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UNH Faculty Senate minutes summary

Meeting called to order at 3:43 p.m. on March 20, 2017                

I. Roll – The following senators were absent: Carter, Gardner, Herold, LaCourse, Negron-Gonzales, Ramsay, and Valdez. Barnett, Brewer, Bstieler, Innis, Sharp, Shea, and Theimer were excused. Miriam Nelson and Nancy Targett were guests.

II. Remarks by and questions to the provost – Provost Nancy Targett wished the Senate a happy spring.  She updated the group on plans to renovate Conant Hall, which is where the Honors Program will be housed. The renovations will be on the interior only and are expected to be completed by October 2017.  When complete, the building will be home to the Hamel Center for undergraduate research, the fellowship office, the Center for International Education and the Office for International Students and Scholars, as well as the Discovery program.  She said that these offices all report to the Academic Affairs Office.  Right next door will be the Writing Program.

Dante asked if the provost had new information about the possibility of snow days being added on at the end of the semester. Nancy said that she plans to speak to the registrar about this, and will get information back to the Agenda Committee by next Monday. Dante thanked the provost for her time.

III. IV. Minutes – It was moved and seconded to approve the minutes from the February 27, 2017 meeting.  Two corrections were suggested to the minutes in Item III, and two in Item VI. Thus adjusted, the minutes were approved unanimously, with 1 abstentions.

IV. FAC report on costs for use of Memorial Union Building (MUB) meeting rooms – The Senate chair noted that the Finance and Administration Committee’s report, attached to today’s agenda, investigated a new policy that authorizes charges to groups who want to use MUB meeting rooms. The report indicates that there are different rates for room use for UNH- and non-UNH users. (see chart from report on next page).   

A senator from the FAC said that the committee had no recommendations at this time for making any changes to the policy.  A senator from the Music department noted that these charges are having a serious and deleterious impact on the two week-long Summer Youth Music School (SYMS). The chair of the Academic Affairs Committee said there may be similar negative impacts on other summer programs, and suggested that the Senate might wish, in the future, to examine such problems.  He asserted that the university is being short-sighted, with its current RCM model, by charging departments to use university facilities while putting on events which actually serve as the kinds of advertising and promotion of UNH that the Office of Engagement and Academic Outreach has been urging faculty to implement. He used the example of the Philosophy department bringing as many as 1500 students to the university for an event, and having to pay the university to use MUB facilities to do so. He said he would be willing to work with the Agenda Committee to devise a charge to investigate this dichotomy.

    UNH Memorial Union Building FY17* Room Use Fees

The AAC chair added that during a recent orientation event, it was difficult to get copies of campus maps to hand out to potential students, which seems like an inexpensive marketing tool.  It was suggested that the Enrollment Management Office might be a resource for departments in their efforts to promote their programs.

V. Discussion with director of the Sustainability Institute – Dante then introduced Miriam Nelson, UNH deputy chief sustainability officer, and director of the UNH Sustainability Institute. She has come to speak to the Senate regarding the university’s goal to achieve a platinum ranking in the Sustainability Tracking and Rating System (STARS). Miriam began by defining sustainability as “Balancing the values of environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and economic vitality to meet our present needs while ensuring the ability of future generations to meet their needs.”

The STARS system is a self-reporting standard used by about 273 universities across the country, run by the American Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Education (AASHE). The program is about ten years old, and UNH is a charter member. Currently UNH has achieved a gold STARS rating (about 10% of self-reporting institutions have attained gold status), and our goal is to be the second university in the country to achieve a platinum rating.  Colorado State University is the only institution in the nation to achieve such a rating so far. UNH will renew our STARS status in July, and the hope is that by then, we will have garnered the 36 points necessary to reach platinum status. Meeting this goal would bring recognition to UNH for the tremendous work in sustainability that we are already doing, and increase our credibility for the brand pillar of being a STARS Platinum Status institution. Miriam said that such status will attract students and faculty who embrace sustainability as a core value, identifying sustainability as a rallying cause to unite UNH, and a way to build pride among students, faculty, staff, alumni, community, and the state.

Last summer, a Pathway to Platinum Presidential Task Force was assembled, with twenty-three members including administrators, faculty, staff, and students.  Their goal was to focus, in two phases, on the feasibility of attaining platinum status. Phase 1 (last fall) was a rapid assessment to identify the resource needs to accomplish our goal, and secure those resources.  The proposal was accepted with funds for two years. Phase two (spring semester) has involved engagement across campus to implement the plan. In order to succeed, backing is needed by senior leadership, shared ownership across UNH is needed, as well as support from the Sustainability Institute, clear communications, investment in capacity building, and a swift execution of the plan.

