Dear SCU Faculty,

With a vaccine on the horizon but a long difficult winter ahead of us, I hope you were able to get some rest over the Thanksgiving break and can do something to restore yourselves over the Winter break. It’s heartening to know that we’re about to put one more quarter of pandemic teaching behind us. As someone who was not teaching last spring, I’ve come to appreciate how much work it is to put a class on-line, while supporting students who are struggling with this new on-line learning environment. I have so much appreciation and gratitude for our colleagues in Media Services, Faculty Development, and across the university who have helped all of us during this difficult time. Though teaching online has been a challenge, the bright side is that many of us are learning new techniques that will improve our classes once we’re back in person. And who said an old dog can’t learn new tricks!

Much of our work in faculty governance this year has been reacting to the pandemic. We are working with the UCC to set up a care-giving task-force to deal with difficulties in caregiving during the pandemic. We have also worked to allocate emergency funds for those in need and advocated against budget cuts, particularly ones that will affect the most vulnerable in our community. I fear we’ll be in reactive mode for much of the year, though I hope we can still be proactive about governance issues, including racial justice issues, advocating for changes in Faculty180, and addressing concerns of our lecturer community.

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, December 9, 2020 from 3:30-5:30pm. We hope to see you then! 

Best Regards,

Leslie Gray
Faculty Senate President, 2020-21

• Conversation with John M. Sobrato -- John Sobrato, Chair of the Board of Trustees, met with the FSC to discuss the university’s response to the fiscal crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and resolution (see resolution here) requesting the university use the endowment to mitigate budget concerns. He started by describing how the university faces pressure from both the revenue and expenditure side, noting that the Board cannot separate the COVID-19 crisis from long-term challenges that the higher education business model faces. The primary focus of the Board and administration has been to minimize the impact that the pandemic would have on the loss of jobs; the Trustees are looking at ways to reduce the deficit while being sensitive to all the important stakeholders. Without raising tuition, he indicated that there are very few fiscal levers the university can use to address the budget deficit, stating that the Board is not inclined to fund the budget deficit from the endowment for these reasons: 1) most of the endowment is restricted funds, 2) intergenerational equity, and 3) the university’s future ability to navigate the affordability crisis facing higher education. When asked when faculty retirement cuts will be restored, he stated that the administration will not be able to restore faculty benefits until the university returns to normal, pre-COVID-19 operations. Mr. Sobrato also said that he is working to build support for a faculty observer to serve on the Board to increase transparency.

• Budget Forum Discussion -- The Faculty Senate President summarized the input that was submitted by faculty and staff after the Budget Forum (see document here). Input was arranged into the following categories: progressive cuts, benefit cuts, future pay cuts, endowment payments, transparency, and intergenerational equity. Several faculty noted that lack of transparency, consultation, and collaboration in shared governance continue to be key issues with regards to budget decisions. The FSC suggested putting forward a resolution at the next FSC meeting that would recommend a non-voting faculty position to be included on the Board Budget Committee. 

• Lecturer and Adjunct Unionization -- AFLOC Representatives, Maggie Levantovskaya, Natalie Linnell, Andrew Wolfe and Kristin Kusanovich, informed the FSC that AFLOC has had its first substantive meeting with the SCU administration, SCU general counsel, and the SEIU counsel. The next phase will occur between the lawyers to negotiate the terms of the election that will occur this academic year. They indicated that the administration has communicated plans to oppose unionization efforts. The administration has assured AFLOC that there will be no retaliation against faculty participating in the unionization efforts, but AFLOC is requesting further clarification of the administration’s intended opposition. AFLOC has proposed, and will continue to endorse, the proposed contract with the neutrality clause.

• Faculty Affairs (FAC) Update -- The FAC has been asked to revise the current protocol for hiring tenure-stream faculty, including the composition and voting rights of the hiring committees. The committee is seeking consultation from faculty.

• UCC update -- The UCC is tracking progress on anti-racist efforts from each UPC and Senates by requesting monthly updates. The UCC is also reviewing charges to convene several Task Forces to address: 1) Title IX Hearing Panels, 2) Caregivers during COVID, 3) Communication and Transparency in Collaborative Governance, and 4) Academic Integrity. The UCC will be releasing calls for nominations for these task forces.

• COLA Update -- Barbara Kelley, COLA Chair, shared that a COLA Survey has been disseminated to full-time faculty to gather data on current stress levels and loads for faculty and the survey will gather suggestions for improving the teaching situation.

• Faculty 180 -- In the open forum discussion, a FSC Representative mentioned that his constituents are concerned that Faculty 180 will become mandatory for faculty evaluations next year. Constituent reaction is that Faculty 180 is time-consuming and increases faculty workloads unnecessarily. Constituents are also concerned with the Workday application which increases faculty workloads and negatively impacts the hiring search process. The issues and concerns raised will be compiled (see list here) and Leslie Gray will forward the information to the Provost’s Office and Human Resources.

• The October 2020 minutes were approved by FSC Representatives by a vote of 14-0-31 (Y-N-A). The approved minutes may be viewed here.

Resolution for a Vote of No Confidence in Campus Safety Services [Resolution ID: FSC2020.11.11.1R]

FSC representatives voted unanimously to table the resolution until Judge Cordell’s report and recommendations are released and may be reviewed to provide a clear direction on future actions. The resolution can be viewed here.

We would like to thank two additional volunteers: Dr. Laura Robinson, Sociology, and Dr. Damian Park, Economics, for graciously volunteering to serve on the Technology Advisory Committee on behalf of the Faculty Senate. A full description of the committee may be found here.

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.

Dear SCU Faculty,

This coming winter and spring quarters we will be holding very important elections for positions that will start in the fall of 2021. 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. Cary Yang, Electrical and Computer Engineering, who agreed to serve as the School of Engineering representative to the University Rank and Tenure Committee. Cary was elected to complete the term of Dr. Sally Wood.

Thank you,

Laura Nichols
Faculty Senate President-elect, 2020-21

Election Results & Confirmations 

• Summary for 2020-21 elections

Current Elections

• None in progress. 

   

Upcoming Elections

• Elections targetted for January 2021
  • University Rank & Tenure, School of Engineering (three-year replacement)
  • College/School Rank & Tenure: Arts & Humanities, Natural Sciences & Social Sciences, Leavey School of Business, Engineering, and School of Education and Counseling Psychology

Faculty Senate Commitee Membership Lists

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

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, December 9, 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!