January 12, 2016

Meeting Agenda


1. Call to Order

Jeannette Moore, Chair of the Faculty

2. Introductory remarks

Guests introduce themselves

3. Announcements

Topics the committees are addressing are listed on the 2nd page of the agenda. Minutes from each meeting will be posted on the Faculty Senate website. See the 2nd page of the agenda each week for announcements of interest to faculty.

4. Approval of the Minutes, Regular Meeting N7 of the 62nd Session, December 1, 2015

Darby Orcutt, Secretary of the Faculty

5. Provost's Remarks and Q/A

Warwick Arden, Provost

6. Student Perspectives in Regards to Diversity

Khari Cyrus, Student Body President

7. Old and New Business

Communication: How do we share senate information with faculty? Alton Banks Discussion on possibly re-naming "Secretary of the Faculty" Darby Orcutt

8. Issues of concern

a. All ongoing Issues of Concern are listed on the Faculty Senate Website at: http://www.ncsu.edu/faculty_senate/ (fourth on the list of main links)
  1. b. New Issues of Concern (if any)

9. Adjourn

NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY

Faculty Senate Calendar and Announcements

January 12, 2016

CALENDAR 1/14/2016 3:00 pm Thursday:

Executive Committee

in 2320 D.H. Hill - Jeannette Moore, Chair 1/19/2016

Committee meetings - Topics may be adjusted after the January 12 Senate meeting: ACADEMIC POLICY COMMITTEE

- Sarah Ash and Alton Banks, Co-Chairs 3:00 pm in 210 Dabney on Tuesday, 1/19/2016
  1. Council on Undergraduate Education (CUE) and the General Education Program; finalize recommendations

GOVERNANCE AND PERSONNEL POLICY COMMITTEE

- Lloyd Fleisher and Paul Williams, Co-Chairs 3:00 pm in 2320 D.H. Hill on Tuesday, 1/19/2016
  1.  Proposed Drug and Alcohol Free Workplace regulation for NC State University employees [out of committee; authors are doing major revisions] b. Evaluate the Procedure for Formatting, Adopting, and Publishing Policies, Regulations, and Rules (REG 01.25.05) [out of committee; recommendations to include the Best Practices of Shared Governance will be reviewed by General Counsel before coming to the Senate] c. Faculty Grievance & Non-Reappointment Working Group / Discussion on improvements; [out of committee; recommended changes are being drafted] d. Sen.Issue1: Faculty duties support people once did e. SenIssue6: Number of NTT/adjunct/temporary faculty & trends; also TT faculty trendsRESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE
- Marguerite Moore and Darby Orcutt, Co-Chairs 3:00 pm in 2108 D.H. Hill (East Wing) on Tuesday, 1/19/2016
  1. Transportation and Parking discussion (includes IOC 1508b Loss of Faculty/Staff parking in the North Hall lot)
1/26/2016

Faculty Senate Meeting

at 3:00 pm in 2320 D.H. Hill - Jeannette Moore, Chair Senators requested that we hear the results of the COACHE survey; this will be presented by Nancy Whelchel and Katharine Stewart ANNOUNCEMENTS
  1.  Looking ahead: The Spring Faculty Meeting will be March 1st at 3 pm (Talley Student Union).
  2.  The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences has announced a reorganization that includes merging and re-naming some departm
  3. The NC State University Council on the Status of Women invites you to nominate NC State faculty, staff and students for the Equity for Women Awards (due by January 29th). See: https://ncsu.qualtricom/jfe/form/SV_bOUvM7oSJyE0lil
  4. The Faculty Senate website has to change; the current version is no longer supported.
  5.  Pride of the Wolfpack announcement

Executive Summary


1. Call to Order

Chair Moore, called the eighth meeting of the sixty-second session of the NC State Faculty Senate to order at 3 p.m.

2. Introductory Remarks

Chair Moore asked visitors to introduce themselves.

