Minutes for April 14, 2025

UC members present: Bernard-Donals, Jones, Kendall, Li, Zweibel

Others present: Greg Bump, Michelle Felber, Lesley Fisher, Becky Jacobs, Julie Scharm, Jenny Skibba

Chair Li called the meeting to order at 1:01 pm.

The minutes from the April 7, 2025, meeting were approved with one correction by automatic consent.

A survey of faculty and instructional academic staff by UW System regarding freedom of expression, academic freedom, viewpoint diversity, and civil discourse is scheduled to take place in this fall. They are holding information sessions.

There are enough RSVPs to move forward with the University Committee town hall on April 23.

Lori Reesor, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, indicated that the Office of Student Assistance and Support is available to help students who have had their visas revoked. They do have some limited grant funds that are available in the case of emergencies.

She explained the changes that were made to several ASM staff positions in the last year. There had already been a dotted reporting line to student affairs. These staff now have a dotted reporting line to ASM and a solid line to student affairs. A student bus pass position was created in transportation services for work that was once done in ASM, but the position remained with ASM and can be repurposed.

Bernard-Donals motioned, and it was seconded and approved, to convene in closed session pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(c) and (f) to discuss waivers at 1:37 pm. One dual role waiver was approved.

Jones motioned, and it was seconded and approved, to reconvene in open session at 2:01 pm.

Provost Charles Isbell indicated the Chief Information Officer and Director of the Office of Strategic Consulting searches were coming to a close. All finalists have visited campus. The Vice Provost for Enrollment Management is leaving, and they would naming an interim soon and launching a search.

In regards to the UW System copyright policy, a second meeting of the group working on policy revisions was held. They are working on clarity.

The Strategic Visioning Committee has held 6 community sessions so far and are passing along feedback to the committee. Feedback has been pretty consistent so far.

A town hall is being held for all visa holders. Attendees were able to submit questions in advance. Students are being notified by International Student Services (ISS) when they see a cancellation in SEVIS. They have seen an increase in requests for appointments with ISS, and with current numbers are able to handle issues on a case by case basis.

The Department of Energy issued a notice that they were reducing indirect costs to 15%. A lawsuit has already been filed.

Bernard-Donals motioned, and it was seconded and approved, to convene in closed session pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(g) to confer with legal counsel at 2:31 pm.

Kendall motioned, and it was seconded and approved, to reconvene in open session at 3:03 pm.

John Zumbrunnen, Senior Associate Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, and Francis Vavrus, Dean of the International Division, provided an update on visa terminations. So far there have been 27 SEVIS records terminated. 15 of these are for current students and 12 are on OPT. In addition to the town hall, they are working on a resource list that combines resources available from all offices.

Whenever a visa revocation happens, institutions are not informed. It seems like an encounter with law enforcement may be a cause for the change in status. They are letting students take the lead on notifying instructors and others of any change in their visa status.

The University Committee reviewed the agenda for the special senate meeting. They asked Secretary Daniels to ask April to remove the agenda item on faculty legislation II-303 so that an ad hoc committee can review the entire policy during the summer. It was written in the 1980s, and there may be some legal issues with the policy. The committee would bring changes to the Senate for a vote in the fall.

The University Committee further discussed the values statement that a couple members had written prior to the statement written by Big Ten colleagues. They asked Chiao-Ping to share the statement with the chancellor and provost and report back on any thoughts they had.

Li adjourned the meeting at 4:13 pm.

Minutes submitted by Heather Daniels, secretary of the faculty.