May 6, 2020 Minutes

A printable PDF of this information can be found here.

Faculty Senate Minutes

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

3:10-4:30pm

WebEx

I.            Call to order

a.       Meeting was called to order at 3:10pm

II.            Approval of April 22nd minutes

a.       None opposed. No abstentions. Minutes are passed.

III.            Interim Senate Process Reminders

a.       Only Senators or alternates may participate unless recognized by the Chair or Chair Elect

b.       Email or Text Keely if you’re dialed by phone

c.       Mute your microphone

d.       Discussions – synchronous and asynchronous

e.       Voting

IV.            Informational Items

a.       Capital Projects and Budget Planning – President Cruzado, Provost Mokwa, Faculty Discussion and Questions

1.       President Cruzado: thank you for the opportunity. This is a bittersweet time for us. Normally we would be celebrating. There is a sense of loss, for us, for faculty and students.

A.      Budget Planning

i.            None of us know what the future will hold

ii.            2011 and 2017 we were faced with reductions but were able to absorb those costs centrally.

iii.            Looking at 5%, 10%, or possibly 20%, but we don’t know for sure. It could be none at all. It could be more. Too many uncertainties.

iv.            We want to be prepared. Have asked every unit on campus to send recommendations for a possible 5, 10, or 20% cut. We all need to be in it together. We know that if we get to a scenario where it’s a 20% cut or larger, that makes us a different type of institution. What would that look like? Have asked every unit to protect the core academic mission of the university and when considering this to protect as many employees as possible.

v.            We still need to recruit students, but we also need to retain the ones we have.

vi.            Monitoring research carefully. No cuts planned to federal research agencies. ACE, APLU: are already working on a fourth packet of relief and make congress understand that we need help in the area of research in instrumentation.

vii.            Many colleges around the country are doing the same thing. We have been blessed for many years that we haven’t had to do this.

viii.            If we are planning for possible budget reductions, why do we read in the newspaper about Romney Hall or AIH, or Bobcat Athletic Complex? Those projects are funded differently. They are one-time dollars. Operation and personnel dollars must be recurring because we need to pay faculty and staff, and recurring costs. Money from the state is dependent on our enrollment.

B.      Capital Projects

i.            Residence Hall: Loans are paid back with student fees

ii.            Romney Hall renovation: The State of Montana gave us 28 million dollars and we fund raised the rest.

iii.            State dollars cannot go to facilities for athletics, food services halls, parking or

iv.            Cannot use money meant for one project, for another.

v.            We are funded until June he 30th, but we’ve already made some changes. Mountains and Minds spring addition is not going to be published. Consultants for bi-weekly pay have been cancelled. The bus tour has been cancelled.

vi.            Trying to prepare our ‘home’ for what may come.

vii.            What is the current state of enrollment for the fall? We won’t know that until the 12th day after classes start. Where are we now? About the same, slightly down.  Retention numbers for Fall are about the same, slightly down. We still have an opportunity to influence both of those numbers. It’s not too late to encourage students to choose Montana State, or encourage our current students to stay with us.

viii.            Montana received 1.25 billion dollars. Will MSU see any of that? That money goes straight to the Governor and he has a group making recommendations on how to spend that money. The money we did get, ~5.25 million had to go to students and couldn’t be used to refund for room and board. We are not allowed to ask for those dollars ourselves.

2.       Provost Mokwa:

A.      Reiterate: Budget planning process is part of an overall planning process. It’s about preparing for what may come our way. Appreciate participation in the process.

B.      Congratulations! We are almost through the semester. Met it early march about what would happen if we couldn’t get back to campus before the end of the semester, and here we are at the end.

3.       Faculty Discussion

A.      Jim Meyer: I feel flexible with respect to what we do, or wording of resolution, or even if it’s a good idea to have a resolution. Some are supportive, some do not think it’s a good idea. Most interested in starting a discussion. Haven’t been able to just discuss amongst the senate about how we feel about the changes that have taken place. Resolution would be none binding but based on principle. Feel there is a lot of frustration around communication and feel we need to talk about this.

