Dear SCU Faculty,

Though it’s a bit late to wish you all Happy New Year, we’re right on time to wish for a Happy Lunar New Year!  The Lunar New Year celebration emphasizes luck, health and reuniting with family, something I think we’re all hoping for in the coming months. Due to the holiday break, we have combined updates from our December and January Faculty Senate Council meetings into this eNews. 

One of the joys of this year has been working with colleagues of our Staff and Student Senates. A practice I’ve admired is their use of working groups and sub-committees. While I am hesitant to create new structures that might duplicate work already being done by other governance committees, I’m wondering whether this model could be employed in the Faculty Senate. Working groups might allow us to work more closely on issues of concern, and also create new opportunities for faculty to get to know each other better and gain leadership experience in governance. Two examples of working groups that come to mind could involve racial justice and budgetary issues. I’m going to start consulting with various governance bodies and will bring this up for discussion at the next Faculty Senate Council meeting. If you’d like to give me your initial impressions, feel free to send an email to:  lcgray@scu.edu or facultysenate@scu.edu

Finally, we’re now in the second quarter of 2020-21 pandemic teaching. I’m definitely seeing a mood developing among our faculty and students. The term doldrums comes to mind. Like the monotonous, windless waters that equatorial sailors experience before the Monsoon rains begin, we’re stranded in a waiting period where time seems to stand still with weeks and weekends merging. There is hope, though, as many of our faculty and staff are starting to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. In the meantime, I hope you all are finding opportunities for self-care and stress release. I’ve just signed up for the Go Move Challenge, a Jesuit school exercise challenge for the month of February. SCU came out on top last year- I suspect our warm weather might give us an edge this year as well!

Please share your concerns with us, either through this Faculty Senate Feedback Form or by sending an email to: facultysenate@scu.edu. Our next Faculty Senate meeting is Wednesday, February 10, 2021  from 3:30-5:30pm. We hope to see you then!  

Be safe and best wishes,

Leslie Gray
Faculty Senate President, 2020-2021

January Highlights

• Racial Justice Initiatives/Campus Safety Services audit.  President O’Brien presented several racial justice initiatives, including Provost Kloppenberg’s work to lead efforts for restorative justice across the campus, and the creation of a university dashboard to view progress. President O’Brien asked for faculty input regarding the recommendations outlined in the Campus Safety Services audit report. Results from the FSC meeting and survey (53 faculty responded) were sent to President O’Brien and included these recommendations: 
  • Most faculty supported the reorganization of CSS.  
  • Black faculty, staff, and students should be at the center of the decision-making process and implementation of the recommendations to ensure that SCU fosters a community where all feel comfortable and a sense of belonging.
  • The administration should use its Jesuit values as guiding principles for redefining what is meant by safety and should include all forms such as safety from CSS and the police.
  • The University should prioritize a wellness approach for reimagining CSS, hiring more social workers and mental health professionals to address students’ behavioral issues; and providing additional CAPS Counseling. The University could consider including on-campus and off-campus mental health services.
  • The administration should act quickly on the audit’s recommendations. 

• Faculty 180 Review.  Kitty Murphy, Associate Provost for Faculty Personnel and Policy, provided an overview of the responses from the feedback request about Faculty180. A majority (61.7%) of the 262 faculty and administrators who responded thought that a different system should be adopted for all faculty evaluations and promotion processes. In the meeting, FSC reps communicated several recommendations, among them improving the software’s interface, providing faculty help with data entry, and moving to use Google Drive for materials that do not require high levels of confidentiality/security.  

• UCC new task forces and proposals.  UCC Chair Tim Urdan and Chair-Elect Justin Boren presented an update of several new task forces and a proposal for email communication:
• COVID-19 Caregiver Concerns Task Force – This task force has been fully staffed and will investigate best practices at comparable universities for remedying the particular obstacles faced by caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• Enhancing Consultation and Transparency in Governance Task Force – The UCC is finalizing the charge for this task force. The goal of this task force will be to investigate and propose solutions to four areas of our collaborative  governance consultation and communication systems: (1) an online policy/proposal tracking mechanism; (2) additional methods beyond Senate presentations for consultation during policy development; (3) training tools for committee and community members on governance processes; and (4) facilitating better communication about governance processes with the broader university community.
• Task Force for Alternative Resolution at SCU – This task force will investigate alternatives to the formal grievance and hearing procedure that takes place to resolve formal complaints of harassment, discrimination, or sexual harassment. 
• Academic Integrity Task Force – The UCC continues to discuss, and consult with individual faculty members, to determine what the charge might be. 
• Email Communication –The UCC is crafting an email proposal that aims to address issues raised by different constituents regarding “reply all” emails. Initial feedback from the Faculty Senate was solicited on a proposed set of email lists (e.g., existing essential list, moderated announcement and event list, and unmoderated discussion list) that could be specific to either faculty or staff. 

December Highlights

• Faculty Affairs Committee Update. The Faculty Affairs Committee continues to revise and seek consultation from faculty on the current protocol for hiring tenure-stream faculty, including the composition and voting rights of the hiring committees. The FAC has developed new wording to address the role of non-tenure track faculty members invited to serve on tenure-stream search/selection committees. 

• Open Discussion on Budgetary Issues. In an open discussion on budgetary issues, faculty recommended pushing for both restoration and repayment of merit increases and retirement benefits. One suggestion was for the FSC to obtain more information about the use of non-endowment assets. Other faculty proposed more consultation with the faculty members of the UBC (University Budget Council).  Laura Nichols, Faculty Senate President-elect, and ex officio member of the UBC, suggested that the FSC can both submit recommendations on the format (e.g., dialogic debate) for the Finance Town Hall meeting proposed for February and that faculty representatives to the UBC should push for a timeline for when retirement/merit increase will be revisited. A longer-term goal may be to consult and collaborate with the UCC to change the UBC charter to increase collaboration in the budget process. After the February Finance Town Hall, the FSC will invite several administrators to the March meeting to discuss budget issues.  

