09.15.20 Senate Minutes

Establish a Quorum

A quorum was established, with 60 out of 87 Senators in attendance. 53 Senators responded to the quorum poll, plus 7 among panelists who could not use the polling tool.

Don Mulvaney, Senate Chair, called the meeting to order at 3:31pm. Chair Mulvaney gave attendees an overview of the basic procedures for the Zoom meeting format, and then began the meeting.

Approval of the minutes from the Senate Meeting of August 25, 2020:
Corrections: Luca Guazotto (Senator Physics) requested the minutes be amended to show he was present at the August meeting. With this amendment added, no further comments or revisions were suggested. Chair announced that the minutes were approved by unanimous consent.

Remarks and Announcements

University Senate Chair: Don Mulvaney

The Chair introduced the officers of the senate, noted that Senate Parliamentarian Sidney Phelps was not available to attend, and recognized the Senate Administrative Assistant, Laura Kloberg.

The chair then noted the activities of the Executive Committee, the Steering Committee and the Senate Rules Committee in filling committee vacancies, working with AU Administrators, and organizing senate meetings. He encouraged faculty to go to the volunteering web page and express interest in serving on Senate Committees.  He also encouraged faculty to stay in contact with senate leadership with their concerns and comments.

Chair Mulvaney then invited President Jay Gogue to make remarks.

President: Jay Gogue

President Gogue noted that he had five items to mention in his remarks.

• At the most recent Board of Trustees meeting, the Student Center was named after Harold Melton, auburn alumnus and the first African-American president of the SGA. He is the current Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. The Board postponed a land swap between the USDA and AU. All other items on the board agenda were approved, including the next budget.

• The President then encouraged getting students to vote in the upcoming national election and asked faculty to help make that happen.

• The President complimented the Athletic Department for their social justice logo fundraising initiative. The logo is a fundraiser for AU scholarships to help increase enrollment of underrepresented students that are not athletes.  

• The President then discussed misrepresentations and falsehoods on social media regarding Auburn University. These “anecdotal extrapolations” about Auburn closing on the 15th day of classes or locking-down to visitors and student activities have led to emails from concerned parents and students.

• The final item the President mentioned was Auburn’s move upward in the US News rankings of US universities.  AU is the highest ranked Alabama institution and #40 overall out of 5200.

The president thanked faculty for their efforts and then invited Dr. Fred Kam to give an update on Auburn University and the COVID crisis. Dr. Kam reported that hospitalizations are down. Auburn University positive cases are down but may again rise following the Labor Day weekend. Auburn’s isolation/quarantine situation is at 11% capacity, leaving AU in a good position to handle any increases.

Provost: Bill Hardgrave

The Provost began by noting that, following the recommendations of the most recent COACHE survey, Auburn has drafted a parental leave policy. The policy is near completion and allows for 6 weeks of paid leave (100%) for eligible parents. The policy should be effective in the next month or two. He named and thanked the committee and committee members responsible for the policy.

Final enrollment figures are in for Fall 2020 and the 30737 enrollment represents a flat level of undergraduate enrollment and an 8% increase in graduate enrollment.

The Provost noted that AU is about 1/3 of the way through Fall coursework.  He announced that he will be meeting with senate executives to plan for the Spring semester. The calendar is being discussed and a final plan should be out in the next few weeks.

The Provost closed with several reminders to faculty. He asked that faculty be sure to make students show their green screens for in-person classes, and encouraged everyone to do their daily health-checks.  AU is in the second week of sentinel testing and the Provost asked everyone to participate in the random-testing pool.

The floor was then opened for questions. (4:00pm)

QUESTION:  Richard Sesek (Senator, Industrial & Systems Eng). For sentinel testing are symptomatic people encouraged to not participate?
ANSWER: Fred Kam. With or without symptoms, please participate. Sentinel testing is not intended as a means for symptomatic to get tested. The intent is to do a random sample.

QUESTION: Tracy Witte (Senator, Psychology). Should people who are doing remote-only work or studies this semester, should they participate in sentinel testing?
ANSWER: Fred Kam. Yes, they should participate in sentinel testing. If they are out of state, they may not wish to participate, but most people should still participate despite being off campus.

Action Item

Replacement Members for Senate Committees

Presenter: Greg Schmidt, Senate Secretary, chair of the Senate Rules Committee.

• Secretary Schmidt presented two replacement candidates for committee vacancies.
  

  • Library Committee (2022) – Matthew Hoch (CLA, Music)

  • Non-Tenure Track Committee (2021) – Min Zhong (COSAM, Biological Sciences)

• There was no discussion on the candidates. The senate then voted on the slate.

• The candidates were approved by a vote of 56 in favor (55 Senator attendees and one senator panelist). No votes against or abstentions.

Information Items

Auburn’s Next QEP (Quality Enhancement Plan)

Presenter:  Norman Godwin , Associate Provost for Academic Effectiveness

• Associate Provost Godwin began the presentation by noting that a QEP is a requirement for SACS-COC reaccreditation. He discussed what constitutes a QEP, when it is due, and what Auburn is doing for the next QEP which will be due in January 2023.

• The Provost’s office recommended that AU’s next QEP address “First Destination Placement Rates” for AU graduates, which is the percentage of students securing employment or graduate school at graduation. Measurements are taken at graduation and 6-months post-graduation. Godwin explained in depth why this topic was proposed over other key performance indicators and how it meets SACS-COC reaccreditation requirements.

• Godwin closed with a timeline detailing the QEP from development through the Spring 2023 SACS-COC visit.