B.      Steve Stowers: How do the faculty share in the budget decisions? It is very little. If we should be more involved is a good question. The role that we have is n contributing to a variety of conversations, at all levels, around what our vision and priorities are in student success and meeting the university’s mission. Many members of Faculty Senate are in on these various task forces that are making these decisions.

i.            Provost Mokwa: Eric answered the question very well. Faculty Senate has representation on Budget Council where some decisions are being made.

C.      President Cruzado: Good questions. Budgets are created at the departmental level. No one from MT Hall comes down and slashes anything from your budget. No decisions have been made. No changes have been executed. We are planning in case this comes to pass. How much elasticity do we have as individuals, families or communities? It’s not about who goes first, or who takes the brunt. It is an appeal to all of us, a civic duty, to help each other. Want you to feel that you are in good hands, that we will protect you. Want to be sure we do this openly. We can still have a good outcome from all of this.

D.      Jim Meyer: This is turning into what we’ve done already. Glad the Provost and President want to be involved. Comfortable talking in front of them but would like the senate to be able to talk about this without the two of them in the meeting.

E.       Susan Dana: Would help me to understand which senators are serving on which committees so we know what kind of input has been given.  Eric will get back to everyone on this.

F.       Ed Dratz: There has been a lot of negative impact on research graduate students. They are looking at not having good TA support. We cannot forget about them.

G.      Bradford Watson: Concern seems to be coming from inconsistency in communications. Things aren’t inconsistent in handing down the information. Also, consistency in how budget decisions are being made. Where is the evidence of how the decision were made?

b.       Recreation/Wellness Center – John How

1.       Students approved the gym rebuild/renovation budget 66 to 34. We will also get about 60 percent of what we need from insurance.

2.       Taking it to BOR in May. Will listen to what they say about the proposal. If it passes, we will hit the design hard this summer.

3.       What is involved: Lost gym space, wellness center, pool, ADA accessible. You can go to the website and look at the FAQ’s. Website is linked to the Faculty Senate webpage

c.       IChange Faculty Diversity Plan – Ariel Donohue

1.       Create a more diverse and inclusive STEM faculty. Not just STEM, but all faculty.

2.       Support faculty in diversity and inclusion efforts.

3.       Goal for 2040: What do we need to do the first five years? In November we had open forums on the draft plan. Have been making edits and creating an action plan. montana.edu/diversity to find plan. There is a feedback form on that page. We would love your feedback. What is going to happen? What is already on the way? What do we need to hold off on? Would appreciate  your feedback as we work to finalize this exciting plan.

V.            New Business

a.       Courses-See Faculty Senate Website

http://www.montana.edu/facultysenate/upcoming_meeting.html

1.       Please take a look and let Eric and Michael know if you have any questions or concerns.

VI.            Old Business

a.       Faculty Senate Delphi Survey – Stage II-Chair Elect, Michael Brody

1.       Now in round 3

2.       Collected all the “important” and “very  important” items are put into the third-round survey. There is agreement on these  items.

3.       If you haven’t participated, you can still go in and participate on this last survey.

4.       Interesting to do this during the COVID outbreak. Thank you for your persistence and perseverance.

5.       Survey will be open for three weeks.

VII.            Announcements and Updates

a.       None

VIII.            Public Comment

a.       None

IX.            Executive Session

a.       Approval of Spring Degree Candidates

1.       Tomas Gedeon moves to approve. Julie Ruff seconds. None opposed. No abstentions. Approved.

b.       Posthumous Degree Candidate

1.       Tabled

X.            Adjournment

a.       Meeting was adjourned at 4:45pm

Reminder: Next Faculty Senate Meeting

                                August 19, 2020

                                WebEx info will be sent out prior to the meeting