University Committee

Minutes for November 16, 2020

Approved November 23, 2020

UC members present: Halverson, Masters, Papp, Sandgren, Tracy, Wolf (chair)

Also present, besides those mentioned below: Michael Bernard-Donals, Greg Bump, Michelle Felber, Lesley Fisher, Kevin Jacobson, Yvonne Kim, Matt Mayrl, Kelly Meyerhofer, Jack O’Meara, Jane Richard, Jake Smith, Bill Tishler

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

Minutes of November 9, 2020 were approved by unanimous consent.

Chancellor Rebecca Blank reported that COVID-19 infections are rapidly increasing in the state, county, and campus, with much of the increase attributed to students living off-campus. A second antigen test center will be opening at the Kohl Center for students, staff, and faculty. The Nielsen Center is open to community members. After Thanksgiving, 1200-1500 students are expected to remain in the dorms. Students still on campus will be asked to quarantine and to be tested a few times. The same advice being given to employees who might travel. The UW System Board of Regents approved a new testing program which can triple capacity for spring. 

There will be a lapse to this year’s budgets and a 4-8% cut for the next fiscal year. The hiring and travel freezes will continue.

Lori Reesor, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, shared that a new COVID-19 Student Advisory Committee formalizes student involvement in campus planning and providing feedback. The committee has 12 student leaders representing key constituents heavily impacted by COVID-19. The ASM vice chair serves as chair.

She welcomes support from faculty and staff to remind everyone to follow the public health measures on campus. For instance, there are reports of unmasked students studying in academic buildings. The Campus Planning Committee approved the removal of Chamberlin Rock, and are consulting with the Wisconsin Historical Society and the Geosciences faculty on next steps. Lastly, she is working on a medical withdrawal policy/process, something that varies across campus units.

Laurent Heller, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration, reported that the single payroll transition date has been delayed until July. Much needs to be done on campus to make this transition successful. The website for revenue innovation has been launched https://www.vc.wisc.edu/initiatives/revenue-innovations/. He welcomes feedback.

Lois Brooks, Chief Information Officer, and Tamara Walker, Director of Information Technology User Services, provided updates on Box, Zoom, and Qualtrics. Zoom usage has skyrocketed, so to speak, since implementation this fall. They are working on consumer migration, HIPPA compliance, and Canvas integration for the spring.

Box will be continuing. In July, the company decided to change their fee structure allowing more storage space than first announced. When UW-Madison was looking at scaling back Box storage, they have found that about 130 users have about 50% of the storage space. IT is working with these users to make sure that Box makes the most sense for their storage needs.

The Qualtrics contract is up for renewal and UW System has launched a survey tool selection project. UW-Madison hopes to continue with Qualtrics even if it is not selected by UW System.

Sandgren moved to convene in closed session pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(c) and (f) to discuss grievances. Seconded. Passed at 2:31 pm.

Tracy moved to convene in open session which was seconded and passed at 3:10 pm.

The University Committee discussed the Promotion from Associate Professor to Professor policy addition to Faculty Policies and Procedures. In particular, whether or not to require letters. The general consensus is to make them optional and allow associate professors to request them. They would also like to see a mechanism requiring departments to consider faculty for promotion at some point. In some departments, promotion only happens when a faculty member asks and this tends to disadvantage women and BIPOC. The UC will take a look at the document in its revised form and provide edits by early December.

Adjourned at 3:30 pm.

Submitted by Heather Daniels, Secretary of the Faculty