November 13, 2023
TAMU Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes
November 13, 2023 3:00pm
Via Zoom
The full video recording of the meeting can be accessed on the Faculty Senate website:
https://facultysenate.tamu.edu/Faculty-Senate-Meeting-Recordings
CALL TO ORDER
Speaker Hammond called the fifth meeting of the 41st session to order at 3:00pm the meeting was conducted via Zoom.
Senator Andrew Klein monitored the raised hand function and will monitor the chat. Zoom’s registration function was being used to track attendance.
NEW BUSINESS
Installment of a new faculty senator:
Dr. Patricia Bartoskewitz, Mays Business School
SPEAKERS COMMENTS
Dear Faculty,
The last several months have been fraught with historical ups and downs across the world. On a lighter note, in July, Elton John ended his touring career with a final concert in Stockholm Sweden. Barbie and Oppenheimer opened in cinemas. On a darker note, in July, Niger President Mohamed Bazoum was removed from office by military coup and Sinead O’Connor died.
In August, the driverless taxi companies Cruise and Waymo were given full approval to operate 24/7 in San Francisco. And Russia’s Luna 25 lunar landed mission crash-landed on the moon a first attempt since the 70’s. Well India became the first country to successfully land on the moon. Followed by a former US President getting a mug shot for the first time in history.
In September, Kim Jong-Un met with Putin regarding military collaboration. Rolling Stone magazine founder, Jann Wenner was removed from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. And the Writer’s Guild of America strike ended.
In October, Hamas launches a major air and ground attack on Israel from Gaza and war is declared by Israel. 2400 people are killed by an earthquake in Afghanistan. Microsoft buys out Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard for $69 billion dollars. There was a mass shooting in Maine. And Biden signs the first executive order on US Federal agencies use of Artificial Intelligence.
In November, AI named the most notable word of the year by Chambers Dictionary. Homes burn across Australia. Palestinian and Israeli death toll is now over 12,000. The Beetles single Now and Then is No1 in the British singles chart, a record 54 years after their last number 1 single.
I give this to give reflection of our own Texas A&M microcosm, because we have had a huge number of this happen here over the last four months during those times. We have gone through trials and tribulations that have shaken us to the core. But from adversity can be born strength. And adversity can make us stronger than ever before.
We are not defined by those things that happen to us, but rather how we respond to adversity and change.
We persisted and excelled over several months of extreme change that would have shaken other universities to their core through the Path Forward. Then we lost our president, the interim dean of Arts & Sciences, and saw a strong department head of Communication rise from the ashes with strength and determination. We discovered that potential and current members of our faculty were treated in ways that have brought shame to our university as a whole. We read the report from the Office of General Counsel that made many of us question if decisions were being made with good intentions and caused us to rethink our relationship with members of the Board of Regents and many current and past members of the administration.
This has been a hurtful time for our faculty, but this has also been a time of growth and strength of our faculty. I have seen our faculty stand together and voice what we feel is right. Faculty have worked tirelessly together to improve the university and system policies on academic freedom. We have a new interim president that seems to be strongly and authentically interested in faculty voice.
As I stated earlier in my comments, we have gone through trials and tribulations that have shaken us to the core. But, from adversity can be born strength and adversity can make us stronger than ever before.
We are defined not by those things that happen to us, but rather how we respond to adversity and change.
We are in another moment where we can decide how we should go forward, and what is right for our faculty. We have the opportunity to both impact current outcomes and future processes to encourage faculty voice.
Thank you for those of you who participated in the informational sessions this week. We had a great turnout with almost 70 senators participating on Monday and almost 40 participating on Wednesday. I apologize to those who could not attend. I originally thought we might have an open meeting, but there were concerns that people might not feel comfortable speaking freely, and thus the Executive Committee voted to have it a private closed meeting.
The issues we are dealing with are large. The primary issue at hand is whether or not we would like to advocate for faculty participation in presidential searches, and what that would look like. I can provide some context on what searches looked like in the past.
