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Meeting Minutes: April 3, 2025

MINUTES

The Faculty Senate met on Thursday April 3, 2025, in French Admin Faculty Senate Conference room 344B and via Zoom. Sixty (60) senators were present, four (4) vacancies with twenty-five (25) absent, and twenty (20) non-voting members. The meeting was called to order by Tracy Klein, Senate Chair, at 3:55 pm.
Guest Presentations (30 minutes): End of Year Address
President Elizabeth Cantwell and Provost Chris Riley-Tillman, Provost and Executive Vice President
  1. Call to Order: 3:55 pm.
  2. Approval of minutes from March 20, 2025, Faculty Senate meeting (PDF).
    1. Approved by unanimous consent
  3. Additions or changes to the agenda
    1. None
  4. Announcements
    1. Legislative affairs –
      1. S. Bollens – Very busy week. Both the house and senate released their biennium draft budgets. Significant cuts, but not as bad as anticipated. The governor announced he will not sign a budget with the “wealth tax” but insisted that house and senate will come back with different revenue sources or larger cuts and may need a special session to finalize.
    2. Board of Regents Update –
      1. J. McDonald – Preparing for Board of Regents meeting in Spokane on April 18th.
    3. Reports
      1. Remarks by Faculty Senate Executive Committee
        1. T. Klein, Faculty Senate Chair
          1. Maintaining communication with administration as we work through the presidential transition.
          2. Continuing to complete campus visits, will be in Spokane April 17th & 18th
          3. Will be transitioning the Faculty Senate Chair position as well.
        2. E. Shelden, Immediate Past Chair
          1. None – Just a reminder to all, we have overcome a lot to be here, and you are some of the most intelligent, creative, and persistent people on the planet.
        3. K. Roberts, Chair Elect
          1. We received a robust response to our last solicitation for committee members and the CoC is working to finalize the committee members for next year.
        4. M. Hudelson, Executive Secretary
          1. Apportionment – All apportionment memos have been sent out. Campus senators were copied to assist with facilitating elections.
  5. Information Items
    1. (Item #2025.02.27_491_CRP) Revised Minor Change Bulletin No. 5 (Exhibit 491A
    2. (Item #2025.04.03_508_Steering) Notice of Intent to Create a Department of Social Work in the College of Nursing (Exhibits 508A, 508B)
    3. (Item #2025.04.03_518_Library) Letter from Interim Dean of Libraries regarding Tentative Collections Reduction (Exhibit 518A)
      1. Please provide comments to Interim Dean of Libraries Trevor Bond.
    4. (Item #2025.04.03_519_CRP) Minor Change Bulletin No. 6 (Exhibit 519A)
  6. Agenda Items
    1. Action Items
      1. (Item #2025.03.20_498_GSC) Proposed changes to the Graduate School Policies and Procedure Manual regarding professional master’s degrees (Exhibits 498A, 498B, 498C, 498D)
        1. Motion passed; 56 Approve, 3 Reject
      2. (Item #2025.03.20_499_FAC) Proposed changes to the Faculty Manual regarding Conduct Regulations, section II.F.3 (Exhibits 499A, 499B, 499C)
        1. Motion passed; 57 Approve, 0 Reject
      3. (Item #2025.03.20_500_FAC) Proposed changes to the Faculty Manual regarding the process of choosing Chairs and Directors, section I.A.3 (Exhibits 500A, 500B, 500C, 500D)
        1. Motion passed; 58 Approve, 0 Reject
      4. (Item #2025.03.20_427_CoC) Proposed International Affairs Committee membership composition (Exhibits 427A, 427B, 427C, 427D)
        1. Motion passed; 58 Approve, 0 Reject
      5. (Item #2025.03.20_501_C0C) Recommended Faculty Senate Committee Members for a second term (Exhibit 501A)
        1. Motion passed; 57 Approve, 1 Reject
      6. (Item #2025.03.20_502_CRP) Undergraduate and Professional Major Change Bulletin No. 8, Courses (Exhibit 502A)
        1. Motion passed; 58 Approve, 0 Reject
      7. (Item #2025.03.20_503_CRP) Graduate Major Change Bulletin No. 8, Courses (Exhibit 503A)
        1. Motion passed; 58 Approve, 0 Reject
      8. (Item #2025.03.20_504_CRP) UCORE Renewals and Changes approved by the UCORE Committee – Bulletin No. 5 (Exhibit 504A)
        1. Motion passed; 57 Approve, 1 Reject
      9. (Item #2025.03.20_505_AAC) Undergraduate and Professional Major Change Bulletin No. 9, Requirements (Exhibit 505A)
        1. Motion passed; 59 Approve, 0 Reject
    2. Discussion Items
      1. (Item #2025.04.03_476_Steering) 2025-2026 Faculty Senate Meeting Schedule (Exhibit 476A, 476B)
