The Faculty Senate held its first informal meeting of the school year on Monday, gearing up to tackle issues they focused on last year and to launch new initiatives.
Former Senate President and chemistry Prof. Regan Thomson says some of the topics that the Senate is carrying over to the new academic term include academic freedom, free expression and looking at yearly faculty salary reports.
“The Faculty Senate exists to listen to faculty concerns and help provide a conduit for those concerns to the administration around the policies that they’re creating,” Thomson said. “I think that’s going to be a big, big thing this year.”
A main focus of the Faculty Senate last year — especially during the pro-Palestian encampment on Deering Meadow in April — was how to navigate issues of free expression on campus.
Thomson said this issue will continue to emerge during Faculty Senate meetings throughout this school year. This comes off the heels after University President Michael Schill announced in a statement last week that NU will start to limit official statements on political matters except on those that affect the University’s operations.
“Some of that will depend upon what happens on our campus this year, but already there have been changes with this new policy that’s being put in place,” Thomson said. “What that means for faculty and how to interact with that is a process.”
Aside from topics of academic freedom and free expression, Medill lecturer Jacqueline Babb expects the Senate to continue working on revising and testing the CTEC survey system and anticipates that the Senate will collaborate with the administration on student affairs and student programming.
The Faculty Senate is also interested in having more productive discussions with stakeholders by moving away from presentations and towards a model of dialogue, Babb said.
In particular, the Faculty Senate would like to continue to build relationships with students, potentially exploring a way for students to contact the Faculty Senate with issues they would like to discuss, according to Babb.
“We want dialogue with students about their experience,” Babb said. “We always appreciate student feedback and dialogue.”
The first official Faculty Senate meeting will take place Oct. 16.
“I am looking forward to seeing what the University’s plans are in the next year and seeing what things we can do to help them along on their plans,” McCormick Prof. Mark Johnson said.
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Twitter: @lmschroeder_
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