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November 10, 2017

Friday, November 10, 2017, from 3:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
Kerr Hall, 1001 (Eshelman School of Pharmacy)

Agenda

3:00 p.m. Chair of the Faculty remarks

  • Professor Leslie Parise

3:10 p.m. Chancellor’s remarks

  • Chancellor Carol Folt

3:30 p.m. Provost’s remarks

  • Provost Bob Blouin

3:40 p.m. Faculty Assembly update on Board of Governor’s Freedom of Speech and Expression Draft Policy (PDF)

4:00 p.m. General Education Curriculum Update

4:30 p.m. Office of Ethics Education and Policy Management update: Policy edition

4:40 p.m. Faculty Hearings Committee Annual Report (PDF) (By Title)

  • Professor James Rives, chair of the Faculty Hearings Committee

4:45 p.m. Resolution 2017-13. In Appreciation for Professor Dan Reichart’s Service (PDF)

  • Professor Chris Clemens, distinguished professor of physics and astronomy

4:50 p.m. Closed session: Special report of the Honorary Degrees and Special Awards Committee

5:00 p.m. Adjournment

INFORMATIONAL ITEMS

Video of Proceedings

Watch the Full Video [Streaming]

Journal of Proceedings of the Faculty Council

The Faculty Council of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill convened on November 10, 2017, at 3:00 p.m. in Kerr Hall, room 1001 at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy.

The following 56 members attended: Ammerman, Arnold, Austin, Babb, Bloom, Brewster, Calikoglu, Chambers, Chapman, Clement, Cox, Cuddeback, Duqum, Estigarribia, Estrada, Ferrell, Fisher, Folt (Chancellor), Fry, Furry, Graham, Hannig, Hastings, Hessick, Hill, Hobbs, Ives, Joyner, Kang, Khan, Kireev, Larson, Levine, Levine, Lithgow, Mayer, Mayer-Davis, McBride, Melehy, Moore, Muller, Nelson, Parise (Chair of the Faculty), Pukkila, Rashid, Renner, Savasta-Kennedy, Sawyer, Scarlett, Song, Tuggle, Upshaw, Wallace, Walter, Yaqub and Zvara.

The following 24 members received excused absences: Aikat, Anksorus, Ansong, Baumgartner, Berman, Boettiger Cooney, Coble, Dobelstein, Edwards, Elsherif, Felix, Kris, Malloy, Mizzy, Neta, Perelmuter, Platts-Mills, Ramaswamy, Stearns, Steponaitis (Secretary of the Faculty), Tepper, Thorp, Thorpe and Willet.

The following 15 members were absent without excuse: Beltran, Berkowitz, Burch, Coyne-Beasley, Daughters, Gilchrist, Gilland, Giovanello, Koonce, Lee, Lundberg, Mauro, Osterweil, Williams and Zamboni.

Others in attendance: Blouin (Provost), Andringa (Undergraduate Representative), Filene (Undergraduate Representative) and Stember (Graduate Representative).

Call to order

The Chair of the Faculty called the meeting to order at 3:01 p.m.

Chair of the Faculty’s remarks

Chair of the Faculty Leslie Parise welcomed the Faculty Council members to the meeting. She gave an overview of the agenda and noted that Professor Dan Reichart could not attend this Council meeting because he is still recovering from his injuries. Professor Reichart was burned when he attempted to put out a fire at the Davie Poplar, and he stepped on a small explosive device. He is using all the attention from the accident and good wishes to raise money for cancer research during No-Shave November.

Chancellor’s remarks

Chancellor Carol Folt gave updates on recent events. Her team recently sent out messages about an upcoming Board of Trustees listening session about the Silent Sam monument and about the use of campus police officers in undercover operations. She said Derek Kemp, vice chancellor for safety and risk management, and Chief Jeff McCracken would take questions about the latter after her regular update.

The chancellor recognized International Education Week, and reminded the faculty that there is an effort underway to get students to apply for passports. She praised the Galapagos Science Partnership, which allows UNC to maintain a lab in Ecuador. The chancellor recognized the 165 Phi Beta Kappa inductees.

Chancellor Folt recognized the 50th anniversary of the Black Student Movement (BSM) on campus. She attended the Black Alumni Reunion and met many of the founders of BSM. The Black Alumni Reunion began in 1980 and is the largest alumni affinity group. The General Alumni Association (GAA) recently launched a LGBTQ Alumni Network. They would like to get 1,000 people to sign up within the first six months.

