Advisors. Based on the size of our institution, we expect
approximately 3,000 people to be selected. These CSAs must make a report to
law enforcement if they learn of a Clery-designated crime or a report of an alleged
one. The CSAs will likely be made up of faculty members who interact regularly
with students in a more personal way, for example, as faculty advisors for student
organizations. The reporting mechanism and training process is still
undetermined, but we plan to make it as simple and efficient as possible. You
will be hearing more about this in the coming months.
o A policy is in development regarding background checks. The new policy will
combine separate policies that have been in place for years now and to expand the
policy to all employee types, including wage employees. Background checks will
only be required of new hires, but all employees will be required to self-disclose
any criminal convictions that have happened post-hire and during employment.
This aligns with the self-disclosure policy that is already in place for students. It
also aligns with a Medical Center Policy that has been in place for some time. The
purpose of the policy is to treat all faculty and staff employee types in the same
manner in order to enhance safety and security.
3) Academic Affairs Committee – Senator George Cohen
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The McIntire School of Commerce presented a proposal for a minor in Entrepreneurship.
o VOTE: The Full Senate unanimously approved this proposal.
The McIntire School of Commerce presented a proposal for a major track in Advertising
and Digital Media.
o VOTE: The Full Senate unanimously approved this proposal.
The Media Studies Department presented a proposal for a creation of a Film Studies
Concentration within the Media Studies Major.
o VOTE: The Full Senate unanimously approved this proposal.
The School of Continuing and Professional Studies presented a Proposal for a Federal
Acquisition Certificate Program.
o VOTE: The Full Senate unanimously approved this proposal.
4) UVA CHARGE – Gertrude Fraser and Pam Norris, PIs
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Gertrude Fraser and Pam Norris provided a presentation on their work, an NSF-funded
project which is affecting positive change for women who work in STEM and SBS
disciplines.
Ms. Fraser and Ms. Norris may be contacted directly for program updates and further
information.
5) Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Task Force – Lois Shepherd, Chair
 Lois Shepherd provided an update on the NTTF Task Force. The Task Force has
proposed revisions to the way that promotion is handled for NTTF, to align them with the
methods for promotion and tenure of tenure-track faculty.
Meeting adjourned at 5:32pm.