Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes January 19, 2022

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Faculty Senate
Draft Minutes, Wednesday, January 19, 2022, Zoom Meeting
Presiding: Philip Auter, Secretary: Clai Rice

I. Call to Order

• 4:06

II. Quorum Call

• 62

III. Agenda Approval

• Parker, Stein approved, no opposed.

IV. Minutes Approval

• November minutes (Hazelwood, Abingdon-Pitre) approved, 2 abstentions.
• December minutes (Khey, Berkeley) approved, 2 abstentions.

V. Welcome and Report from Executive Officer (P. Auter)

• COVID planning is continuing with the Rapid Response team.
  • Adjustments were allowed for first 2 weeks.
• Registrar search is ongoing. Campus visits will have presentations for the whole University. Probably in Spring semester.
• Committee not yet created for search for Diversity Officer.
• CUPA adjustment review process is beginning.
• Auter had useful meeting with FS presidents from other UL system schools. People are facing similar problems, especially enrollment and communications.
• M. Green and Auter will be visiting with Deans Council on issue of SEI use in faculty evals.
  • Green: This is a follow up on a past issue that we are pressing for response.
• New Moodle site is up. https://moodle.louisiana.edu/course/view.php?id=16588.
  • Membership roster could not be moved. Each senator will have to be added by hand. Also, files attached in news forum items cannot be moved.
  • Zoom meeting recordings are normally purged, but Auter is moving recordings to Panopto for more archiving. Only the audio-video file will be saved, not the chat.
  • Access to recordings and documents should have transferred but if you can’t access something let Auter or Rice know.

VI. Committee Reports

• Senate Committees
  • Auter consolidated the ad hoc committee on the status of women with the ad hoc committee on the status of underrepresented faculty and shared the membership list. J. Rouen posted her two lists to the chat. for comparison.
    • Natalie Keefer asked to be added to that list.
  • Auter also shared lists for the 2 committees made from the AD Hoc Committee on Salary and Compensation, one for regular salaries and one for additional compensation. Those lists will be posted to Moodle when finalized.
• University Committees
  • SEI Committee (J. Kimball for N. Autin)
    • Brief report that results are almost ready to go out to faculty
    • Question from the floor: Can we get fall reports before spring starts?

VII. Old Business

• Committee votes scheduled will be done by email because of the restrictions that only members form the relevant colleges can vote, and there’s no good way to discern that in Moodle.
• J. Maloy reports about the purchasing/reimbursement program (Chrome River) meeting held with VP LeBlanc and his staff. Notes will be on the Moodle page.
  • Meeting went well, staff tried to be very helpful.
  • CR training videos will be made available on Moodle.
  • Some of the most arduous requirements are levied by state auditors and can’t be omitted. They are looking at other requests to alleviate steps if possible.
  • A committee with faculty representation will be put in place to assist discussions with the state regarding travel policy and the reimbursement policies.

VIII. New Business

• FS Budget (J. Maloy)
  • Shared results of what other comparable schools have in place for support FS operations.
  • Based on this, Maloy put together a proposal:
    • The President, Vice President, and Secretary should each be given the option of a course release or a salary stipend for each semester that they serve; the stipend should be close to, but perhaps a little less than, the total cost to UL of hiring one adjunct for one three-hour course [which I am told is currently in excess of $4,000, after fringe benefits are included]; let’s say $4,000 per semester served;
    • the chairs of the Grievance Committees and of the Committee on Committees, in recognition of their significant workload, should be offered a salary stipend equal to one half of what the elected officers receive; let’s say $2,000 per semester served;
    • a travel budget should be available to all members of the Executive Committee for professional meetings and professional development related to shared governance [as opposed to their own teaching or research fields]; let’s say $3,000 per year;
    • a share of administrative staffing should be made available to the Senate as a whole for record-keeping, website maintenance, and other tasks of a clerical nature.
  • Discussion was had on different points, to be continued in the forum over the month or longer.
• New items raised by K. Knierim.
  • Should we have a peer advising committee for legal issues?
  • Does every college have a college level TP review committee? Surely we could be more transparent about this whole process.
    • In discussion it was asked if we wanted to set up a committee to review the whole TP process. Auter stated he would set up a forum to discussion the issue.
  • Does FS ever get involved with recruitment?
    • Basically no, it is up to individual faculty, but recruitment is an issue that everyone should be aware of now.

IX. Adjournment

• 5:35 (GH, Baker)

Submitted by Clai Rice
7 February 2022