The chancellor reported that she presented to the Board of Governors recently on the topic of financial aid. She said that the presentation was well received, and it underscored the importance of the link between financial aid and graduation rates. Carolina is the only university with an 82% graduation rate and meets full need while being need-blind in admissions.

At a recent meeting of the Association of Public Land-Grant Universities (APLU), Chancellor Folt presented information on financial aid and the management of Facilities and Administration funds. She will meet with Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, who is a graduate from UNC law school.

The chancellor introduced Mr. Kemp and Chief McCracken and invited them to speak about the use of officers in undercover operations.

Chief McCracken explained that Silent Sam has been a lightning rod for controversy and potential violence. In the aftermath of Charlottesville, the Department of Public Safety has assigned officers near the statue to monitor safety. They have stationed by uniformed and plainclothes officers at various times near the statue. One officer who was working in plainclothes was asked to sit down at the statue to give information in real time when their office received information that there could be potential violence. Chief McCracken made the decision to let him stay for a number of days and then pulled him out when it became clear there wasn’t a threat to public safety. He reiterated that no files were created or information collected on student leaders.

Mr. Peter Andriga (Undergraduate Observer) asked how having an undercover officer alleviates the risk of violence.

Chief McCracken replied that the protestors were not all students. They were concerned about outside groups coming to campus and that the students might get caught in the middle of a conflict between those groups.

A reporter from Carolina Connection asked how the university defines spying and said that the undercover officer had personal conversations with students.

Chief McCracken said that it is common knowledge that members of the public are drawn to this statue. They received information that some people from the public who have been involved in other conflicts might have had plans to incite violence at the statue. The allegations in the media that the officers were collecting information about students are not true.

Professor Beth Mayer-Davis (Public Health) asked what kind of latitude officers have to slip into undercover situation.

Chief McCracken said he went undercover to monitor public safety. He sat down at the statue to hear what was going on in case it reached a boiling point. They didn’t want to flood the area with uniformed officers because he said that might have a chilling effect.

Mr. Kemp said that Chief McCracken gave approval to the officer to go undercover on August 26, 2017.

Chief McCracken added that the officer was pulled out on September 7.  He was undercover intermittently during that time frame.

Professor Stephen Leonard (Political Science) asked why the officer did not inform the students he was undercover.

Chief McCracken said that students would be less forthcoming with information if the officer was not undercover.

Provost’s remarks and questions

Provost Bob Blouin said that it is important to remember the events that led up to the undercover operation. After the violence in Charlottesville, the University of Virginia was criticized for not being prepared for the events that led up to the death of a counter-protester.

Provost Blouin said he is excited about implementing the Blueprint for Next. He wants the plan to help incubate innovation and collaboration across different units. He said that he is reviewing the proposed budget model and service model before moving forward with implementation.

Professor Nancy Fisher (Microbiology and Immunology) asked if the service model is tied to discussions about how Facilities and Administration (F & A) funds are allocated.

Provost Blouin said that is a different conversation, but the budget model will impact the flow of funds, including F & A.

Chancellor Folt said that the goal of Carolina Service is to explore how finance, human resources and communications can work more effectively and coherently.

Professor Leonard asked what is being done to increase faculty oversight in light of Dr. Belle Wheelan’s comments about inconsistencies between the SACS report and NCAA report on academic improprieties.

Chancellor Folt said that she called Dr. Wheelan, and Dr. Wheelan said that she had been misquoted in the media. There have been over 70 reforms put in place to prevent future academic improprieties.  The chancellor encouraged Professor Leonard to review the Carolina Commitment website to get more information.

Faculty Assembly update and proposed Board of Governor’s free speech policy

Professor Leslie Parise gave an overview of the proposed Board of Governor’s (BOG) policy on free speech. She explained that the North Carolina General Assembly passed a law requiring the BOG to adopt a policy on freedom of speech. The Board of Governors asked the Staff Assembly and Faculty Assembly for input on an early draft of the policy. Some suggestions were adopted into a later draft that was passed by the University Affairs Committee and sent to the full BOG for a vote on December 15, 2017. The Faculty Executive Committee met with the Faculty Assembly leadership to discuss concerns about the policy.

She introduced Professor Eric Muller (Law), a member of the Faculty Executive Committee, to give an overview of the proposed free speech policy.

Professor Muller explained that he will give an overview of the policy to help the Faculty Council members understand what the policy entails. The legislation is a version of model legislation initially proposed by Goldwater Center. North Carolina is the first state to adopt a law based on the Goldwater proposal. The General Assembly articulated a number of broad principles and told the BOG to create a policy on free speech. The policy is still being amended. Professor Muller went over specific sections of the policy.