3. Announcements

Chair Moore announced that the results of the COACHE Survey will be heard in the January 26th meeting. The Spring Faculty Meeting is March 1st at 3 p.m. Please send any topic suggestions to Chair Moore or a member of the Executive Committee. The College of Ag and Life Sciences has announced a reorganization that includes merging and renaming some departments. That reorganization is set to take effect on July 1, 2016 The NC State University Council on the Status of Women invites you to nominate NC State’s faculty, staff, and students for the Equity for Women Award. Nominations are due January 29th. The Faculty Senate website has to change because the format is no longer being used or supported by the university. The newly formed NC State Sustainability Council will host a town hall meeting in the Witherspoon Student Center on January 20th from 9-11 a.m.

 4. Approval of the Minutes

Chair Moore called for approval of the minutes. The minutes were approved as submitted.

 5. Remarks from Provost Arden

Provost Arden gave an update on administrative searches that are currently taking place. Provost Arden reported that there were six major leadership searches to oversee this year. Three were completed by the end of the fall semester. The new Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration is Scott Douglas who comes from the University of Delaware where he was the Chief Financial Officer. Dr. David Hinks, Interim Dean of Textiles was appointed as the Dean. He has done an excellent job serving as Interim for the last eighteen months and had very h3 support. Dr. Annette Ranft will be the new dean for the Poole College of Management. Dr. Ranft is currently the Senior Associate Dean of the Business School of the University of Tennessee. She has worked in multiple universities over the years and she is originally from North Carolina. Provost Arden announced that five-year comprehensive reviews are coming up this year for Dean Martin- Vega in the College of Engineering, Louis Hunt in Enrollment Management and Alice Warren, Vice Provost for Continuing Education. Provost Arden stated that some major issues are brewing on campus and across the country. These are issues that are important in society at large. There will be extensive discussions on campuses across the country. The big issue that he sees is race and diversity inclusion. Campus climate is also a huge issue. Provost Arden stated that access and affordability is the other big issue. He noted that NC State is fairly well off in terms of our state support. Provost Arden encouraged faculty, staff, and students to engage in open dialogs and discussions during the year. Provost Arden stated that he will be attending the Faculty Assembly on Friday. The Faculty Assembly has put together a panel that he has been asked to participate in along with other Provosts and Chancellors. He will try to bring back to some feedback.

6. Student Perspectives in Regards to Diversity

Khari Cyrus, Student Body President reported on the students’ perspective on diversity. President Cyrus stated that NC State students come from a variety of counties, regions, states, and countries and with that there are students who have grown up in diverse communities with diverse backgrounds. You also have people who come to the university and see this as the most diverse place they have ever seen. The challenge with student leaders is finding ways to take the people on one side who are fed up with the university and think there is no diversity on campus and bring them together with the other group of people who are blown away with the level of diversity on campus. He said that has been one of his main goals as Student Body President, to find ways to bridge those gaps.

 7. Old and New Business

Communication: How do we share Senate Information with Faculty? Senator Banks asked for feedback from senators on how Faculty Senate information is shared with colleagues. Several senators shared information on how they communicate Faculty Senate information with colleagues. Chair Moore stated that the information will be discussed in the Executive Committee.

 8. Issues of Concern

Senator Smith McCoy requested that the Faculty Senate propose a resolution that supports the change of the word “Dixie” that appears in the NC State Alma Mater to “Raleigh” or any other suitable word that they think might capture the intent of what they are working on. The Senators discussed the issue and the consensus of the group was to propose a resolution stating that the word “Dixie” is offensive and that it should be removed or replaced. The issue will be discussed in the Executive Committee meeting on Thursday.

9. Adjournment

A motion passed to adjourn the meeting at 4 p.m.

Meeting Minutes


Present: Chair Moore, Parliamentarian Lubischer, Provost Arden; Senators Ange-van Heugten, Ash, Banks, Bartlett, Bernhard, Bird, Bullock, Bykova, Byrnes, Cubbage, Davidian., Fath, Fleisher, Hergeth, Huffman, Laffitte, Porter, Sannes, Scearce, Silverberg, Smith McKoy, Sotillo, Williams Excused: Secretary Orcutt, Immediate Past Chair Zonderman, Senators Auerbach, Kathariou, Absent: Senators Argyropoulos, Devetsikiotis, Gunter, Moore, Pearce, Perros, Smith, Spontak, Steer Guests: Marcia Gumpertz, Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Diversity; Roy Baroff, Faculty Ombuds; Michael Mullen, Vice Chancellor, Academic Student Affairs; Katharine Stewart, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs; Marc Hoit, Vice Chancellor for Information Technology; Khari Cyrus, Student Body President

 1. Call to Order

Chair Moore, called the eighth meeting of the sixty-second session of the NC State Faculty Senate to order at 3 p.m.