        1. November meeting date reflects a Friday – will fix to reflect 11/13/25.
        2. Move to action 4/17/25
      2. (Item #2025.03.20_506_FAC) Proposed description of Community Faculty (Exhibits 506A, 506B)
        1. D. Call – Defining a new track classification for preceptors who are not traditional faculty that support students in practicum. For accreditation, these faculty must have a title. Most are not paid and are not employed by the state of WA.
        2. K. Roberts – Prior statement indicated they were not bound by the Faculty Manual, this rectifies that. This will go under “Short Term Faculty”. 
        3. J. Miller – Concern raised that this will “water down” the titles.
        4. D. Call – Many of these are highly credentialed individuals and units may decide that the adjunct pathway may be used as well.
        5. Move to action 4/17/25
      3. (Item 2025.04.03_507_FAC) Proposed amendment to the Faculty Manual Section I.B.4, Short-Term Faculty description (Exhibits 507A, 507B, 507C)
        1. J. McDonald – This request was brought to FAC because of people having the impression that if they spent 3 years in a short-term role, they would move into the career track, which was misleading.
        2. J. Barber – Seems to be a lot of latitude for administration to take advantage of by never giving them a career track position.
        3. J. McDonald – Stronger language was utilized previously which prompted HRS to send out confusing letters about not being eligible to renew.
        4. K. Roberts – Verbiage should not be changed to correct what we don’t do; we should strive to do what we say.  
        5. A. Dimitrov – The default should be the expectation that they move to a full-time position rather than to have temporary faculty hope they get promoted. I see it as part of our shared governance mission.
        6. Move to action 4/17/25
      4. (Item #2025.04.17_509_Steering) Recommendation from the Faculty Senate Steering Committee for the Steering Committee to carry out all necessary Faculty Senate functions during the period of May 16, 2025, through August 15, 2025.
        1. No discussion; move to action 4/17/25.
      5. (Item 2025.04.03_510_GSC) Recommendation of Pre-Licensure Plan under Masters of Nursing program (Exhibits 510A, 510B)
        1. New plan within the reactivated Master of Nursing degree. Designed for applicants with non-nursing bachelor’s degrees. Move to action 4/17/25
      6. (Item 2025.04.03_511_FAC) Proposed changes to the Faculty Manual Section III.E, Termination of Employment (Exhibits 511A, 511B, 511C)
        1. The section had contradicting statements and FAC worked to clarify them. Move to action 4/17/25
      7. (Item 2025.04.03_513_FAC) Proposed amendment to the Faculty Manual Section III.C.8, Advancement in Rank regarding forms for tenure and promotion (Exhibits 513A, 513B, 513C, 513D this document speaks to both item #513 and #514)
        1. J. Cook – Finds individual forms puzzling and not particularly helpful. If a department wanted to coordinate their letters and make sure faculty are hitting all the strong points generates a lot of paperwork. More concerned that voting against someone who might end up a colleague for 30 years and resent me forever. We might look at doing something like a secret ballot vote that everyone in the department has to vote, you would know who voted, but not how they voted.
        2. D. Call – If we allow anonymity, abusive language and potential for various discriminatory views to be held and propagated.