The system policy for presidential searches has decayed over the past 20 or so. In 1999, the policy specified that four faculty should be a part of the search advisory committee. The current system policy states that the Board of Regents may include faculty at their discretion. The history of system policies is here: 31.02.01- Administration of Employee benefits Programs (tamus.edu)
I will also let you know that the Executive Committee met with the Chancellor and the Chair of the Board of Regents today. This is the first time that the chair has met with the Executive Committee or faculty senate in several years. The chairman of the Board of Regents has stated that he is interested in meeting with the full senate in a near future meeting. In general, the meeting went quite well. But one thing that did come up was a strong push for a permanent president to be named into the university, specifically to support the sustainability of the university at this crucial time. We still have a number of interim deans. Our national search for a permanent dean of Arts & Sciences brought zero outside candidates that were strong enough to be selected as finalists. We have other open positions for which we need strong external candidates. However, strong external candidates have voiced that they are not willing to come here without knowing whom their next boss would be.
There has been strong sentiment amongst the faculty, and this is my opinion as well that the process every time should be for a full national search with strong faculty involvement in the process.
However, it is my opinion that the university might not be in a stable place to get strong external candidates. Also, it is my opinion that the university does not have the time needed to do a full national search without negatively impacting upcoming dean selection processes across the university.
As such today, in the presence of the Chair of the board of Regents, the Chancellor informed the Executive Committee that he intended to put forth interim President Welsh as the sole final candidate for permanent president of the university. The Chancellor informed the Faculty Senate Executive Committee that he was doing this because of the extraordinary times and the need for stability in the university. If the board, in a special meeting later this week, accepts the chancellor’s recommendation, it will kick off a 21-day waiting period before the decision is finalized. During that time, the chair of the Board of Regents and the Chancellor are inviting feedback rom the faculty and other stakeholders. The Chancellor also committed to appointing a task force to investigate potential changes to the rules governing presidential searches.
If we do not do a full national search right now, does the faculty want the Faculty Senate to lead a process to ensure faculty input with a transparent provide faculty feedback be able to provide input as per their opinion on whether General Welsh should be appointed? What would this input consist of? What should the process be for gathering feedback?
Today, we have the ability to react to those potential decisions and decide how the Faculty Senate might like to provide feedback if at all. The Chancellor, the Chairman of the Board of Regents, and the Office of the President have said that they will facilitate and be supportive of anyway that the Faculty Senate decides that they would like to provide feedback.
The context of this is as follows:
The Chancellor is supportive of a Faculty Senate-led process for providing feedback regarding Interim President Welsh. This would mean that the Faculty Senate could define what the process would look like in gathering faculty feedback.
My opinion for what a Faculty Senate-led vetting process would look like includes the following: (Each of these items may constitute a separate vote and may require additional meetings and discussion).
An oversite committee that is co-chaired by the Speaker of the Faculty Senate and another person committed to Shared Governance that is not on the Faculty Senate (nor in Engineering since I am in Engineering). The oversight committee would consist of at least one person from each college/school and one person from each rank including Librarian (hopefully these two groups will largely overlap). It would be my preference that these people be elected. (An alternative might be that the Faculty Senate Executive Committee serves as the oversight committee. This is not my preference. The Office of Faculty Affairs or the President’s Office have agreed to facilitate this to ensure we move quickly while moving forward with other parts of the feedback process.
A listening tour or forum with appropriate constituent groups. The appropriate groups, number, and the process would be determined by the oversight committee and the Interim President. (Options might include) A. just one big forum B. three different forums for APT, Pre-tenured, and tenured, C. the groups from the quick look, or D. something else.
A visionary/strategic plan talk by the president. This could happen before or after the listening tour. My preference would be that this occurs on November 29th during the State of the University Address.
A survey where all faculty have the opportunity to provide feedback to General Welsh on A. his overall fitness as the next permanent president through a quantitative Likert scale, and B. one or more qualitative questions where faculty may provide feedback on his vision, what he might be missing, and what they valued in his strategic plan. The Oversight Committee might help design the questions and the survey. Note that the Board of Regents will have their own place to collect and solicit data, but this will be inaccessible and protected by FERPA because it is employment data, and they have historically only received 6-8 comments on any presidential candidate. In essence, crickets.
A summary of the faculty survey data. The purpose of this would be to ensure that the narrative effectively represents the voice of the faculty. Otherwise, it would be tempting for people and the media to select comments and create their own narrative not representative of the voice of the faculty. I believe the Oversight Committee would be particularly valuable in this instance.