 2. Introductory Remarks

Chair Moore asked visitors to introduce themselves.

 3. Announcements

Chair Moore announced that the next Senate meeting will be January 26th where the results of the COACHE Survey will be heard. Nancy Whelchel and Katharine Stewart will be presenting that information.   The Spring Faculty Meeting is March 1st at 3 p.m. Please send any topic suggestions to Chair Moore or a member of the Executive Committee.   The College of Ag and Life Sciences has announced a reorganization that includes merging and renaming some departments. That reorganization is set to take effect on July 1, 2016   The NC State University Council on the Status of Women invites you to nominate NC State’s faculty, staff, and students for the Equity for Women Award. Nominations are due January 29th.   The Faculty Senate website will change because the format is no longer being used or supported by the university. We are working with OIT to assist in updating the Faculty Senate web page.   The newly formed NC State Sustainability Council will host a town hall meeting in the Witherspoon Student Center on January 20th from 9-11 a.m. to generate ideas for the university future sustainability efforts. The meeting is open to all members of the campus community.

4. Approval of the Minutes

Chair Moore called for approval of the minutes.   The minutes were approved as submitted.  

5. Remarks from Provost Arden

Provost Arden gave an update on administrative searches that are taking place.   Provost Arden reported that there were six major leadership searches to oversee this year. He stated that three were completed by the end of the fall semester.   Provost Arden announced that the new Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration is Scott Douglas who comes from the University of Delaware where he was the Chief Financial Officer.   Dr. David Hinks, Interim Dean of Textiles was appointed as the Dean. He has done an excellent job serving as Interim for the last eighteen months and had very h3 support.   Dr. Annette Ranft will be the new Dean for the Poole College of Management. Dr. Ranft is currently the Senior Associate Dean of the Business School of the University of Tennessee. She has worked in multiple universities over the years and she is originally from North Carolina.   Provost Arden reported that the other three searches are well under way, which include the College of Education and the College of Design dean searches and the Vice Provost for Institution and Equities. All three committees were formed last fall and are well under way. Essentially the initial rounds of interviews for those positions and the off campus interviews will be occurring during late January and February and the on campus interviews for them will be during March, April time period.   Provost Arden announced that several five-year comprehensive reviews are coming up. This year Dean Martin-Vega is up for his tenure review in the College of Engineering, Louis Hunt in Enrollment Management and Alice Warren, Vice Provost for Continuing Education.   Provost Arden stated that some major issues are brewing on campus and across the country. These are issues that are important in society at large. There will be extensive discussions on campuses across the country. The big issue that he sees is race and diversity inclusion. Campus climate is also a huge issue.   Provost Arden announced that there will be a town hall tomorrow in Stewart Theater from 12 noon until 2 p.m. led by the Student Body President and Student Government. Please attend if possible. He stated that it is an important discussion and it is very important that we listen to our students.   Provost Arden stated that he and Chancellor Woodson have met with a significant number of students and they are adjusting their schedules over the coming months to not only meet with students at larger town halls but also meet with students at smaller venues as well so that they can have proactive discussions to understand the students’ issues and to make sure they are responding appropriately.   Provost Arden stated that the other issues that continue to play out on campus is gender, sexual discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexual assault. This is another big issue, an issue that we have to be involved in proactive discussions together as a campus community. There will be a lot more coming down from Federal and State governments.   Provost Arden noted that campuses and campus life is becoming a significant topic within the elections, so you will continue to see these topics play out.   Provost Arden stated that access and affordability is the other big issue. NC State is fairly well off in terms of our state support. Many states have lost significant amounts of state support for higher education. In fact, compared with other major funding priorities such as K-12, healthcare and even prison systems, and higher education seems to have lost priorities in many states. Those states are also affected by significant increases in tuition and fees and increase in student debt, so issues of access and affordability are going to continue to be huge.   Provost Arden encouraged faculty, staff, and students to engage in active open dialogs and discussions during the year. He said one of the things that concerns him is a tendency that he sees in what an academic environment should be. In his mind an academic environment is a place where you can have difficult discussions in a supportive and respectful manner, but one of the concerns he has is this tendency not to have those difficult discussions in a respectful manner, but to try to remove those who disagree with you from the discussion at all, so he thinks it is important that we as a campus are willing to have these discussions in a way that is respectful of other individuals as they express their views.   Provost Arden stated that he will be attending the Faculty Assembly on Friday. The Faculty Assembly has put together a panel that they have asked him to serve on along with some Chancellors and Provosts. He stated that President Spellings comes on board at the beginning of March and they don’t quite know what that administration is going to look like. She is conducting a review of GA at the moment, its structure and the way that it does business. He thinks this is just a panel to reflect on the future ahead. How is the UNC system viewed? What are the major obstacles? What are the major objectives and opportunities and how are we going to move forward over the next year? He said he would try to bring back some feedback.

