Faculty Senate Minutes | November 18, 2020

Drug policy; Juneteenth observation; Prescription drug policy

Faculty Senate Meeting

November 18, 2020

Note: To facilitate open discussion, the identity of most Senators making comments or questions is not recorded. Such comments as recorded here are generally not verbatim. The identity of comments from Senate Officers and Senate Ad Hoc and Standing Committee Chairs are given, as is the identity of persons commenting in their official administrative capacity (e.g. EVP, Provost, or College Dean.) 

Updates

The minutes of 10-21-20 were approved without objection

Pres. Caron welcomed Saylor Breckenridge as a new member of the Senate who was elected by the College faculty to fill Steve Boyd’s seat

The Senate Executive Committee interviewed candidates for the new position of Ombudsperson and made a recommendation to Provost Kersh.

New business

Three people volunteered to be members of the Nominating Committee: Pat Lord, Ana Iltis, and Sherry Moss. Caron opened the floor for other nominations. With none received, the Committee stands with these three members and Pat Lord as Chair.

New Drug policy from HR

• Some faculty were concerned with the wording.
• Mark Knudson discussed the policy.
  • 3 major areas of concern:
    1. The Substance abuse prevention portion of the policy mainly focused on substance abuse and consequences. There was relatively little content on preventing abuse and providing preventive services
    2. Policy is meant for faculty and staff, yet there are some references to students. It is not clear who this policy is for.
    3. The policy identifies substance abuse in a very broad way that is unhelpful. Terminology needs to be clarified so the term “substance abuse” does not encompass activities that aren’t actually substance abuse.
• Provost Kersh: The Senate took this up in 2012 and after going back and forth with the legal team, this is how we came up with this policy.
• Senators asked what provisions were required; Provost Kersh responded that Dept. of Education does not specify what has to be in policy: we just have to have one.
• Pres. Caron asked if it was an appropriate role for the Senate to review as opposed to HR.
  • Provost Kersh responded that it would be helpful to have joint committee, but that last time these discussions happened, the primary administrative responsibility was with the legal team rather than HR
  • Pres. Caron asked Senators to let her know if they are willing to serve on a joint committee.
  • A senator noted that if this is a priority then we should proceed, but there do not appear to have been issues with this policy being abused in the past. In the midst of COVID it is important to prioritize.
    • Another senator argued that the vagueness of the policy would allow arbitrary action, so it should be a priority.

Juneteenth as a New University Holiday

• Would bring us into line with colleagues with other universities
• One senator noted the biggest impact will be on staff. Have they been consulted. The SAC Liaison said this was not on the SAC agenda from previous meeting.
• A senator asked about about the effect on students and faculty in summer school courses.
  • Dean Gillespie responded that the College is working on accommodating that day by starting early. The university is not sharing the final summer calendar until January.
• The Senate was supportive of recognizing Juneteenth on the University calendar.

Prescription Policy

• Wayne Silver asked about the new prescription medication policy and suggested that faculty need to know the changes and may not be reading information that is sent out.
  • VP Phillips argued that while mail-order prescriptions may not be something everyone is happy about, this is an easy pill to swallow compared to losing other benefits.
  • Past Pres. Knudson reminded us there is a two month grace period so people have time to adjust to the policy.
  • A senator asked, if people are not reading the information, what do you suggest we do?
    • Pres. Caron suggested a broadcast email solely focused on this info. Coughlin (chair of fringe benefits committee) offered to help.

Adjournment