Emergency Pass/Emergency Fail grade option The Emergency Pass/Emergency Fail grade option was developed with input from the Academic Affairs Committee and the Executive Committee. This grade option was approved by President Gaudino last spring in response to COVID-19. However, the approval was only temporary. This grade option was extended for the summer quarter, and in July, the Provost announced the extension to the fall quarter as well. The Executive Committee would like to better define the boundaries of this grade option, with an emphasis on the following: (1) under what circumstances can this grade option be activated; (2) a clear process for de-activating the policy at the end of the emergency; and (3) clear information about who will be the entity making the decision to activate/de-activate the option. In order to do this, we need to evaluate the potential long-term negative implications for students, which need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis. The Executive Committee is working with the Academic Affairs Committee to evaluate the implications, develop the language, and the associated policy. In addition, we are working on reviewing the existing temporary policy to make sure it addresses potential issues with the removal of Incompletes. Presidential Search As mentioned in the previous letter, the Faculty Senate Executive Committee Chair (Elvin Delgado) and past-Chair (Walter Szeliga) are part of the Board of Trustees Presidential Search Advisory Committee. I am happy to inform that the Trustee Search Advisory Committee has been working diligently on evaluating the pool of candidates. The search firm – William Funk & Associates – has done a good job reaching out to attract qualified and talented candidates to apply for this position. The pool has 80 applicants and one-third of them are minorities. Each member of the Trustee Search Advisory Committee submitted her/his list of the best ten candidates to the firm on October 8 th . The Advisory Committee met on October 12 th to discuss and evaluate the best candidates and will conduct preliminary interviews via Zoom on October 19 th and 20 th . The Advisory Committee will recommend finalists to the Board of Trustees on October 30 th . Conclusion The Executive Committee is hopeful about the opportunity to continue and expand upon direct dialogue between faculty and the Board of Trustees over the next academic year. We appreciate the Board’s efforts to genuinely embrace faculty concerns. We thank you for the opportunity to update you on our Senate initiatives. The Executive Committee looks forward to a time when we are able to return to campus-life for students, faculty, and staff and are eager to help in any way we can. We continue to remain positive about the direction of the university and look forward to future interactions with the Board. If there are any questions about any of the activities described above or any questions related to the Faculty Senate, I would be more than happy to address them.
Respectfully Submitted,
Elvin Delgado, Ph.D. Faculty Senate Chair (2020-2021)
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