University Committee Meeting Minutes 2026-02-09

Minutes for February 9, 2026

UC members present: Bernard-Donals, Chui, de Leon, Jones, Kendall, Mathieu

Others present: Tim Dalby, Gillian Drummond, Michelle Felber, Genevieve Lambert

Chair Jones called the meeting to order at 1:00 pm.

Bernie Lesieutre, chair of the Campus Transportation Committee, and Patrick Kass, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Transportation Services, shared highlights from the annual report. There were no parking rate increases, and reduced cost permits continued this year with support from Transportation Services. A survey found satisfaction with all areas of Transportation Services except for the value and availability of parking.

The minutes from February 2, 2026, meeting were approved.

John Hall, Director of the Officer Education Program, introduced Colleen McDowell as the new chair of the committee. Office education or the ROTC program continues to struggle with facilities and a lack of local scholarship support.

The University Committee will review the revised draft of the copyright policy from UW System and determine whether comments should be submitted. These are revisions to the policy draft from last fall. Many of the issues brought forward by UW-Madison have been addressed. The UC asked that the policy be shared with campus faculty.

The University Committee reviewed a resolution submitted for Senate regarding federal immigration agents on campus. They have asked for a legal review. They will revisit how to proceed at next week’s meeting.

The University Committee heard that there are some students interested in pursuing amendments to the election day policy allowing students to be excused from class if they are standing in line for early voting opportunities.

Interim Provost, John Zumbrunnen said they have a draft campus policy on instructional workload. They are stress testing the policy and looking at what data they already have that could be used in reporting.

They are working on how to distribute merit and market funds provided by Act 15. They can be used to attract and retain faculty, but not for across-the-board increases.

In regard to immigration enforcement, UW-Madison is closely following what’s happening in Minnesota. As a public institution, UW-Madison is unable to restrict access to campus in the way a private institution can. There is work being done regarding the distinction between private and public spaces. The UC indicated that faculty, staff and students would like to have a better understanding of what constitutes private vs public spaces.

The person who had measles moved out of the infectious period. There are no active cases on campus, but campus is still in the 21-day exposure period. University Health Services will be offering MMR vaccinations and serology testing.

Jon Eckhardt, Special Advisor to the Chancellor for Entrepreneurship, introduced Lewis Sheats, the new Executive Director of the Wisconsin Entrepreneurship Hub. He is originally from North Carolina and was at North Carolina State for about 25 years. He has started several companies and was invited to co-teach a course with a faculty member he knew as an undergraduate. Most recently, he was at St. Louis University. He has only been on campus for a week and intends to create a board that will include representatives from schools and colleges.

Kent Weigel, Vice Provost for Faculty and Staff Affairs, discussed support for assistant professors. The UC expressed concern about the university not valuing research that was not currently valued by the federal government. There was discussion regarding mentoring and how to hold people accountable for providing solid mentoring. The UC also looked at a flow chart for how to determine how faculty and instructional academic staff meet the instructional workload requirement.

Mathieu 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 and committee appointments at 3:55 pm.

Mathieu motioned, and it was seconded and approved, to reconvene in open session at 4:06 pm.

Jones adjourned the meeting at 4:55 pm.

Minutes submitted by Heather Daniels, secretary of the faculty.