Meeting Minutes: October 7, 2021

Guest Speaker: Saichi Oba, Vice Provost of Enrollment Management

1. The Faculty Senate met on Thursday, October 7^th, 2021 in Lighty 403 and via Zoom. Fifty-nine (59) members were present with twenty-two (22) absent and twelve (12) nonvoting members present.   Call to Order by D. Call, Chair at 3:53pm
2. Approval of Minutes from the September 23, 2021 Meeting
   1. Approved with unanimous consent
3. Announcements
   1. Information Items.
      1. (Item # 2021.10.7_107_AAC) Minor Change Bulletin No. 2 AAC (Exhibit 107A).
   2. Reports
      1. Remarks by Faculty Senate Chair Doug Call
         1. Addressing the dashboard issue. A public-facing dashboard will be replaced through the systems council report and college systems council once a week.
         2. Everett 0 cases
         3. Spokane 0
         4. Vancouver 0
         5. Pullman 8
         6. Extension 0
         7. We are looking at about 1 case per day. The COVID FAQ page is updated once a week.
4. Additions or Changes to the Agenda.
   1. Motion by Michael Neff to make Discussion Item 5 an Action Item; seconded by Cigdem Capan.
      1. Objection from Alexander Dimitrov as requested for more discussion is believed to be needed.
      2. Motion approved:  45 approve/11 reject
5. Agenda Items.
   1. Discussion Items.
      1. (Item # 2021.10.7_108_AAC) Undergraduate & Professional Major Change Bulletin No. 1 (Exhibit 108A 108B). – E. Lopez
         1. Discussion:
            1. Concern from Cigdem about availability  
            2. Response from Elsa Silva-Lopez – These courses will be offered at the university of Idaho for Pullman students
      2. (Item # 2021.10.7_109_AAC) Proposal to Revise Rule 66 (Exhibit 109A). – E. Lopez
         1. No Discussion.
      3. (Item # 2021.10.7_110_AAC) Proposal to Revise Rule 25 (Exhibit 110A). – E. Lopez
         1. No Discussion.
      4. (Item # 2021.10.7_111_GSC) Major Change Bulletin No. 1 (Exhibit 111A). – G. Wayman
         1. No Discussion.
      5. (Item # 2021.10.7_112_FAC) AG Proposal to Amend II.F.8 and III.D.14 of Faculty Manual. (Exhibit 112A). – J. McDonald 
         1. Moved to Action Item 2
   2. Action Items
      1. (Item # 2021.09.23_106_AAC ) Recommendation from the Academic Affairs Committee to Approve the Revision to Rule 2, Requirements for Freshman Admission (Exhibit 106A). –E. Lopez
         1. Action Item 1 Approved:  52 Approve/4 Reject.
      2. (Item # 2021.10.7_112_FAC) AG Proposal to Amend II.F.8 and III.D.14 of Faculty Manual. (Exhibit 112A). – J. McDonald
         1. Objection from Alex Dimitrov. Any corrections to the Faculty Manual belong in section III.D.14 if at all. No amendments to II.F.8.
         2. Response from Judi:  Language requested from AG’s Office for clarification.
         3. Concern is that the faculty will not have any recourse or appeal to any decision made by the provost. Request for this action item to be amended.
         4. Response from Laura Hill: this proposal does not provide the provost with any additional legal powers. This allows the Dean of a department to investigate a non-compliance concern if a faculty member is not complying with state regulation. This amendment does not circumvent the faculty process. But rather allows for leave without pay to be implemented in the case of non-compliance issue.
         5. Response from Alex Dimitrov is that there is no way for a faculty member to appeal this.
         6. Cigdem Capan, if WSU affiliates are not following state mandates then our university is susceptible to legal issues.
         7. Move the proposal to reference this proposal in section III.D.14. The reference to leave without pay does not specifically reference leave without pay.
         8. Paul Skilton: Don’t link summary suspension with leave without pay. III.D.14 is very clear amendments.
         9. Laura Hill: Section II.F.8 was the higher priority for the AGs Office. Clarification to reduce legal liability.
         10. Response from Alex Dimitrov: Strike out the amendment II.F.8 all together or provide an amendment.
         11. Response from John Barber: why is an outside entity encouraging an update to the Faculty Manual instead of coming from within the faculty.
         12. Response from Judi: Because the Faculty Manual affects many people it is not uncommon for many different areas of the university to make recommendations to the faculty manual (HRS, and AGO Offices as an example).
         13. Comment from Laura Hill: Everyone can be placed on leave without pay except for tenure track faculty was a concern that was made in terms of equity.
         14. Comment from Steve James: If someone is accused of being out of compliance with the law when in fact they are not out of compliance, it is important that faculty not be punished without due process.
         15. Motion by Alex Dimitrov to strike out new proposed language in section II.F.8; seconded by Steve James
             1. Motion rejected:  28 approve/29 reject
         16. Motion by Alex Dimitrov to amend the proposed amendment to section II.F.8 to read “a decision by the provost to place an individual faculty member on leave without pay while the faculty disciplinary process is pending is not considered a summary suspension if the individual is legally prohibited from performing their assigned responsibilities as detailed in section III.D.14 of the Faculty Manual. “  Seconded by Michael Neff
             1. Motion approved:  45 approve/11 reject
         17. Action Item 2 Approved: 54 Approve/1 Reject.
6. Constituent Concerns.
   1. Concern from Von Walden: Interview with the WSU football coach and an email sent to Von Walden and the request for the Faculty Senate to please hold the WSU football coach accountable.
   2. Concern from Jeanette Marie Mageo: help desk used to have a quick line for support for faculty as it relates to the Crimson Service Desk.
      1. Response from Doug Call: This will be investigated
   3. Concern from John Barber:  Faculty feel vulnerable less than 70% of the students within Vancouver have not turned in their vaccination paperwork. Before the mandate WSU Pullman was at a 93% vaccination rate.   There are nearly 800 WSUV students that have not turned in their vaccination paperwork and concern on how that will affect our enrollment.
      1. Response: The general conversation has been on faculty members and how vaccination
      2. Follow-up from Cigdem Capan: Where was the reporting coming from based on the earlier report
      3. Follow-up from Tammy Barry: can we please make the information more readily accessible. If not through a dashboard than through a more easily accessible communication tool. When UW has a dashboard, we can also make that happen here at WSU.
7. Meeting adjourned on Thursday, October 7, 2021 at 4:55pm

Respectfully submitted,

Matthew Hudelson, Faculty Senate Executive Secretary