The context behind this is that the Chancellor has already approved the Faculty Senate to lead a vetting process or any other process that involves accumulating faculty feedback. I will say that there are a lot of faculty that will think this is a rubber stamp on what is already a done deal, but it is important to go through this process.
General Welsh has also said that he is supportive of this process. He wants to talk with the faculty. He wants to make sure that he has the voice of the faculty to help him make and follow through with an effective strategic plan.
My personal preference, is that we still ask the President to meet with constituent groups, provide us a visionary or strategic plan talk on November 29th and that we provide a Qualtrics survey for faculty to provide anonymous feedback that is summarized and with the raw data released to the public so that we can have true transparency. It is also my preference that we have an Oversight Committee to help with this process.
I also want to emphasize something that the Chancellor said in our meeting today. He stated that it is his intention to get started immediately on the creating of a task force for improving our system policies on presidential searches going forward. In particular, making sure that our system policies reflect what is happening currently which is that at least half of the members of a presidential search committee be faculty members. I am thrilled by this outcome, and it will help ensure that no matter whom is positioned in the offices.
As mentioned above, the system policy for presidential searches has decayed over the past 20 or so years. I believe that the Faculty Senate should urge the Board of Regents and the Chancellor to create a task force consisting of at least half faculty (less than 50% administrative appointment) to examine and advise the Board of Regents on the system policies related to presidential searches to improve Shared Governance and collaboration between the Board of Regents, the Chancellor, University Administrators, and the Faculty.
The last presidential search had 7 faculty members on the search advisory committee which is great but doesn’t guarantee any faculty voice in the next presidential search. Especially if years down the road there is a change in the makeup of the Board of Regents or the System office. I believe that the Chancellor and the Board of Regents are open to such a task force; I think it will support further shared governance. There is already recent evidence of their working to support shared governance in the updating of system policies regarding academic freedom.
My personal overall visionary goal for my term as Speaker of the Faculty Senate is to improve shared governance. I believe we have made several positive strides in this direction. Nonetheless, I also believe there is further to go and that a process similar to that above would help us move further in that direction. Notice that the overall goal of the feedback process is to ensure that every single faculty member has the opportunity to have their voice heard. This hasn’t happened in over twenty years. I will say, the people that are usually the most vocal are the people who are the most angry or have the most to negative thing to say. They might not represent all faculty members opinions.
I don’t expect everything to be settled today, but I hope that tomorrow’s Texas Tribune headline does not read “The voice of the Faculty Senate has Spoken. Faculty Senate votes to not have a faculty voice in Presidential selections.”
Some people will say right now that is going to be not true but if we can provide a transparent process that is publicly accessible it will shine some sunshine on the process.
And one last thing, the Faculty Senate began in 1983 with Dr. John McDermott our first Speaker to the Faculty Senate. This year marks our 40th anniversary and the Office of the Faculty Affairs has stated that they will work with us to have a momentous event in the Spring to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Faculty Senate.
GUEST SPEAKER
None
ANNOUNCEMENTS
None
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The motion passed to approve the October 16, 2023 minutes as distributed. Attachment B – FS.41.110
CONSENT AGENDA
The motion passed to approve the November 13, 2023 Consent Agenda as presented with the following exceptions.
Change in courses: KINE 345 was requested to be pulled from the agenda.
Bulk Inactivation of Arts & Sciences: BIO 352 & 455 were pulled from the agenda should be kept and not removed.