        3. J. Miller – Is there a possibility to not have the submission to be anonymous, within HRS it is known, but is redacted to the individual who has gone up for promotion? It is the constructive comments that are more important.
        4. J. McDonald – This will be on the agenda for next week’s FAC meeting. If we make amendments, we will be very clear about what we are doing.
        5. Move to action 4/17/25
      8. (Item 2025.04.03_514_FAC) Proposed amendment to the Faculty Manual Section III.C.8, Advancement in Rank regarding transparency of the tenure and promotion process (Exhibits 514A, 514B, 514C, 514D)
        1. L. Fournier – Concerned about having access to the external review letters might decrease the amount of external review due to the privacy issue.
        2. J. McDonald – Current process allows faculty to see the letters at the end of the review process.
        3. D. Call – Now you would have the opportunity to correct factual errors and to provide rebuttal during the review process.
        4. L. Fournier – Can these letters be made anonymously? Or can they be redacted?
          1. D. Call – No, it is signed. There is inconsistency in verbiage regarding internal and external letters. FAC will discuss and bring it to the next meeting.
        5. Move to action 4/17/25
      9. (Item #205.04.03_515_Steering) Proposed amendment to Article III, Section 2A of the Faculty Senate Constitution and Bylaws regarding ties in executive elections (Exhibit 515A)
        1. Move to action 4/17/25
      10. (Item #2025.04.03_520_CRP) Professional Health Sciences Major Change Bulletin No. 1, Courses (Exhibit 520A)
        1. Move to action 4/17/25
      11. Approval of Undergraduate Degrees:
        1. I move that the university faculty recommend to the president and the Board of Regents that, effective at the closing dates for each graduating class, those undergraduate students who have completed degree requirements and whose names remain on the “Official List of Degree Candidates” be advanced to the degrees set above their names as members of the classes of Spring 2025, Summer 2025, and Fall 2025.
        2. Move to action 4/17/25
      12. Approval of Graduate and Professional Degrees:
        1. I move that the university faculty recommend to the president and the Board of Regents that, effective at the closing dates for each graduating class, those graduate and professional students who have completed degree requirements and whose names remain on the “Official List of Degree Candidates” be advanced to the degrees set above their names as members of the classes of Spring 2025, Summer 2025, and Fall 2025.
        2. Move to action 4/17/25
  7. Constituent Concerns:
    1. N. O’Donnell – Faculty Forum posted a concern from Murrow College regarding keeping former President Schulz on the payroll for next year.  An article was published in the Lewiston Tribune but the response to the Faculty Forum did not say if there was anything Faculty Senate could do to oppose this considering our current budget situation.
      1. T. Klein – Apologies, I thought this had been answered.  This is a contractual agreement that was signed by the Board of Regents in 2020, so Faculty Senate has no options to oppose this. Conversations have been had with leadership regarding possible modifications they might recommend moving forward.
    2. L. Fournier: There were contingencies mentioned in the article; do we know what those contingencies are?
      1. T. Klein – I would want to bring the Provost and the President back to address this directly but what I did find out is that all of the contracts are public information, you can make a request, and you can get the entire contract.
    3. A. Dimitrov – A similar concern stemming from Vancouver about the outgoing Chancellor, who will also be drawing salary for another year with no assigned function. What can we do?
      1. T. Klein – The same answer applies. Once a contract has been signed, there isn’t an option to go backwards.
    4. R. Toolson – I just want to reiterate that was the same concern our department had. It’s a big deal when we are not allowed to use our dept. funds to take a guest out to lunch. This is disappointing.
      1. T. Klein – I can ask the President and Provost to address directly at our next meeting if that would be helpful?
    5. J. Barber – I feel it would be helpful and also good for morale. Here we are asked to do everything with nothing, and these two administrators are triple-gold plated parachutes to leave the university. Both of them are leaving in a time of trouble, this doesn’t present good optics and is not good for morale.
      1. T. Klein – Reiterated that there is concern about this, and there is concern on the part of the Provost and the President to address contracts generally moving forward.
  8. Adjournment: 5:27 pm

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