Faculty Senate Minutes | February 17, 2021

Wake Forest University President Nathan O. Hatch spoke and then participated in a question and answer session.

Faculty Senate Meeting with Dr. Nathan Hatch

February 17, 2021

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.) 

Call to Order

President Simone Caron called the Senate to order.

Approval of January Meeting minutes (unanimous)

Minutes were unanimously approved.

Reminders and Updates

• The Senate is implementing the new system where newly elected senators will assume seats on April 1st
• Officer elections will take place at the March 24th meeting. Please send self-nominations and nominations of others with their consent to Pat Lord by March 17.

President Hatch Question and Answer Session

• President Hatch began by stating that it has been a privilege to serve Wake for the past 15 and one half years. He then proceeded to answer questions the Senate had sent to him beforehand.

In what institutions do you see faculty governance working well?

• Faculty governance is a complicated terrain that is very specific to the institution
• The Senate executive committee has become more collaborative ; we have a better relationship than when I started
• Notre Dame had a very sudden period of change. Previously, many of the same faculty participated year after year. One change was dramatic: how elections were held. Each of the Colleges elected representatives. Reform made elections by departments. This might be a path Wake Forest could follow to make the Senate lines of communication more open to each department. Or, at Wake it might be helpful if senators were represented by division, like at Duke, instead of as whole.

How can the Senate be more effective working with the new president?

• Any productive relationship should be built on trust and mutual accountability
• The Senate should be open to change and innovation even if such change challenges long held convictions and traditions

What were your successes as president?

• I was able to help define who Wake Forest is-
  • I articulated a clearer definition of what a Collegiate University is; we teach like a college even though we are a university
  • Pro humanitate is a strong part of our image and has helped us in Capital Campaigns
• I attracted talent and built teams. In my view, we should bet on people, not strategy
• I integrated the two under resourced business schools into one strong Business School
• When I started, the hospital and medical school were dysfunctional regarding teaching, research and clinical practice. The Medical School is on a much firmer foundation in terms of clinical practice. Atrium will be a strong partner in our new Charlotte medical school.
• I set a new vision for the Personal and Career Development Center, under the leadership of Andy Chan and it has become a state of the art organization
• The addition of Innovation Quarter and Wake Downtown, including the launch of engineering and other biomedical sciences, has built on and added to the strengths of the University
• Wake Will Lead was three times larger than previous campaigns, including as much money in financial aid as previous campaigns
• I helped revitalize the board of trustees from a provincial group to a strategic partner
• The Call to Conversation has been a success
• I oversaw campus revitalization, including investment in residence halls and academic buildings on Reynolda Campus

What do you wish you had done differently?

• I do not have many regrets because I worked to the best to my ability
• I wish I had spent more time with new faculty
• I wish more had been done in:
  • Loosening some of the strong traditions at Wake Forest, but I feel I pushed as hard as I could in this area
  • Equity and inclusion
  • Infrastructure for teaching and research
• I regret not having money to renovate Scales Fine Arts
• I regret the overall outreach to Winston Salem is not more robust, especially when it comes to strengthening k-12 education
• Regret not spending as much time with faculty, especially new faculty, but had to focus more externally due to capital campaign, innovation quarter, medical school, etc., which served school well but left less time for internal connection

What are the pitfalls Wake could potentially face?

• While Wake is in a strong position, it has an unsustainable cost structure: WFU needs fifty percent of students to pay full tuition. This tuition driven model in untenable. Wake needs to concentrate on building up its endowment.
• Wake needs to continue to be creative and innovative if we are to continue to attract students
• We are not strong enough in resources or reputation to just rest

What still needs to be accomplished?

• Wake has the least number of colleges of our peers. Wake should expand the number of colleges. Some examples could be a College of Engineering, a College of Public Health…. The University needs to stop being driven so much by the College
• Wake needs to sustain and enhance the teacher-scholar structure but this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be a more complicated university
• Wake needs funds for the academic commons building and new schools funds need to continue
• Wake needs daycare near campus. Progress had been made but then Covid-19 hit.
• The College needs more contemporary government structure. A monthly meeting made sense when the faculty was smaller. Any university of this scale should have representative body in charge of some form of governance

How do we keep a strong teacher-student relationship?

• We should be radically traditional in teaching
• We need to be creative about diversifying faculty
• Broadening searches within fields will help instead of looking for narrower concentrations

You have said Athletics is an important part of the college experience. Can you provide reasons?

• American universities are different than anywhere in the world
• From the beginning universities had a way of life that went beyond academic experience.
• Athletics is a central part of why alumni identify with and give to a university
• Athletics is important to building diversity
• Athletics can be great builder of character
• Sports can play a role in the rise and prominence of university. Athletics at Wake help distinguish this institution from other peer institutions such as the University of Richmon
• John Currie is terrific with managing expenses: he reduced operating expenses by about 50% in response to COVID. Curry is also working hard to develop a fan base, which is difficulty in a city as small as Winston Salem

What about the student body size of Wake Forest in the future?

• I grew the student body by 1,000 in two 500-size batches. This increased size helped with raising faculty and staff salaries and with renovating campus.
• I think the current size is a good one.
• If Wake continues to grow, the associated costs of such growth need to be evaluated closely

Is Athletics spiraling out of control?

• Wake has the minimum number of sports allowed to stay in the ACC
• The indoor training facilities was given by donors
• Coaches salaries are out of control but we need to pay the going rate to remain competitive
• We need a greater fan base to help offset the costs
• We have to put up money in order to be competitive

Article about Sean Hannity and the use of his plane for the tennis team

• The article unfairly represented events.
• Nothing inappropriate or unethical occurred.

Why did Wake expand into Charlotte

• Charlotte is the largest city in the US without a nationally ranked university or a medical school; it provides a tremendous opportunity for us
• There is huge civic interests there for a medical school
• This expansion will help pump money back to the Reynolda campus

What do you see as the future of Greek life at Wake?

• Greek life poses a huge challenge to Wake.
• Wake cannot disband the Greek system on campus
• We need to do a better job with leadership training and with nurturing leaders of Greeks
• We must be careful of Greek organizations withdrawing from the university altogether and becoming their own independent organizations. We face a very delicate balance
• Residential colleges could be an alternative way for students to find community and ways to get involved and diminish the importance of Greek life in providing the backbone of social life on campus.