Graduate Council
New Courses – Passed - FS.41.111
EDCI 708: Systematic Review Methods in Education
EDCI 730: Assessment of Young Children and their Environments in Teaching, Learning and Culture
EDCI 731: Prevention, Curricula, and Intervention Research in Early Childhood Education
MEEN 702: Adaptive Control of Mechanical Systems
MEEN 706: Agile Technology Leadership
MKTG 636: Strategic Sales Leadership
Change in Courses – Passed - FS.41.112
ATTR 670: General Medical Conditions and Therapeutic Medication
CPSY 631: Techniques of Counseling
EDCI 637: Urban Education-Policy and Analysis
EDCI 661: Mixed Methods Research in Curriculum and Instruction
MGMT 621: Research Methods for HR Professionals
MGMT 623: Compensation Management
MGMT 628: Contemporary Human Resource Management Issues
MGMT 630: Behavior in Organizations
MGMT 632: Technology Commercialization
MGMT 633: Organizational Change and Development
MGMT 635: Employment Regulation
MGMT 637: Foundations of Entrepreneurship
MGMT 638: Strategic Entrepreneurship
MGMT 639: Negotiations in Competitive Environments
MGMT 640: Managing for Creativity and Innovation
MGMT 650: Human Relations and Collective Bargaining in Industry
MGMT 655: Survey of Management
MGMT 660: Global Human Resource Management
MGMT 679: International Business Policy
MGMT 680: Business and Corporate Strategy
MKTG 625: Marketing Analytics I
MKTG 638: Strategic Foundations of E-Commerce
MKTG 650: Analyzing Consumer Behavior
MKTG 656: Branding and Marketing Communication
PHEO 630: Environmental/Occupational Diseases
Change in Programs – Passed - FS.41.113
Mays Business School
Department of Marketing
MS-MKTG: Master of Science in Marketing
Special Consideration – New Program Proposal – Passed - FS.41.114
College of Engineering
Department of Aerospace Engineering
CERT-HSIB: Human Systems Integration-Bioastronautics - Certificate
Miscellaneous Bulk Inactivation Request – Passed - FS.41.115
Public Health - GR Courses Not Taught - Bulk Inactivation
Undergraduate Curriculum Committee
New Courses – Passed - FS.41.116
ECDE 473: Administration and Supervision in Early Childhood Settings
ECFB 421: Curriculum Design for Early Childhood Programs II
FSTC 281: Introduction to Fermentation and Brewing Sciences
FSTC 316: Fermentation Technology for Alternative Protein Production
FSTC 430: Harnessing the Power of Healthy Functional Food Ingredients
HIST 201: Introduction to Public History
HIST 380: The Mongols in World History
ISEN 441: System Reliability Engineering
PBSI 375: Qualitative Methods in the Psychological Sciences
PHYS 419: Physics of Optoelectronic Devices
RWFM 402: Wildlife Tracks and Signs
The following course was pulled from the consent agenda pending name change.
KINE 345: Coaching of Weightlifting
New Courses – Galveston – Passed - FS.41.117
MARS 358: Coastal Disasters
Change in Courses – Passed - FS.41.118
BMEN 254: Biomedical Engineering Design I
CARC 411: Interdisciplinary Methods on Smart and Connected Communities
CHEM 107: General Chemistry for Engineering Students
CHEM 119: Fundamentals of Chemistry I
EDCI 364: Interaction Processes with Children in Groups
IDIS 364: Distributor Financial Management
ISTM 210: Fundamentals of Information Systems
KINE 325: Administrative and Athletic Operations for Coaches
OCNG 310: Physical Oceanography
OCNG 461: Advanced Oceanographic Data Analysis and Communication
PBSI 306: Psychological Disorders
PSAA 340: Public Administration
RWFM 409: NATURE in the Classroom
STAT 312: Statistics for Biology
Change in Courses – Inactivation Proposal – Galveston – Passed -FS.41.119
MARR 451: Senior Capstone Project I
MARR 452: Senior Capstone Project II
Change in Programs – Passed - FS.41.120
School of Education & Human Development
Department of Kinesiology & Sport Management
Change in Programs -Passed - FS.41.121
College of Arts & Sciences
Department of English
MINOR-HHUM: Health Humanities - Minor
Change in Programs – Passed - FS.41.122
Associate Provost for Undergraduate Studies
MINOR-LEAD: Leadership - Minor
Change in Programs – Passed - FS.41.123
College of Arts & Sciences
Department of English
MINOR-PWRT: Professional Writing - Minor
Change in Programs – Passed - FS.41.124
College of Arts & Sciences
Department of English
MINOR-SFFS: Science Fiction & Fantasy Studies - Minor
Change in Programs – Passed - FS.41.125
School of Education & Human Development
Department of Kinesiology & Sport Management
MINOR-SPMT: Sport Management - Minor
Change in Programs – Program Inactivation Proposal -Passed -FS.41.126
College of Arts & Sciences
Department of University Studies
BS-USEH-DAN*: University Studies - BS, Dance Concentration
Special Consideration – New Program Proposal – Passed - FS.41.127
College of Agriculture & Life Sciences
Department of Food Science & Technology
CERT-COPQ: Coffee Processing and Quality - Certificate
Miscellaneous Bulk Inactivation Request – Passed -FS.41.128
Arts & Sciences - UG Courses Not Taught - Bulk Inactivation
Business - UG Courses Not Taught - Bulk Inactivation
Public Health - UG Courses Not Taught - Bulk Inactivation
The following courses which were scheduled for inactivation as part of Arts & Sciences were pulled from the consent agenda and will be kept.