Chancellor Folt asked if the policy allows chancellors to deny a speaker from coming to the University.

Professor Muller said he would have to review the policy again to be sure, but he believes the policy does state that if the speaker is invited by a student or faculty member, and the visit is consistent with campus policies, they have the right to come.

Professor Hassan Melehy (Romance Studies) asked what the rationale is for punishing violations of the policy.

Professor Muller said he doesn’t know what the rationale is, but if you violate state law, you can be punished by the state and now receive an internal sanction.

Professor Melehy said that the internal sanctions seem unnecessary if there are already legal consequences.

Professor Leonard said this now makes university bodies responsible for enforcing state law, which will cause the policy to be challenged in court.

Provost Blouin said that the policy does elevate the responsibility of the unit hosting a guest and the administration to ensure compliance. There is now a legal burden that complicates the situation.

Professor Tim Ives (Pharmacy) said that the first draft of the policy did not include anything about outside speakers. He said the Board of Trustees (BOT) would be responsible for overseeing compliance.

General Education Curriculum update

Professor Andrew Perrin (Sociology) gave an overview of updates to the proposed General Education Curriculum (GEC) on behalf of the GEC Coordinating Committee.

Professor Jennifer Arnold (Psychology and Neuroscience) asked if the GEC still required courses that focused on different capacities.

Professor Perrin said there are still nine required capacties.

Ms. Eliza Filene (Undergraduate observer) thanked Professor Perrin for meeting with students and getting input from undergraduates.

Professor Cary Levine (Art History) asked why the curriculum is being overhauled at this time.

Professor Perrin said that issues with the current curriculum were discussed during the College’s strategic planning process. The current curriculum has been in place since 1982. They are hoping the new curriculum can be durable enough to last longer. The most common complaint about the current curriculum is that students don’t make connections between what they are learning in different courses. The goal is make it easier for students to navigate the curriculum and make connections between the courses they take.

Professor Melehy asked if the committee is still planning to launch the new curriculum in 2019.

Professor Perrin said that 2019 is a target date, but it’s not firm. If they have to push back the launch, they will.

Professor Melehy asked if the new curriculum will be approved by the Faculty Council before it is policy.

Professor Perrin said it will go in front of the Council for a vote.

Professor Melehy asked if the curriculum will also be evaluated by Educational Policy Committee.

Professor Perrin said it will be reviewed by the Educational Policy Committee, then go to the Faculty Council, and then it will go to the Administrative Board of the College for approval.

Professor Melehy said that there have been major objections to changes and the responses from the committee have been positive, but the objections should be discussed. He said that the engagement with the human past requirement should make classes before 1750 mandatory.

Professor Perrin said the committee wants to get back to guiding principles. If a class on historical material before 1750 fulfills one of the capacities, then perhaps it should fulfill the requirement.

Professor Jan Hannig (Statistics and Operations Research) said that some faculty who do quantitative studies feel the proposed requirements deemphasize quantitative studies and reasoning.

Professor Perrin said that he has heard this concern. There are a number of proposed requirements that have to do with evidence-based research and inquiry.

Professor Florence Babb (Anthropology) said that she appreciates the changes and modifications. Some of her colleagues are concerned about the global engagement and diversity requirements being combined.

Professor Perrin said he continues to receive feedback on that point.

Chair of the Faculty Leslie Parise thanked Professor Perrin for his presentation and work on the GEC. In the interest of time, she said that the Council would forgo hearing the policy update from the Office of Ethics and Policy Management.

Faculty Hearings annual report

The Faculty Hearings annual report was accepted by title. There were no questions for Professor James Rives (Classics), chair of the committee.

Resolution 2017-13. In Appreciation for Professor Dan Reichart’s Service (PDF)

Professor Chris Clemons, chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, read Resolution 2017-13. In Appreciation for Professor Dan Reichart’s Service. The resolution passed unanimously. The Faculty Council applauded.

Special report from the Honorary Degrees and Special Awards Committee

Professor emeritus Joseph Ferrell entertained a motion to go into closed session to prevent the premature disclosure of information about potential award recipients. The motion was seconded and approved by the body. The Council went into closed session and approved the slate of six nominees for Distinguished Alumnus/a Awards to be presented at University Day in 2018.

Open session

Professor emeritus Ferrell entertained a motion to return to open session. The motion was seconded and approved by the Council. The Council returned to open session.

Adjournment

It’s business having concluded, the Faculty Council adjourned at 4:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Katie Turner
Faculty Program Specialist
Office of Faculty Governance

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