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Faculty Senate Actions in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

June 18, 2020/Faculty Senate Meeting

The Senate passed Resolution 21/6 (PDF), which calls for distinguishing between short- and long-term fiscal decisions in responding to the pandemic-induced fiscal crisis. This crisis is expected to be intrinsically short-term, and the resolution laid out steps to ensure that any long-term fiscal plans, along with their supporting data, are appropriately discussed.


May 20, 2020/Special Faculty Senate Meeting

In response to the extraordinary situation the university faces, and the need to support shared governance at the university, three resolutions were passed, as follows:

Resolution 21/3 (PDF) allows the Faculty Senate Executive Committee to set additional Regular Meetings of the Senate. Summer meeting dates have been posted.

Resolution 21/4 (PDF) argues for certain principles that ought to guide decisions around budget austerity, and the process for addressing them.

Resolution 21/5 (PDF) urges the administration to immediately approve the hiring of Libraries and Academic Innovation positions needed to help instructors to prepare syllabi and course plans for Fall 2020.


April 3, 2020/Faculty Senate Meeting

The Faculty Senate held its April 3 meeting via WebEx and heard a detailed report from President LeBlanc and Provost Blake on the impact of COVID-19 and on continued planning for the remainder of this academic year, the summer, and the fall. Several Senators asked questions, and the administration provided detailed responses. The minutes of this meeting provide a detailed record of this report as well as the Q&A.


March 27, 2020/Faculty Senate Executive Committee (FSEC)

The FSEC held its regular monthly meeting today via WebEx. The FSEC heard reports from the President and Provost on the financial impact of COVID-19 and planning for the remainder of the spring semester, the summer, and the fall. The FSEC agreed that it may need to continue meeting frequently in May and throughout the summer to monitor developments and make recommendations on COVID-19-related developments as they arise.

March 24, 2020/Faculty Senate Executive Committee

The FSEC met via WebEx today in special session. Under its authority to act for the Senate on matters of urgency, the FSEC unanimously adopted Resolution 20/12 (PDF) to amend the Bylaws of the Senate to permit the Senate, under extraordinary circumstances, to hold electronic remote meetings and to use electronic voting. This resolution will be implemented for the April 3 Senate meeting, which will be held via WebEx with planned online voting.
The Resolution also creates a new position of Vice Chair of the FSEC to act as chair temporarily should the Chair be unable to perform their duties. The FSEC elected Professor Jeffrey Gutman to serve as Vice Chair. Under the Resolution, he will serve until a new Vice Chair is elected.

March 20, 2020/Faculty Senate Executive Committee

The Faculty Senate Executive Committee (FSEC) has been engaged over the past week on urgent matters regarding the extremely fluid COVID-19 situation:

  • The FSEC passed a Resolution (PDF) urging the Provost to establish as a Guideline to the Schools that they may use online technology to hold School faculty meetings without a prior incorporation of this instrument in the School Bylaws. Some faculties have already been holding online meetings, but the FSEC wanted the Provost to clarify that all schools may do so subject to their individual needs. All faculties have important votes to take in the spring.
  • The FSEC is working on a Resolution to permit online Senate meetings with online voting. This Resolution will be voted on by the FSEC early next week so that the next Senate meeting on April 3 can be held via WebEx with online voting.