Miriam announced that a Day of Service is planned around Earth Day, with our undergraduate students. She said her group is working with the Library to promote Open Access, as well as working with course development in the Dual Major for Sustainability.

A senator asked if there are established metrics or strategies for measuring the return on the university’s investment in the pursuit of the STARS rating.  Miriam said that the distinction of platinum status in STARS will draw in and retain more high-value students, as well as more high-quality faculty. A survey of undergraduates at UNH indicated that sustainability was a strong reason that they chose UNH. Miriam also asserted that this status would increase UNH’s fund-raising credibility. Another senator agreed that if we were to achieve platinum status, it could well be used for marketing and building the UNH brand. Miriam pointed out that we do better at sustainability than we do at projecting how well we’re doing, noting that we want our communications on this subject to be based on a credible rating system.

The Graduate Student Senate representative asked if the survey was also conducted with graduate students.  Miriam said it was not, nor was it conducted at UNH-Manchester or the School of law, but said that she would like to include those groups in continuing assessment over the next three years.

Another senator mentioned that several years ago, a different rating system was being used at UNH, and asked how many eco-friendly rating systems exist.  Miriam said that the three main rating systems are the Princeton Review, Sierra, and STARS, but observed that the Princeton Review and Sierra both get their numbers from STARS. All of these systems come from AASHE. She also noted that these systems rate all three pillars of sustainability – economic, environmental, and social (or profit, planet, and people).

Miriam noted how difficult it is to achieve the gold status that UNH has attained, and praised UNH for its university-wide endeavors. A senator asked how difficult it will be to maintain platinum status, once that is achieved, and asked if the bar might continue to be raised in years to come.  Miriam responded that the determination comes from a peer group, and that in recent years, she has seen that the bar has not been raised, but rather that criteria have been clarified, making the goal more challenging, but better defined.  To gain the needed 36 points, she said that much of the work to be done is just in chronicling our achievements, such as providing an assessment of actual practices and policies around interdisciplinary research and teaching scholarship. The associate deans and deans have provided much of this information. A sustainability survey needs to be done with staff and faculty to identify the progress we are making and establish some baseline data. She expects that the progress we are making in the area of energy will be reflected in more points. She said that she’s working with Mica Stark to see how engaged the university is on participating in public policy, for which points we have not sought in the past. She said that she is also working with the UNH Foundation on investments and the endowment.

A senator asked if sustainability and STARS have any role in the university’s position in Concord.  Miriam said that she is unsure about the legislature’s perspective, but reported that the governor’s office has asked her office for more information about sustainable food systems work, as that is a large economic factor in the state. She believes this is a net positive for us, and that overall, we will be elevating the university in areas that students care about these days.

A senator pointed out that there is website on campus which identifies each building’s water, energy, and gas usage. He asserted that showing how the university is very efficient with the types of graduates we have, and cutting back our expenses by sustainable efforts is a good way to go.

The Senate chair asked what Miriam sees as UNH’s biggest challenge in reaching platinum status from where we are now.  She replied that, at the moment, it is doing the work to document all of the things that UNH has achieved already.  All of this work is documented on the AASHE website. She said that if we don’t get this together in time for the July deadline, we can re-submit our application in September.  Dante thanked Miriam for spending time with the Senate today.

VI. SAC report on Title IX/mandated reporting – The chair introduced Lionel Ingram, who represented the Senate Student Affairs Committee (SAC) in presenting their report on Title IX and mandatory reporting.  Lionel reported that the SAC has worked closely with Jaime Nolan’s office on Title IX issues to learn how to best inform faculty on their responsibilities as mandatory reporters in the case of sexual violence or harassment within our community.  Originally, the Title IX office required that anyone who is made aware of a case of sexual violence or harassment was required to inform both the Title IX Coordinator (Donna Marie Sorrentino) and the UNH Police. The most recent reporting proposal has been somewhat amended:

How Should I Report? 

Contact:

•       If someone is in danger, call 911 immediately

•       UNH Title IX Coordinator, Donna Marie Sorrentino dms@unh.edu or at 603-862-2930/603-862-1527 TTY available 8-5 M-F.

•       If UNH Title IX Coordinator is not immediately available to speak to, or it is outside the business hours 8-5 M-F, e-mail BOTH Donna Marie Sorrentino and Chief Paul Dean at ____________ ….

