Category: University Governance

Emory Policy on Email Searches Explained

aadam02

In light of recent news reports of secret email account searches at Harvard, in April the Council heard a report about Emory’s policies on responding to requests for access to monitor email accounts or other network communications of students or employees. Emory’s Chief Information Security Officer Brad Sanford explained that the IT Conditions of Use Policy states, “Authorized Emory staff may without notice monitor, inspect, or copy network communications, IT resources, and the data they contain. Use of the Emory network and/or IT resources constitutes consent to such monitoring.” He added, however, that “this is not a routine or continuous process.” Rather, it is an uncommon practice that is “only done in certain special circumstances where we feel that either the law or Emory policies are being violated, or Emory business processes are being threatened.” Written requests for searching email must detail specifics, including purpose, and are only approved by consensus among general counsel and several enterprise-wide senior officers of the university.

 

Class and Labor Committee Phase II Begins

aadam02

In the March meeting, Provost Claire Sterk spoke to the Faculty Council about Phase II of the work of the Committee on Class and Labor. Last month the council heard a report on the concluded first phase of the committee’s work, which focused on staff. Phase II will focus on the ways in which class and its related distinctions of power and status affect the life and work of faculty members. The charge for Phase II includes an examination of the role of class in faculty work relationships; Emory’s role as an employer in the academic labor market; recruitment, promotion, advancement, and professional development for faculty; and the role of non-tenure-track faculty.

“The focus will be on faculty and their working relationships,” Sterk said, “in other words, the complexities related to distinctions of power and status.”

 

Committee on Online Education Forming

aadam02

Senior Vice Provost for Undergraduate and Continuing Education Lynn Zimmerman spoke to the council about the creation of a new Faculty Advisory Committee on Online Education. Two weeks after the call went out in early March, seventy-six faculty had been nominated (both self-nominations and nominations by others) to serve on the committee. This body will advise the provost on shaping Emory’s goals and vision for online education, establishing standards and proposal guidelines for university-wide online course offerings (such as Coursera courses), reviewing and selecting proposals for university-wide online courses, and considering policy issues such as licensing, intellectual property, faculty workload, and compensation issues. “Our goal at this point is to create a balanced group that is very representative,” Zimmerman said, “We are thrilled to have such a deep pool to draw from.”

 

Committee on Class and Labor reports

aadam02

In the February meeting, psychiatry professor Nadine Kaslow spoke on the report concluding the first phase of work by the Committee on Class and Labor—Staff Focus, formed in spring 2010. Kaslow, who co-chaired the committee with Gary Hauk, vice president and deputy to the president, noted from the findings that “class issues are alive and well at Emory as they are in our community more broadly,” but also that while people are generally satisfied with their work and benefits, there were “mixed feelings about compensation.” She also observed, “there are tremendous opportunites in terms of educational growth,” but that the environment does not consistently support professional development and advancement. Kaslow added that factors related to co-employment law hindered the committee’s efforts to gather data on contract workers on campus.

An advisory committee that will be part of the University Senate will oversee the implementation of recommendations concerning infrastructure, community and culture, communication on campus, profesesional development, and several other areas. To read the full report, click here.

 

Council deliberates taking on Faculty Handbook

aadam02

Council chair Gray Crouse announced the beginning of “a process of really looking at the Faculty Handbook,” anticipating that the council will eventually take “joint ownership” along with other stakeholders in the document. He encouraged council members to look through the document and identify issues “you think we ought to grapple with.” He added that the transfer of the Faculty Handbook to the domain of the Faculty Council will be a gradual process, but one that will signify increasing shared responsibility for university governance with the faculty. Provost Claire Sterk added, “The Faculty Handbook in many ways really shapes what the university is about. There are some challenges here, but it’s going to lay the groundwork for what we are. It’s going to help build the university.” The current version of the handbook is available on the Office of the Provost’s website (click here).

 

President leads discussion on faculty governance

aadam02

In the November meeting, University President James Wagner encouraged the Faculty Council to consider “reinvigorating and even growing what we do around faculty governance.” He observed that the increasingly utilitarian social value placed on education over many decades and the more recent economic pressures have changed the circumstances of universities broadly. “We should understand and search for the opportunities in these changes, rather than understand them always to be threats,” he said.