6. Student Perspectives in Regards to Diversity

Khari Cyrus, Student Body President reported on his and the students’ perspective on diversity.   President Cyrus stated that NC State students come from a variety of counties, regions, states, and countries and with that there are students who have grown up in diverse communities with diverse backgrounds and on the flip side of that you have people who come to the university and see this as the most diverse place they have ever seen. The challenge with student leaders is finding ways to take the people on one side who are fed up with the university and think there is no diversity on campus and bring them together with the other group of people who are blown away with the level of diversity on campus. He said that has been one of his main goals as Student Body President, to find ways to bridge those gaps.   Cyrus stated that the most effective way they have been able to approach this is finding ways to bring in diversity, not as a burden for students, but shifting it so that it is more of an opportunity, looking at diversity as job training. He said when you enter the work force, you can work in diverse communities, interact with diverse teams and be successful branding it as an enriching opportunity. That is the main student perspective and it has been a challenge to get everyone on board with that and not use it, so that has been an ongoing process.   Cyrus stated that as of now, with regards to perspectives on diversity, you have people on various ends of the spectrum, and one thing that they are trying to accomplish is finding ways to not only engage students in the process, but also faculty, staff, and the administration as well. It is important that these issues be student led because peer to peer interactions are the most important ways to shift dialogs and shift mindsets and perspectives. He stated that on the flip side of that students feel as if a lot of the pressure and burdens are put on students to create those changes.   Cyrus stated that students expect to see immediate changes. When they come in as freshmen and see a problem, by the time they are seniors they expect to see some sort of drastic change, but for faculty, staff, and administration, people that are here for many years, you have the opportunity to see the progress that has been made, but for students it is kind of hard to see when they are only here for a short period of time.   Cyrus stated that from the students’ perspectives on how to shift the conversation around diversity, are to get more faculty involvement and he thinks one of the struggles is taking what the faculty and administration have done over the years and consolidate that to show students that progress has been made. One of the opportunities that he has tried to utilize is taking the message that faculty and the administration have been working on these issues for many years and will continue to do so for many years.   Cyrus encouraged the faculty to attend the town hall if possible.   Questions and Comments What is your perspective on racial diversity at NC State?   Cyrus stated that it is kind of challenging from his perspective because as Student Body President, he sees the amazing things NC State has/is doing, but at the same time he is directly connected to that sense of urgency, the need to see some change during the four years that they are here.   What future opportunities would you have for us to be able to engage with students about diversity?   Cyrus stated that they are branding this town hall as kind of the beginning. This is the kick off for the spring semester. Feature events have not been planned but they do plan to follow up with the action as it develops, taking it to the administration and also looking at the Chancellor’s diversity plan that he sent to the campus community and finding ways to get students involved with that.   As part of the action plan do you think we should be making a better effort as instructors, doing some diversity training?   Cyrus stated that one of the action items is how we can engage faculty and how we can bring in diversity training in how you teach your courses even if it’s a brief introduction at the beginning of the semester, just finding ways to bring it into the class room so we can engage all students.   You mentioned several times that students would like to see change during the time that they spend here. If you could have this change occur rapidly, what is the change that you as the representative of the Student Body would like to see?   Cyrus stated that from his personal perspective one of the things that he would like to see done is to incorporate diversity training into curriculums for faculty, finding ways that you could incorporate it into your average every day courses and that way you could get it into a broad population and also receive feedback.   Are you aware of instances where faculty have been disrespectful?   Cyrus responded yes, he has heard of some instances.   How important is it to have diverse faculty in the colleges?   Cyrus stated that one of the action items that will be brought up in the town hall is how the university can attract diverse faculty and diverse staff. He said one of the issues is not only hearing about issues of diversity in the classroom, but also being able to see and connect with diverse populations as well.   Provost Arden stated that the exact question was asked during the Democratic forum last night. It actually went further, specifically we talk a lot about student diversity but on most campuses in the country faculty diversity lags, even student diversity and administrator diversity lags faculty diversity. The question was asked “what are you going to do to enhance faculty and administrator diversity on our campuses?”   Provost Arden stated that there are programs on campus designed to encourage physical diversity of our student, staff, and faculty body and then there are programs designed to impact campus climate and they are both very important. There are a number of good programs around, but what we are always looking for is the most impacted.  

