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agenda status: approved

Agenda:

1. Approval of the Agenda

2. Approval of the Minutes of the February 12, 2009 meeting

3. Comments from the Chair 4. Comments from the Associate Provost for Academic Services, Linda O. Stanford 5. Proposed Revision to the MSU Anti-Discrimination Policy
Fred Fico, Professor, School of Journalism, College of Communication Arts and Sciences
Paulette Granberry Russell, Senior Advisor to the President and Director, Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives

6. Proposed Revision to the Outside Speakers Policy
Lee June, Associate Provost for Academic Student Services and Multicultural Issues and
Vice President for Student Affairs and Services
Denise Maybank, Senior Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Services

7. Roundtable

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minutes status: approved

approved at meeting of 03/26/2009

UCAP Minutes for meeting held on 03/19/2009

Attendees: Mary Jo Arndt, Dennis Banks, R. Sekhar Chivukula, Peter Cobbett, Marty Crimp, Guiseppe Getto, John Gore, Mandalyn Griffin, Caroline Hartig, Linda Jackson, Michael Lawrence, Carolyn Loeb, Malea Powell, Jerry Punch, Michael Schechter, Sharif Shakrani, Michael Shields, Jim Smith, Linda Stanford, Thomas Volkening

Not Attending:
Mary Burleson, Doug Estry, Richard Hallgren, Hovig Kouyoumdjian, Brad McDonald, A. Mahdi Saeed

The Agenda was approved.

The Minutes of the February 12, 2009 meeting were approved.

Comments from the Chair
Chairperson Chivukula reminded the committee that it would meet again on March 26.

Dr. Chivukula reported that comments solicited from other governance committees regarding the proposed revision to the Religious Observance Policy had been received, stating the goal for the committee would be to complete any revisions to the proposed Religious Observance Policy in time to forward it to the Academic Council for action before the end of the academic year.

Dr. Chivukula reported that the taskforce on the academic calendar planned to have a draft proposal completed by the end of March with the intention of soliciting feedback from various campus constituencies before it would be sent to the Academic Council for action.

Chairperson Chivukula reminded committee members to provide feedback to Associate Provost Estry on the electronic form being developed for faculty-of-record to use to submit documentation of penalty grades being given for academic dishonesty.

Comments from the Associate Provost for Academic Services
Associate Provost Stanford thanked the committee members for their excellent work in revising the Integrity of Scholarship and Grades Policy.

Proposed Revision to the MSU Anti-Discrimination Policy
Fred Fico, Professor, School of Journalism, College of Communication Arts and Sciences.
Paulette Granberry Russell, Senior Advisor to the President and Director, Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives.

Chairperson Chivukula framed the discussion of the proposed revision to the MSU anti-discrimination policy stating the primary goal of the committee would be to provide feedback on the policy proposal to Academic Council. The outcome of the committee’s discussion would be one of the following: to endorse, not endorse, or recommend that action be deferred for further discussion accompanied by the committee’s reasons for deferral. He noted that Kristine Zayko, Associate University General Counsel, would attend the March 26 meeting to respond to any additional questions the committee might have. Dr. Chivukula introduced the two speakers, Dr. Fico and Ms. Granberry Russell, indicating that each would have equal time to present their case for or against the proposed revision, respond to committee questions, and provide a final statement to the committee.

The committee unanimously granted voice to Professor Fico.

Dr. Fico provided background on the events that motivated the proposed revision to the MSU Anti-Discrimination Policy. He asked the committee to endorse the proposed revision. Dr. Fico articulated specifically that, under the provisions of the revised policy, no disciplinary actions might be taken against speakers or speaker sponsors for protected First Amendment speech.

The committee unanimously granted voice to Ms. Granberry Russell

Ms. Granberry Russell reviewed the charge of the Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives with the committee. The Office for Inclusion is responsible for insuring University compliance with state and federal nondiscrimination laws and responding to complaints received through federal or state agencies or those made by MSU employees or students. The Office of Inclusion will investigate complaints, review facts, and provide opinions on whether anti-discrimination policy violations have occurred, all informed by Federal and State laws, First Amendment and anti-discrimination case law, MSU policies, and the policies and regulations of governmental agencies. Committee members were provided with copies of the Office of Inclusion position statement on the proposed revision to the MSU Anti-Discrimination Policy and other documents in support of the Office of Inclusion’s position that the proposed revision to the MSU Anti-Discrimination Policy is unnecessary. Ms. Granberry Russell argued that the current University policy is relevant and provides adequate protection of First Amendment rights.

After Dr. Fico and Ms. Granberry Russell had an opportunity to provide closing comments, Chairperson Chivukula requested that committee members email questions for response from Kris Zayko, Associate University General Counsel, to him by noon, Friday, March 20.

Professor Lawrence suggested the wording of the Anti-Discrimination amendment could be shortened without effect by inserting the words "protected speech in" in the first sentence and eliminating the last sentence, as follows: These prohibitions are not intended to abridge University community members' rights to free expression or other civil rights and are not applicable to protected speech in public speeches by university community members or by the presenters legally invited to the University by student groups or other University personnel.

The committee tabled further discussion until its March 26 meeting.

Proposed Revision to the Outside Speakers Policy
Lee June, Associate Provost for Academic Student Services and Multicultural Issues and
Vice President for Student Affairs and Services.
Denise Maybank, Sr. Associate Vice President for Student Affairs.

The committee unanimously granted voice to Drs. June and Maybank.
Dr. June stated the revision to update and streamline the current outside speakers policy resulted from meetings with various student organizations regarding concerns and criticism of the current policy, review of other Big 10 university outside speaker policies, and case law. The revision was approved by the University Committee for Government Affairs.

Motion by Malea Powell passed unanimously.

The University Committee on Academic Policy endorses the proposed revision to the Outside Speakers Policy with suggestions for three minor modifications. 1) Modify section IID to insure that a substantial or adequate time will be provided for questions and answers, 2) Add a comment to suggest that the Office of the Vice President for Students Affairs and Services be contacted if there were questions about the policy, and 3) specify that the proposed policy will replace the current policy titled “Speakers on Campus” in Spartan Life.

Roundtable
Dr. Banks reported that at the last Academic Council meeting he learned that completion of the Farm Lane underpass is projected for September/October 2009. In addition, the Provost had announced that he is meeting regularly with Deans regarding University budget concerns.

Dr. Banks announced the next meeting of the Repeat Policy subcommittee is scheduled for March 27 at 2:00 PM.

Dr. Smith reported that, at its last meeting, the Athletic Council expressed disappointment that examination of the University Repeat Policy was not moving forward as quickly as they had hoped.

Meeting adjourned at 11:50 AM.

Respectfully submitted by
Sandra Walther

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