BIO 352
BIO 455
Miscellaneous Bulk Inactivation Request – Galveston- Passed -FS.41.129
Galveston - UG Courses Not Taught - Bulk Inactivation
W & C Courses
Courses with W – Certification – Passed - FS.41.130
INTS 406-W: Technology and Global Change
POLS 350-W: Modern Political Thought
Courses with W – Recertification – Passed -FS.41.131
COMM 434-W: Topics in Rhetorical Theory
End of Consent Agenda_____________________________
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A motion was made by Senator John Campbell to change the name of the course from Coaching of Weightlifting to Coaching of Weight Training. Passed
A motion was made by Senator Asha Rao to pull two courses, BIO 352 & BIO 455 from being bulk deactivated. Passed
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Core Curriculum Council Report – Attachment C - Passed -FS.41.132
Certification of Core Component – Cultural Discourse
EPFB 210-CD: Family Engagement and Empowerment
SCSC 315-CD: Hemp Production and Utilization
SCSC 330-CD: Social and Ethical Aspects of International Cropping Systems
Certification – Foundational Component Area:
Language, Philosophy, and Culture
GLST 201-GE: Introduction to Global Studies
Recertification Foundational Component Area:
Social & Behavioral Science
AGLS 235-GE: Foundations of Money Education
ANTH 201-GE: Introduction to Anthropology
Recertification Foundational Component Area:
Life and Physical Science
GEOG 205-GE: Environmental Change
Recertification Foundational Component Area:
American History
HIST 226-GE: History of Texas
Recertification Foundational Component Area:
Creative Arts
PERF 223-GE: Aesthetics of Activism
NEW BUSINESS
Student Rule 1.15 - Student Registration – Attachment D1- Passed - FS.41.133
Student Rule 8.3 - Examinations – Attachment D2 – Passed - FS.41.134
Comments were made by: Senator Robert Korty – College of Arts & Sciences, Speaker-Elect Price – College of Engineering.
Student Rule 32 - University Housing – Attachment D3- Passed - FS.41.135
Comments were made by: Senator John Hubbard – School of Medicine, Senator Irene Moyna – College of Arts & Sciences, Dr. Kristen Harrell, Speaker-Elect Price – College of Engineering, Senator Andrew Tag – College of Arts & Sciences, Senator Grace Townsend - TAMUG, Senator Adam Kolasinski – Mays Business School, Senator Terri Pantuso – College of Arts & Sciences, Senator Catharina Laporte – College of Arts & Sciences, Senator Daniel Jimenez – College of Engineering, Senator Tammie Preston – College of Agriculture, Senator Katherine Falvo - TAMUG.
Student Rule 35.2 - Bicycles – Attachment D4 – Passed -FS.41.136
Comments were made by: Senator Adam Pickens -School of Public Health, Speaker-Elect Price – College of Engineering, Senator Catharina Laporte – College of Arts & Sciences, Senator Andrew Tag – College of Arts & Sciences, Senator Daniel Pugh -School of Education, Secretary Klein – College of Arts & Sciences, Senator Jessica Simpson – University Libraries.
Student Rule 36 - Pet Animals – Attachment D5- Passed -FS.41.137
Comments were made by: Senator John Hubbard – School of Medicine, Speaker-Elect Price – College of Engineering, Senator Tammie Preston – College of Agriculture, Senator Daniel Jimenez – College of Engineering, Dr. Kristen Harrell, Senator Amarnath Banerjee – College of Engineering.