Wagner went on to suggest that faculty must take a leading role in formulating, owning, and implementing Emory’s response to these changes, especially as the university approaches the end of its strategic planning cycle in 2015. “it should be guided with faculty engagement,” he said, “all managed, owned, and implemented at the deepest levels of our institution.” To foster strong, creative, and progressive faculty governance, he concluded, questions of structure, policy, participation, and responsibility need to be examined.

 

Calls to Strengthen Faculty Governance

aadam02

A recurring theme resounded at the October Faculty Council from five representatives from Emory College and the Laney Graduate School who, in keeping with the practice of Council members reporting regularly on key issues from individual schools, summarized colleagues’ various responses to the restructuring recently announced in the two schools. “Many faculty understand that [Dean Robin Forman] was working within existing structures, and they want faculty governance strengthened, so that they have more input about decisions,” said Pamela Scully, representing Emory College colleagues. “It’s galvanized us,” added Kristin Wendland, representing lecture-track faculty. “I see of wave of energy for all the college faculty to be more active in governance.” Speaking as a member of the Executive Council of the Graduate School, Associate Professor of Political Science Jeff Staton raised a question about the lack of consultation with the Executive Council on decisions to suspend graduate programs in economics and Spanish. “The question for a number of members of the Council is, were we anything other than a curriculum committee?” he said. “Really, what were we doing there if we weren’t part of that process?”

 

Faculty Participation in Research Administration

aadam02

David Wynes, vice president for research administration, presented to the Council in October about encouraging more faculty to participate in research administration. Research committees include Confict of Interest Review, Institutional Animal Care and Use (IACUC), the Institutional Review Board (IRB), and a number of health and safety committees. “We believe strongly that these committees should comprise members of the faculty peer groups,” Wynes said. “For example, animal care committees should be composed of people who use animals in research, and the IRB should be composed of people who use human subjects in research.” Wynes also noted that IACUC has some 760 active protocols at any time, and the IRB has some 3,000.

Council members offered two general recommendations: that the Office of Research Administration work through existing faculty governance bodies around campus to recruit new members to these committees, and that the office draft a core set of principles delin- eating how each of the committees should be composed, according to research activity.

 

Welcome from the Chair

aadam02

Welcome to the 2012–13 academic year. This year’s Faculty Council will focus on three themes. The first is a look at Emory as a private research university, and the Council is sponsoring a series of guest speakers who will help us explore this topic. The first speaker is Ron Ehrenberg of Cornell on October 23, and the second, on December 4, is Robert Zemsky from Penn. Look for more details about this series to be announced soon. The second focus is strengthening faculty governance, and to that end the Council has filled its appointed seats with faculty who are governance leaders or respected faculty leaders in their schools. Additionally, the Council has instituted a Policy Committee that will convene for in-depth discussions on issues of particular complexity and importance to the faculty. The first meeting of this committee is scheduled for early October to deliberate the proposed revisions to the Gray Book. Our third focus is on scholarly integrity. As a faculty, we need to explore ways of helping maintain the integrity of this institution. I welcome your ideas on these matters. Please contact me with your thoughts at gcrouse [at] emory [dot] edu.

Budget Report for 2012-13

aadam02

Provost Earl Lewis and Charlotte Johnson, Senior Vice Provost for Administration, presented a review of the budget process in preparation for fiscal year 2012-13 at the April 17 Faculty Council meeting. “Over the last few years, the academy has witnessed a major structural realignment, both at the macroeconomic level worldwide but also what that means for higher education,” Lewis said, noting the steady decline of net recovery income from tuition as well as the decline of indirect cost recovery from external grants, especially in the health sciences. As a result, the first budget model reviewed showed a $17.1 million operating deficit in all school activities. After working with deans on cost-saving measures, however, that projected deficit was reduced to $3.2 million (on a $741 million revenue budget). “Seven of our schools are now balanced in the model or will be contributing to their operating reserves,” Johnson said. While public health and nursing will be contributing to reserves, the two largest academic units, the college and the medical school, will have operating deficits. The budget will be presented to the Board of Trustees for approval on June 8.