LFA Exec - Minutes - January 28, 2021

LIBRARY FACULTY ASSEMBLY (LFA) EXECUTIVE MEETING MINUTES

3 pm Thurs., Jan. 28, 2021

Approved March 2, 2021

Present: Brian Rosenblum (chair), Scott McEathron (librarian), Elspeth Healey (associate librarian), Karna Younger (secretary), L.Marie Avila (assistant librarian), Angela Rathmel (vice-chair), Sara Morris, Jamene Brooks-Kiefer, Michiko Ito, and Betsaida Reyes.

 

Agenda

A. Approve minutes from previous meeting

B. Discuss Board of Regents new guidelines for suspensions, terminations and dismissals of faculty and staff

C. Discuss LCPT recommendation in response to their special charge #1 (“Discuss appropriateness of Libraries HR putting out a general voluntary call to past candidates to “opt in” to sharing their files (candidate-prepared documents only) as examples to help new candidates in preparing their files. LCPT’s discussions should consider potential legal/personnel problems and HR’s responsibility for keeping track of permissions.”).

D. Discuss required COVID-19 Evaluation Statement for faculty.

 

Notes:

  1. Minutes approved with corrections by unanimous consent.
  2. Discussed LCPT recommendation in response to their special charge #1 (“Discuss appropriateness of Libraries HR putting out a general voluntary call to past candidates to “opt in” to sharing their files (candidate-prepared documents only) as examples to help new candidates in preparing their files. LCPT’s discussions should consider potential legal/personnel problems and HR’s responsibility for keeping track of permissions.”).
  3. Jamene Brooks-Kiefer represented LCPT and their questions and suggestions.
    • KUL HR does not believe it is best suited to match pre-tenured people with suggested files for modeling P&T files, and LCPT needs to devise a plan for implementation.
    • Discussion ensued about whether LCPT or HR would facilitate faculty directly sharing their files based on a list of names of persons willing to directly share.
    • Sara Morris suggested having a conversation with the faculty first to gather input on the process and reasons for sharing files.
    • Executive decided LCPT represented by Jamene would lead a discussion during the spring general assembly.
  4. Discuss Board of Regents new guidelines for suspensions, terminations and dismissals of faculty and staff
    • Betsaida Reyes has been leading effort to draft a KUL faculty and staff letter in response to the KBOR policy.
    • Brian reported Dean Kevin Smith has discussed the policy during upper administrative meetings and talked to the head of KUL’s Office of Communication and Advancement to write a letter to KUL faculty and staff.
    • Sara is on Planning and Resources meeting where budget deficit was discussed. She shared how falling student enrollment, low international student enrollment because of the pandemic, and the university’s tuition dependency are factoring into the university’s financial situation.
    • The group also discussed the prospect of KUL being able to fill vacant positions, and Brian and Angie said they would follow up with Kevin.
    • LFA executive discussed ways they could advocate for faculty and staff with KUL administration to be more transparent about the policy and its implementation, possibly holding a town hall to hear faculty and staff concerns.
    • Discussion of required COVID-19 Evaluation Statement for faculty.
      1. Group discussed origins of statement requirement issued by University and complications with requiring people to disclose personal information and the fact that it was introduced late into the evaluation process.
      2. The group was concerned about whether Libraries or University administration followed the model of shared governance, given LFA did not approve the inclusion of the COVID- 19 statement in our evaluation process.
      3. Brian also pointed to the problem that “professional responsibility” was only applied to unclassified academic staff in the University documentation, indicating that library faculty were not included in the framing of the document.
  5. Meeting adjourned at 4:08 pm.