UC members present: Bernard-Donals, Li, Papp (chair), Tejedo-Herrero, Thibeault

Others: Greg Bump, Michelle Felber, Jennifer Noyes, Jack O’Meara, Julie Scharm, Jake Smith

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

Papp motioned, and it was seconded, to convene in closed session pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(c) and (f) to discuss waivers and committee appointments at 1:00. One tenure clock extension and two dual-role waivers were approved.

Papp motioned to reconvene in open session at 1:20. It was seconded and approved.

The minutes for the meetings of December 12, 2022 and January 30, 2023, were approved with one correction.

Secretary Daniels reported that the results from the UW System freedom of speech survey have been released and are available.

Chris Walker, Director, provided an update on the Division of the Arts. They are looking to build bridges between students majoring in the arts and also bridges between student organizations that involve the arts. They are also looking at how to inform incoming students about available opportunities in the arts.

Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education Steve Ackerman reported that things are getting better at RSP. They currently have 106 awards to set up and the oldest is 1 week old. They have 5 FTEs working on award set up. Subaward invoicing is also better. These are taking 16 days to process. In the area of contract negotiations, they are hiring another person to make for a third FTE. All together, they are hiring several open positions in RSP. They are also retaining a consultant to review RSP processes for streamlining and improvement.

The NSF HERD rankings are out. We increased our expenditures again last year with all agencies having double digit percent increases except DOE.

He is working with Lisa Carter on public access to research as federal agencies are requiring access to research data.

Provost Karl Scholz met briefly with the University Committee to discuss the increase in promotional amounts for 2023. There is a policy from 2015 tying these increases to cost of living. His proposal is to give 2% this year, which is the same as the state pay plan. The University Committee agreed to the 2% and requests that future increases be tied to the pay plan rather than cost of living. The University Committee also asks that the policy be revisited in the event that UW-Madison faculty salaries fall substantial in the ranking with our peers.

Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin urged members of the University Committee to visit the re:mancipation exhibit at the Chazen. UW System has asked all chancellors to remove Tik Toc from UW System owned devices by February 17. It is not yet clear if there will be exceptions to this policy, but the Chancellor believes faculty research would be a good reason for an exception.

The results of the free speech survey from UW System have been released. The vast majority of students surveyed feel that instructors encourage a variety of viewpoints in their classroom. The survey does suggest that students may not feel comfortable sharing their viewpoints on controversial topics. The sample was tilted towards women and other groups which lean more politically left and isn’t representative of UW-Madison’s campus.

Papp adjourned the meeting at 3:09.