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11/11/21 Policy Committee Minutes

    Present: Harry Hilton, Richard Laugesen, Walter McMahon, David O’Brien, Robert Parker, Dana Rabin, Bruce Rosenstock, Leslie Struble, Carol Symes, H. F. Williamson.

    The meeting began at about 12:33 p.m. with Parker presiding.

    1. Introductions. Introductions were not needed.
    2. Review of the Minutes for October 7, 2021 Meeting of Policy Committee. The minutes were approved.
    3. President’s Report. Parker reviewed the report that he sent to the Committee. He noted in particular the progress Harry Hilton has made in organizing the annual promotion and tenure workshop in the spring (the workshop is planned for 3 p.m. on Thursday, March 31, 2022), and the meeting that he and Richard Laugesen had with the Executive Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity Gioconda Guerra Perez to discuss how the Chapter might help in the Campus Belonging initiative designed to help educate members of the campus community who may benefit from learning more about how to foster the campus culture of diversity. He appreciated that Campus Belonging is determined to make sure that academic freedoms remain strong on our campus.
    4. Schedule for Fall Policy Committee Meetings: The final meeting for the fall will be:
      • Thursday, December 9 (2nd Thursday); Reading Day is also December 9

    Action Items

    1. Spring, 2022 Meetings of the Policy Committee.
      1. The proposed schedule for the spring was approved. We will continue to meet at 12:30 p.m. on the following Thursdays:
        • January 20 (third Thursday; instruction begins Jan. 18; King Holiday is Jan. 17)
        • February 17 (third Thursday)
        • March 10 (second Thursday)
        • Spring Vacation starts March 12 and ends March 20
        • April 7 (first Thursday)
        • May 5 (first Thursday, this is Reading Day)
      2. The annual meeting will be scheduled for May 10 if we follow the policy of holding it on the Tuesday of final examination week.
      3. McMahon noted that he hoped it would be possible to meet in person in the spring. Parker noted that we can discuss this further at the December meeting of the Policy Committee.
      4. We will also be considering holding meetings with campus and University administrators.
    2. Programming: There was an extensive discussion of the topics we might cover in possible Chapter
      meetings during the spring.
      1. The first was a proposal from Parker to set up a panel on critical race theory. He discussed his progress in assembling the panel and noted that so far two panelists have agreed to participate.
      2. The second was a proposal from McMahon that we consider a panel on how to recruit more effectively minority undergraduate and graduate students and minority faculty members.
      3. The third was the previous proposal that we are consider a panel discussion of academic freedom and tenure issues on campus and nationally.
    3. Academic Units Issuing Statements on Matters of Public Policy. Rosenstock noted that this issue is now being considered by the Faculty and Student Senate. There was a discussion of whether we could prepare background documents on the history of issues involving academic freedom and governance on our campus to help guide our discussion of this issue. It was suggested that McMahon and Rosenstock could prepare background statements for the next Policy Committee meeting.
    4. Adjournment. There being no reports, the meeting adjourned at about 1:38 p.m.

    As noted above, the next meeting will be at 12:30 p.m. on December 9, 2021