The Senate Executive Committee got right to work in its first meeting of the semester Aug. 24, tackling a hefty agenda that portends the busy year ahead.
The most pressing topic is the search for a new chancellor, a process that is started by the president and led by campus faculty. The president recently officially called for the formation the committee.
“There are some very clear rules that we’re supposed to follow in relation to how the (search) committee is established,” said SEC chair Kim Graber, a professor of kinesiology and community health.
Graber said a review of the last chancellor’s search found there also are guidelines for selecting a diverse committee to conduct the search.
To expedite the process, members generally agreed to consider the options of holding a special senate meeting to pass the process rules or using electronic voting for committee selection. Doing so would allow senators to jump-start the process at its Sept. 21 meeting instead of its October meeting.
“We don’t need to wait until the middle of October. That’s too late,” said Nick Burbules, a professor of education policy, organization and leadership.
Members also agreed to funnel committee membership nominations to the senate’s Committee on Committees. The COC will review the process rules document and present it to the senate for a vote. (See related story.)
Conduct code
SEC member Abbas Aminmansour, a professor of architecture, elicited much discussion by proposing a code of conduct for SEC members.
He said the code was necessary after it was recently revealed that some members last academic year had been privately offering advice to administrators on sensitive university issues both in emails and at exclusive meetings.
“We need to do something so we don’t run into problems (like this) in the future,” he said. “I’m very concerned that we cannot have what has happened, happen again. You should share your conversations – and if you are not willing to do that, you should not be an SEC member.”
He said the arrangement last year had produced a “two-tiered information system” that hampered campus discourse and created distrust, and that a conduct code, a draft of which he supplied to SEC members, could prevent that from happening in the future.
Graber said she understood the code’s intentions but worried it was too restrictive of free speech and general consultation.
“I feel like anybody should feel they can contact anyone else,” she said. “I don’t think we should put restrictions on who talks to whom.”
“I can see lots of issues,” said SEC member Matt Wheeler, a professor of animal science, who, along with other members, expressed the same concerns as Graber.
David O’Brien, an SEC member and a professor of art history, said private conversations can’t be regulated and that trying to would violate freedom of speech protections.
“Some behavior, you can’t rule it out with any code of conduct,” he said. “If a leader listens to people who give bad advice, that’s on the leader.”
Bill Maher, an SEC member and the university archivist, said SEC member consultation with administrators would be more palatable if participants would publicly reveal the meeting and the topics discussed.
“You need to let the rest of the SEC know what you talked about,” he said. “At least let people know.”
Acting Chancellor Barbara Wilson said she welcomed the “frank discussion,” but was concerned over how a conduct code might restrict speech and the necessary consultation of campus leaders.
She said a code that was too restrictive also could have a chilling effect on faculty recruiting.
“It’s very hard to restrict people’s communications behavior,” she said.
She suggested members review Provost’s Communication No. 27, “Shared Governance for Academic Units,” and consider its application to the issue being faced by the SEC.
The document is a codification of the campus’s inclusive decision-making process.
“In general,” the communication reads, “decision-making processes that include constructive, open, and honest input from all involved will yield wiser decisions and, in turn, help build stronger academic units.”
Wilson helped write the communication when she served in the Office of the Provost.
“That might be a good place to start,” she said.
SEC members also discussed whether to form an ad hoc committee “On Conduct by Senators in Off-the-Record Advice to Campus Administrators.”
Burbules spoke against the part of the resolution that calls for an ethics review of some senators who were identified as those giving advice to administrators.
He said conducting such an investigation was out of the senate’s jurisdiction and that the university ethics office was in charge of such matters. He said any resolution should remain “senate specific.”
Background checks
It was reported that background checks would be extended to newly hired university employees, including faculty members, starting Oct. 5.
The checks, which already are conducted for other sensitive campus positions such as those involved in child care, are expected to be approved at the Sept. 10 U. of I. Board of Trustees meeting.
Costing about $50 each, the checks involve scanning local and national databases, a criminal background check and a review of the National Sex Offender Registry. Other personal data also is verified.
Deb Stone, the director of Academic Human Resources, said her office was finalizing details in the policy that better define the process and strengthen privacy protections.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work getting ready for (implementation of) it,” she said. “We are refining our processes for how the background checks will be requested.”
Burbules said the General University Policy Committee, of which he is chair, had reviewed the policy documents and had submitted suggested changes. The policy also was reviewed by a board of trustees committee.
O’Brien suggested officials compare the university’s procedures to guidelines of the American Association of University Professors to ensure best practices are being implemented.
Mumps report
Dr. Robert D. Palinkas, the director of McKinley Health Center, told SEC members that the center continues to encourage students and employees to get vaccination protection against the recent outbreak of mumps.
Palinkas said of the 100 cases reported in Illinois, 90 could be linked to the Urbana-Champaign campus.
“We’re at the epicenter,” he said. “It’s quite unusual to have cases like this in the summer.”
The incubation period for mumps is 14 to 25 days from exposure to the actual onset of symptoms, and people are considered contagious from approximately three days before through five days after their symptoms begin.
Palinkas said the best way to reduce risk is to avoid social settings – a very tall order when so many students are returning to classes and other activities.
He said the health center is recommending that anyone born after 1956 receive a third MMR vaccine, even if they have received as many as two previous MMR vaccinations. State law requires students be vaccinated and many show proof of two vaccinations.
But, Palinkas said, two vaccinations still only protects just under 90 percent of those receiving it – meaning that without a third vaccination, around 5,000 students could contract mumps.
“We don’t have a lot of other options,” he said.
Faculty and staff will be able to acquire an MMR vaccination as a walk-in service at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District, from 9 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m. Monday-Friday until Sept. 4. The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District is located at 201 West Kenyon Road, Champaign.The SEC will set the agenda for the first senate meeting of the semester, Sept. 21, at its Sept. 14 meeting.