7. Old and New Business

  Communication: How do we share Senate Information with Faculty? Senator Banks asked the senators for feedback on how Faculty Senate information is shared with colleagues. Senator Fleisher shares pertinent information via Emails. Senator Laffitte shares information during the college meetings. Senator Bullock stated that information is shared at monthly department heads meetings Senator Fath shares information via Email. Senator Cubbage shares via Email Senator Williams shares via the college’s Listserv. Senator Bernhard stated that information is shared in the college’s Executive Committee meetings Senator Ash reports to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee Senator Bird shares information through the department association’s Listserv.   Chair Moore stated that the information will be discussed in the Executive Committee.

8. Issues of Concern

Senator Smith McCoy proposed a change in the Alma Mater.   “Part of my disenchantment goes back to the first line “where the winds of Dixie softly blow.” For those of you unfamiliar with the term “Dixie” it solidifies a commitment to southern confederate politics and ideas of white supremacy and by extension black inferiority. I was not able to sing the Alma Mater at my graduation from this institution in 1989 and every year when I’m called to go to the full graduation, I am ultimately disappointed that we have done nothing to correct that in all these years. I am so appreciative that the Student Body President started this conversation for us today so that you know just how difficult it is sometimes to deal with diversity at NC State and I will say that the Alma Mater is certainly a product of its time, written around 1922-1923 at a time when black people in Raleigh would not even walk past this campus because of the racist activities that were on going here. It was not until 1960, years after the first black students came to this campus that the restaurants on Hillsborough Street would even admit black students into the restaurants. We have a long history that we can address here on campus. I propose that we would change one word in the Alma Mater from “Dixie” to “Raleigh” or any other suitable word that you think might capture the intent that we are working on here but I do think “Dixie” certainly undermines our intentions here at a university where diversity is valued and where we plan to graduate students who will go forth in the world and understand what the diversity is all about. We still would have many monuments to the confederacy left on this campus, notable with that are the members of the Watauga Club, every one of whom were white supremacists. So only one of who went beyond that in his life time and that was Walter Hines Page who ended up publishing people like W. E. B. Dubois and Charles Chestnut, North Carolina African American writer. The rest of them remained committed to the confederacy, to the new south, to the cult of white manhood and so I think it is an insult to our purpose here to continue with an Alma Mater that has “Dixie” in it. So, I respectfully propose that the Faculty Senate propose a resolution that supports the change of this word in the Alma Mater.”   There was a discussion on the issue and the consensus of the group was to propose a resolution stating that the word “Dixie” is offensive and that it should be removed or replaced.   The issue will be discussed in the Executive Committee meeting on Thursday.

9. Adjournment

A motion passed to adjourn the meeting at 4 p.m.
Office of the Faculty Senate
Copyright © 2024 · NC State University · Accessibility · Privacy · University Policies · Log in