Approval of 2023 Fall Graduates – Attachment D6- Passed -FS.41.138
Discussion of Presidential Selection – FS.41.139
Comments by Speaker Hammond
Senators, you should have all received the letter that I sent out of Thursday, November 9, 2023. Nothing has happened regarding Interim President Welsh being appointed to the next process. The only thing that has happened is that the Chancellor intends to suggest to the Board of Regents to hold a vote that Interim President Welsh is the sole final candidate for the permanent position of the President of Texas A&M University.
This request may not happen, the Board of Regents may vote no to this request. In the event that the Board of Regents agrees with this, this would not appoint a president but rather kick start a 21-day feedback period after which then the Board of Regents can decide to appoint Interim President Welsh as the permanent president.
I want to acknowledge that there are many faculty which may see this as a done deal, but there are many choices that we can make today or at a future meeting.
- First as it is not my preference, we still have faculty who insist on a statement to the Board of Regents that we insist on holding a national search even with the unique circumstances we find ourselves in today.
- Second, if the national search doesn’t happen, what kind of voice do we want to have in the process? Do we want to encourage the Interim President to give a Strategic Plan or Visionary talk? Should this be during the State of the University Address on November 29th? Do we want General Welsh to talk with any particular groups? Note that General Welsh is meeting with the Executive Committee on Monday, November 20th. This could be seen potentially as one of the listening meetings as I mentioned before. Do we want to have a way to collect anonymous opinions from faculty and post this publicly to promote transparency.
- Third which is the most unpopular, do we want to have a small group to oversee the process?
- And finally, the Chancellor stated that he is in favor of creating a task force to update system policies on future presidential searches. Do we want to protect our interests in making sure that this task force occurs? However, in my opinion, I suggest this be last since others have a strict timeline as in our colleagues in Qatar.
Comments and Questions raised by: Speaker-Elect Price, Senator John Hubbard – School of Medicine, Senator Jorge Alvarado – College of Engineering, Senator Daniel Debree – Bush School, Senator Adam Kolasinski – Mays Business School, Senator Catharina Laporte – College of Arts & Sciences, Senator Mark Sicilio – School of Medicine, Senator Daniel Jimenez – College of Engineering, Dr. Irene Moyna – College of Arts & Sciences, Secretary Klein – College of Arts & Sciences, Senator Karen Wooley – College of Arts & Sciences, Senator Frank Sottile – College of Arts & Sciences. Senator Katherine Falvo - TAMUG, Senator Asha Rao – College of Arts & Sciences, Senator Larry Fickel – School of Architecture.
A Resolution was proposed by Senator Adam Kolasinski that stated: “The Faculty Senate hereby resolves that the Board of Regents begins a national search for President immediately.” The Resolution Failed
A revised resolution was proposed by Senator Adam Kolasinski: “The Faculty Senate resolves that all future presidential vacancies be followed by an immediate broad that includes external candidate with half the search committee being composed of faculty.” The Resolution Passed
In accordance with its Bylaws, The Faculty Senate voted to extend its meeting past 6:00pm.
Further discussion & comments on topic of providing feedback on the nomination of Interim President Welsh as sole finalist for President of Texas A&M University: Senator Adam Kolasinski – Mays Business School, Senator Katherine Falvo – TAMUG, Senator Karen Wooley, College of Arts & Sciences, Senator Frank Sottile – College of Arts & Sciences, Speak-Elect Price – College of Engineering, Senator Daniel Jimenez – College of Engineering, Senator Jorge Alvarado – College of Engineering.
A resolution was proposed by Senator Adam Kolasinski: “Be it resolved that the Faculty Senate will design and run a process by which the faculty with vet and provide feedback on President Welsh’s candidacy in the event that the Board of Regents chooses to nominate him as the sole candidate.” The Resolution Failed
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
Senator Jorge Alvarado – College of Engineering mentioned that the football coach was terminated. Senator Matthew Sachs – College of Arts & Sciences – stated that if the boosters did not want to retain the coach, it could cost more in the long run.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was returned to Speaker Hammond and was adjourned at 6:20pm.