• QUESTION: Tony Moss (Senator, Biological Sciences): Can you please reiterate the nature of assessment criteria?

  • ANSWER: Norman Godwin. The assessment focuses on placement – employment and graduate school acceptance. Data is gathered from student-provided input from surveys, from searches in LinkedIn, from database searches, and from other surveys. Surveys on placement and on high-impact practices will inform the QEP.

Faculty Athletics Representative Report for the Intercollegiate Athletics Committee

Presenter, Beverly Marshall, Professor of Finance, Harbert College of Business, Faculty Athletics Representative, Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics

Professor Marshall discussed the focus on student academic progress and how the Federal Graduation Rate (FGR) and Graduation Success Rate (GSR), as they relate to Auburn student and Auburn student-athletes, are used. Marshall explained the differences between the FGR and the GSR, which is an NCAA measurement. With the 6-year graduation timeline in mind, information is available up to 2012/13 freshmen class. 2013/14 data is forthcoming.  The presentation gave graduation rate comparisons by non-athletes/athletes, by race, gender, and sports to NCAA averages.

Marshall then transitioned to an explanation of Impermissible Academic Assistance (Extra Benefits) that could lead to NCAA infractions. If a benefit is not available to all students, it cannot be given to a student-athlete. She added that student athlete should never be penalized for athletic participation. This extra benefit consideration applies to all university faculty and staff. She stressed that faculty can ask the FAR any questions relating to academics and accommodations for student athletes. The presentation closed with a reminder to faculty that discounted Faculty/Staff tickets are a benefit to the individual faculty and are not transferrable to others. Discounted tickets are subject to Alabama ethics rules in regard to their sale.

QUESTION: Susan Youngblood (Senator, English). If football tickets are now purchased at face value, is the ethics law still applicable?
ANSWER: Beverly Marshall. Faculty Staff tickets are purchased at 80% of face value. Away tickets are purchased at face value.

QUESTION: Robin Jaffe (Senator, Theater). Regarding the dates of the information. Is 2012/13 the latest information. Does that represent graduation or freshman year?
ANSWER: Beverly Marshall. That is data on freshman enrollment, which is why it only extends through 2012/13.

Presidential Task Force Overview: sub committees, progress / status report

Presenter: Executive VP Ron Burgess

Burgess began his remarks with a note on the Gulf hurricanes and the rain/tornado forecast for Auburn.  AU Alert will be activated if there is any impact on operations.

The Presidential Task force for Opportunity and Equity began their work in June. This included studying briefings, reviewing climate studies, participating in training, and organizing the group. Burges then highlighted the task force concerns on areas of diversity training and enrollment/retention of underrepresented students. On admissions, Auburn has changed policies on acceptance and had revisited scholarship awards based on need. Other subcommittees are focusing on recruiting/retention of faculty and the recruiting/retention of staff. The task force is also investigating underrepresented businesses and how Auburn can address that.

QUESTION: Ben Bush (Senator, Industrial Design): Troy University renamed their Graves Hall to Lewis Hall. How did they accomplish that renaming and can Auburn be more transparent about their process of renaming buildings?
ANSWER: Ron Burgess. The Board of Trustees has a building renaming task force and wants to follow state law. State Law allows for institutions to incur a fine for renaming a building. The board intends to move on problematic names on buildings and are developing a policy for renaming buildings.

Task Force Subcommittee for Equity and Opportunity

Presenter, Taffye Clayton, Vice President, Associate Provost & Chief Diversity Officer

Dr. Clayton presented on the activities of the Presidential Task Force on Equity and Opportunity, specific to the subcommittee on education and training. After acknowledging the task force members and explaining the two subcommittees (education and training, recruitment and retention), Dr. Clayton went into depth on the Education and Training Subcommittee, the committee goals, and their decision to explore moving forward with select EVERFI diversity learning modules at Auburn. She explained the use and benefits of the EVERFI modules for students, faculty, staff, administrators, and the institution. The subcommittee has selected several diversity & inclusion modules with expectations of full campus participation. Dr. Clayton presented a few of the courses (a student module, a workplace module, a managing bias module, and a preventing discrimination/harassment module) and closed by explaining how the initiative will move forward over fall 2020 and into spring 2021.

The webpage for the task force is www.auburn.edu/equitytaskforce

QUESTION:  Melody Russell. How much AU engagement is there on the three new Board of Trustees appointees? It is important for AU   to get across the need for diverse representation on the Board.
ANSWER: Chair Don Mulvaney.  The call for nominations is underway.
ANSWER: President Jay Gogue. The board consists of 15 members and the Governor. Right now there are three African Americans on the board. The nomination and selection process for the three replacement trustees involves consideration of districts from the 1960 congressional map. The application period closed in August.  The president then explained the constitutional process for trustee selection.

QUESTION: Monique Laney (Senator, History). What is the rollout process for the EVERFI initiative for faculty and students?
ANSWER: Taffye Clayton. The idea is to have one foundational experience for students and for faculty/staff. The other modules are opportunities to build on that. The committee has an implementation team working on the timeline details.

QUESTION: Susan Youngblood (Senator, English).  Is the Board of Trustees willing to absorb the fine for renaming buildings?
ANSWER: Ron Burgess. We cannot speak for the Board.

Unfinished Business

• None

New Business

• None

Adjournment

Motion to Adjourn (Seconded) 5:07pm

The motion carried and Chair Mulvaney adjourned the meeting at 5:07pm

Respectfully Submitted,

Greg Schmidt

Secretary, University Senate

Attendance