[NOTE: an email alias account will be set up, titled “Mandatory Reporting” which will go directly to Donna Marie and Paul Dean.  When Faculty click on the alias email address an immediate, automatic response will be sent to the Faculty and will include:

•       a response, including a brief form, asking Faculty to complete and submit. The form will be structured, asking Faculty to describe the incident as it was reported to the Faculty, (what, when, where, and status of persons involved (i.e., student, faculty, staff, 3rd party, unknown));

•       upon Faculty submitting the form, a response will include confirmation that it was received, that their reporting obligation has been met, and they will be contacted as deemed appropriate to be advise on next steps (i.e., either the matter can wait until Donna Marie follows-up during business hours 8-5 M-F, or Paul Dean requires additional information and immediate action)].

Unless you report directly in accord with the above, you will not have fulfilled your legal obligations. No other anonymous reporting resources such as Reportit! or LiveSafe app or individual or offices, including your supervisor, may be substituted.

Besides this updated policy, specific wording is suggested to be shared with all students through a link in all course syllabi:

CURRENT PROPOSED SYLLABUS LANGUAGE:

Confidentiality and Mandatory Reporting:  The University of New Hampshire and its faculty are committed to assuring a safe and productive educational environment for all students and for the university as a whole.  To this end, the university requires faculty members to report incidents of sexual violence and harassment shared by students to the university’s Title IX Coordinator (Donna Marie Sorrentino, dms@unh.edu 603-862-2930/1527 TTY).

If you wish to speak to a confidential service provider who does not have this reporting responsibility, you can find a list of resources here (link).  For more information about what happens when you report, your rights and reporting options at UNH, including anonymous reporting options, please visit (link).

NOTE: the links will refer directly to the Title IX section of the Affirmative Action and Equity website currently being revised. For the time being, the links referenced above will provide information in the documents titled, Community of Care… and will be posted  http://www.unh.edu/affirmativeaction/title-ix

Lionel shared additional important items:

• with the new reporting system, if Donna Marie is not available to take a call, that call will be forwarded to a campus police automated reporting system, which is available 24 hours a day/7 days a week. With the automated system, callers will not speak directly to a police officer.
• our campus police are specifically trained to deal with student-related situations
• some situations need to be reported to the police because they involve the security of the community
• a training program has been developed, and departments may request training sessions for their faculty by contacting Donna Marie directly
• not all of the links prepared for the course syllabi are currently working, but UNH IT is working on this

There are still problems with the system, including reporting errors by faculty, the lack of education and training across the campus community, the logistical limitations of the Title IX coordinator as a single individual dealing with problems that may arise at any time of the day or night, and the potential impact of reporting on students.  Lionel pointed out that the guidelines placed in course syllabi are intended to guide students to appropriate help.

A senator asked what other universities are doing about these requirements, and if other institutions have more than one Title IX coordinator to deal with these issues.  Lionel said that the SAC has not investigated how other institutions are handling this. A senator asserted that other universities are not following guidelines as strict as these. A senator from the School of Law reminded the group that New Hampshire has a specific case law (based on the Schneider case) that requires mandatory reporting beyond standard Title IX requirements.  It is this to law that the UNH guidelines are directed. The AAUP is arguing these policies nationwide, but in New Hampshire, we must abide by state law.

Another senator asked if Health Center workers and SHARRP are also mandatory reporters.  Lionel said that those individuals, as well as clergy, have confidential status. It was pointed out that referring students to SHARRP or the Health Center is not fulfilling the duties of a mandatory reporter; only the steps above qualify. There was some discussion about particular scenarios, and the SAC chair reminded the group that the purpose of this report is to inform faculty of their responsibilities.  If faculty are unsure how to act, they should contact the Title IX coordinator, or appeal to their department chair to invite the coordinator to come and do training with their faculty. Lionel said that there have already been workshops held for lecturers, and for faculty in the School of Law, and suggested that the most effective training would be done by department. 

A senator asserted that the issue of clergy as confidential, non-mandated reporters seems too narrow, and asked if that issue has yet been addressed. Lionel said it had not been addressed by the SAC.

A senator informed the group that Sharyn Potter, from Women’s Studies, who has been working on violence prevention and confidential reporting, and who has developed an app called “uSafeNH” pertinent to this conversation. He suggested that she might have information about anonymous reporting options.  Lionel said that he would connect with her to gather more information. 

The chair thanked the SAC for their report.