• The November minutes were approved by FSC Representatives by a vote of 32-0-2 (Y-N-A). The December minutes were approved by a vote of 27-0-2 (Y-N-A). The rolling minutes may be viewed here.

Resolution to Request for the University to Maintain Neutrality with Respect to an Adjunct and Lecturer Unionization Vote [Resolution ID:  FSC2020.12.09.4R]

The resolution called for the administration to not engage in any efforts to influence the Adjunct and Lecturer unionization vote. The full text of the resolution may be viewed here. FSC Representatives voted in favor by a vote of 20-9-5 (Y-N-A). The resolution was sent to all faculty, Provost Kloppenberg and President O’Brien on December 10, 2020. On January 14, 2021, the Provost sent a response on behalf of the administration advising the Faculty Senate President and all faculty “...that the Administration will not remain neutral.” and further stated that “The Administration has demonstrated our commitment to the right of non-tenure-track faculty to vote on unionization. That commitment extends to a fair and informed debate during which the rights of faculty to speak freely—and to hear all sides—will be protected.” The full text of the administration’s response may be viewed here.

Resolution to Add Faculty Positions to Board of Trustees and Board Finance Committee [FSC2020.12.09.3R]

The full text of the resolution may be viewed here. FSC representatives approved the resolution by a vote of 33-2-2 (Y-N-A). The resolution was sent to all faculty, Provost Kloppenberg, President O'Brien and the Chair of the Board of Trustees John M. Sobrato on December 10, 2020. On December 18, 2020, the administration responded that the Chair of the Board of Trustees has referred the resolution to the Governance and Nominating committee of the Board, which is charged with making formal recommendations to the Board on adding committee members, trustees, or observers to the Board. The committee is next scheduled to meet on January 25, 2021. The full text of the reponse may be viewed here.

Resolution to Provide Greater Job Security to Academic Year Adjunct Faculty (AYALs) [Resolution ID: FSC2020.12.09.1R]

This resolution called for the university to honor the March 15 deadline for notification of contract renewals and make SETs an “opt-in” for AYAL faculty in the Winter and Spring quarters of 2021, with department chairs strongly advised to use other methods of evaluation in dialogue with faculty. The full text of the resolution may be viewed here. FSC representatives approved the resolution by a vote of 25-4-6 (Y-N-A). The resolution was sent to the Faculty Affairs UPC, the UCC and the Provost on December 10, 2020.

Resolution to Clarify Persistent Programmatic Need (PPN) and Provide for Conversion of AYAL to RTL Lines [Resolution ID: FSC2020.12.09.2R] 

The full text of the resolution may be viewed here. The resolution was tabled at the December 2020 FSC meeting. Kitty Murphy, Associate Provost for Faculty Personnel and Policy, will prepare a document to address COLA’s questions and will meet with COLA to determine if further involvement of the FSC is necessary.  

Join us for a Jesuit School of Theology event with guest speaker, Gerald Beyer, social ethicist and professor at Villanova University. He will discuss his book titled Just Universities: Catholic Social Teaching Confronts Corporatized Higher Education on March 2, 2021 at 4:00PM via Zoom. View a description of his book here. All faculty are invited to attend.

Dear SCU Faculty,

We have begun the election cycle for Faculty Senate Committees. We have concluded the University Rank and Tenure election, and are beginning to prepare election ballots for the School Rank and Tenure Committees. Thank you in advance for reviewing sample ballots and reporting any errors in eligibility to Ixtlac Duenas at iduenas@scu.edu.

Thank you to Dr. Ed Maurer, Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering, who agreed to serve as the School of Engineering representative to the University Rank and Tenure Committee for academic years 2021-22 and 2023-24. Dr. Nam Ling, Computer Science and Engineering, has graciously accepted to serve for one-year (AY2022-23) while Dr. Maurer is on sabbatical.

Thank you,

Laura Nichols
Faculty Senate President-elect, 2020-21

Election Results 

• Summary for 2020-21 elections

Upcoming Elections 

School Rank and Tenure Committees

• Arts & Humanities (election for 1 replacement)
• Natural Sciences & Social Sciences ( election for 2 replacements)
• Leavey School of Business (election for 3 replacements)
• School of Engineering (election for 2 replacements)
• School of Education and Counseling Psychology (election for 2 replacements) 

Faculty Senate Commitee Membership Lists for 2020-21

• University and School Rank and Tenure
• Promotion to Senior Lecturers
• Faculty Judicial Board
• Grievance

FAC Camino Site

In the interest of greater transparency and more timely exchange of information, the FAC has created a Camino "class" that anyone can visit to review documents, minutes, and current agendas.  Anyone with an SCU email can visit this site as a class "observer":  https://camino.instructure.com/courses/64168. Other archived FAC materials will continue to be maintained on the University Governance website.

Faculty Senate Templates

• Resolution Template [A sample can be viewed here.]
• Motion Template
• Statement Template

Voice your concern! Share your input! Suggest an agenda topic!

We invite you to share your priorities with us either through this Faculty Senate Feedback Form or by sending an email to: facultysenate@scu.edu. 

Our next Faculty Senate Council meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 10, 2020 from 3:30-5:30pm.

All faculty members below the level of dean are welcome to attend FSC meetings in accordance with our by-laws. While administrators at the level of dean or above are not Faculty Senate members, they may attend when officially invited and during the time they are on the agenda.

We hope to see you virtually on Zoom!