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1/23/20 Policy Committee Minutes

    Present: Hadi Esfahani, Bettina Francis, Harry Hilton, Robin Kar, Richard Laugesen, Walter McMahon, David O’Brien, Robert Parker, Daniel Steward, Leslie Struble (electronic); H. F. Williamson

    The meeting began at about 12:35 p.m. with O’Brien presiding.

    1. Review of the Minutes for December 12, 2019 Meeting of Policy Committee. The minutes were approved.
    2. President’s Report. O’Brien reported briefly on items on which we will be working this spring. These will include plans for a newsletter and a membership campaign as well as reports such as the one on governance.
    3. Review of spring schedule of meetings.
      1. Regular Policy Committee Meetings: at 12:30 p.m. in 217 Illini Union
        • February 20 (third Thursday)
        • March 12 (second Thursdays) (spring vacation starts March 14)
        • April 16 (third Thursday)
        • May 7 (first Thursday, Reading Day)
      2. Promotion and Tenure Workshop: 3:30 p.m. Thursday, April 16, in 314A Illini Union.
      3. Date of Annual Meeting: to be determined. May 12 is the Tuesday of final examination week, the day chosen for recent Annual Meetings.
    4. Governance Survey. Esfahani discussed the status of the report, noting that there were 229 replies. He plans more analysis and a report for a future meeting of the Policy Committee.
    5. Discussion of Meeting with Task Force on Faculty Sexual Misconduct. We felt that the discussion led by O’Brien and Laugesen went well and seemed to provide valuable feedback to the Task Force to help them with the next steps of the process.
    6. Final Preparation for Meeting with Chancellor Jones on January 27, 2020. The draft of the agenda was approved after a brief discussion. The final copy will be sent to the Chancellor’s office as part of the preparation for the meeting.
    7. Planning for Annual Meeting. O’Brien indicated he hopes to complete the planning for the Annual Meeting at the February Policy Committee meeting. The tentative date if we follow past procedures would be Tuesday, May 12. The topic with the most interest concerned the interaction of money, politics and the university (specifically, the impact of donations from politically motivated groups). There is also interest in the definition of and appropriate responses to hate on campus, review of the policies concerning consensual relationships between faculty and students, and the history and development of minority studies programs on campus.
    8. Adjournment. There were no reports so the meeting adjourned at about 1:25 p.m. As noted above, the next Policy Committee meeting will be at 12:30 p.m. on February 20, 2020 in 217 Illini Union.