VIII. CPC report on SAARC and annual space needs – Danielle Pillet-Shore presented the Campus Planning Committee’s report on the university’s Space Allocation, Adaption and Renewal Committee (SARRC).  She noted that “Adaption” means re-use and re-purposing as well as renovation. This committee includes members of UNH Campus Planning and Facilities Divisions, and is a standing advisory committee to the President of UNH, to oversee the development, assignment, naming, and stewardship of all university buildings, grounds, roads, and related infrastructure.

Danielle said that while SAARC meetings are regularly scheduled monthly, they are actually held more frequently in the fall (mostly in October and November), when decisions are made and priorities set regarding capital projects. This information will be helpful to future Senate examinations of those projects and priorities. This year, the list of priorities was narrowed from about 170 possible projects down to fifteen projects

The Senate CPC recommends that

“…the AY 2017-18 Faculty Senate’s Agenda Committee and CPC should prepare for the most intensive SAARC activity to start in August/September of 2017 as SAARC returns to considering its Annual Space Needs and Campus Improvement Requests List for FY18. The CPC should aim to maintain regular communication with SAARC and the UNH Campus Planning and Facilities so faculty are in a better position to provide meaningful input regarding their priorities (for campus construction, renovation, repair and maintenance projects) by Fall 2017.”

The committee also noted that some funds were held aside until the worst of the winter weather has passed in order to allow for weather-related costs in the spring semester. The CPC’s report shared the following items listed as priorities this year (see next page). Danielle noted that if an item is on this list, money has been allocated for it, and the project will move forward.  These items may be in varying stages of planning, design, and execution. A senator asked if, in the reduction of projects from a large list to a small list of “do-able” projects, there is a list of criteria to facilitate those decisions. Danielle said she is not aware of any such list, other than from Facilities.  She said that the deans offer their suggestions, and noted that faculty are free to advocate for a project during the decision-making process.

Danielle also reported on the campus lactation rooms recommended by last year’s Senate.  SAARC voted in November 2016 to approve $70,000 for two new lactation rooms on the UNH-Durham Campus (UNH-Manchester and the School of Law also need lactation rooms, but are not eligible for SAARC funding, and the CPC is not aware of progress towards that goal for those campuses).  Danielle said that she will ask why the School of Law and UNH-M are not eligible for SAARC funds.  Regarding the lactation rooms, she said that Doug Bencks has reported that the search for appropriate space for two new facilities has been narrowed, but that no space has yet been secured.  She requested that the Senate CPC continue to monitor the progress on this project, both in Durham and UNH-Manchester and the School of Law.

Regarding the Senate’s charges to the CPC to review the state of sidewalks on campus, the CPC requested more specific information about the concerns that prompted those charges to enable a productive follow-up. A member of the Agenda Committee noted that one of the prompting concerns was the observation that contractors tend to park on sidewalks all across campus, blocking passage particularly for those who use wheelchairs and walkers.  Danielle pointed out that there is a process for reporting issues when they happen, saying that the most effective way to address such problems is to report them immediately so that action can be taken.  To report sidewalk (or other) issues, call Facilities Control Center at (603) 862-1437, or email them at

http://www.unh.edu/facilities with specific location and concern information.

Also, <reportit.unh.edu>  is another option for reporting any form of discrimination on campus.

A senator from the Music department asked about a connection in their report between a planned MUB expansion and the PCAC.  Danielle said she would ask.  Another senator said that the master plan shows one possible site for a new Creative Arts Center as potentially located in the current C-lot parking area next to the MUB.

A senator noted that the line item to replace the football field has the potential to be a negatively controversial issue, and said he hoped that plans for damage control were already in place.  Another senator noted that there is a nine or ten year limit on the kind of field that was installed, meaning that some kind of replacement was inevitable.  Danielle said that there is evidence that there were problems with the way the field was installed initially, meaning that less expensive replacement options are not currently viable, although if the planned replacement is done properly this time, those less expensive options will be possible in the future.

There was some discussion about the prioritization of the Library storage climate-control issue, and Danielle noted that this is something we should watch closely.

The Senate chair said that this report points out how important it is for the faculty to know how things work, calling it essential if we are going to have shared governance.  He thanked Danielle for the information shared today, and suggested that with this information, the Senate could have more of an impact as we make plans for future semesters.

IX. CPC report on transportation issues - Due to time constraints, this report was postponed until the next Senate meeting.

X. New Business – There was no new business

XI. Adjournment - Upon a motion and second to adjourn, the group voted to adjourn the meeting at 5:30 p.m.