Campus Recreation proposed revisions to almost the entire section of the Faculty-Staff Handbook on their services and rewrote it with more specific policies and procedures for faculty and staff, said Brian Mahoney, who represents Campus Recreation on Faculty Senate.
Mahoney said the document was not specific enough on policies. Mahoney said Staff Council voted unanimously to remove the document from the handbook.
Some senators expressed concerns that the campus recreation website may be difficult to use as a new faculty member and the deletion of the material will force new members to use the website instead of the handbook. Mahoney said he agreed with the concerns but said that since the document doesn’t contain policy, its place in the handbook currently doesn’t affect any new faculty members or decisions made by the University.
Faculty Senate voted to postpone the vote to remove language in the handbook. Many senators suggested that the information be added to the Administrative Procedures Manuel upon making the document more specific. Mahoney said he would make the changes and bring the issue back to a vote at a later meeting.
The Faculty Senate was also presented with a bill from the University Curriculum Committee. The regulations according to UI Registrar, Heather Chermak, were just simple changes of language to bring it up to current practice. She also said that one of the three changes in regulations would give students more time to turn in their graduation applications before late fees are applied. The regulations received little debate from the Faculty Senate and passed unanimously.
Chermak also presented her final pitch for the final exam schedule. The Registrar’s office has decided on a 15-minute break between finals and that they will conclude at 5 p.m. each day of the week. Faculty Senate voted to approve the schedule.
Provost John Wiencek issued an apology for a memo released earlier in the week regarding changes to advising. The memo detailed a restructuring and reassignment of duties and positions in UI advising. The memo came during the first week of advising for Spring 2018 . Wiencek said the memo created great anxiety and even tears for some faculty and staff, but said that the changes are necessary to the university’s future success with overall advising and retention rates.
Wiencek said he made a mistake in releasing the memo in a way that caused anxiety and stress for those who will be affected by the changes the most. Against suggestions that deans didn’t have enough notice, Wiencek said they have been aware and involved in the changes. Wiencek said he will likely convene a meeting in the coming days to sort out specifics of the changes.
Elizabeth Marshall can be reached at [email protected]