Faculty Senate members raise concerns about their right to academic freedom – UNIVERSITY PRESS

On Monday, the Faculty Senate of Florida Atlantic University met met for his First meeting of the fall semester to discuss the presidential search, general education, and textbook updates.

The Faculty Senate is a governing body that deals with the College's overall educational policies, including curriculum, degree programs, and more. Senate members discussed the agenda of the meeting and also approved a music minor for students.

Presidential search

Sherry Murphy, chair of the Presidential Search Committee, attended the meeting to hear what senators want from FAU's next president. Murphy has 16 Listening sessions since 29.08.

The senators' wishes for the future president ranged from building stronger relationships with the student body to valuing diverse backgrounds to helping develop a new vision for the university.

Sen. Mark Kohlbeck, professor of accounting at FAU, believes the president should be more accessible to the FAU community.

“I see the president as the most important face of the university and I think what has been missing in the past is a stronger connection with our students and parents,” Kohlbeck said. “I would like to see a president who is actively fundraising.”

Other members, including FAU voice professor Stacie Rossow, agreed with Kohlbeck about a president's connection to students, adding that it's important for the president to know Florida so he can work to differentiate FAU from other universities.

“How can we raise our status not only nationally, but specifically in South Florida? You have to know South Florida,” Rossow said.

Senator Andrés Ramirez spoke about how he would like the new president to focus more on the Hispanic community, as FAU is an institution that caters exclusively to Hispanics, and he believes the university has “struggled” with that title.

“What does this mean for FAU?” he asked.

The senators also pointed out how important it is for a university president to consider student diversity.

“The president should be aware of who our student body is and be passionate about it, right?” said Meredith Ellis, an anthropology professor at FAU. “… we are a special institution that is proud of its student body, and it would be great if our president was, too.”

General education updates

James Capp, assistant vice president for strategic planning and student success, presented the latest updates on general education courses to senators. He said more than 48 courses in communications, mathematics, science, humanities and social sciences have been eliminated or revised.

This is due to a new law that does not allow “identity politics” and which Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law in May 2023. This law passed comprehensive reforms to the state’s higher education system, affecting the general education requirements and curricula of all public universities and state institutions.

There was frustration in the room over plans to eliminate these key words and specialty courses. Senators also expressed concerns about how to accommodate teachers who can no longer teach certain classes.

Chris Robé, a professor of film studies, suggested that the issue be postponed because he believes senators need more time to consider the amendments before ratification. He said that even with the Senate's ratification, it does not mean that the decision can be reversed.

Although the decision cannot be reversed, Robe nevertheless stressed the importance of the Senate voting “no” to the bill.

“Academic freedom is being violated in many ways. We must make it clear that we do not agree with this,” Robe said.

Textbook updates

In late August, Ray Rodrigues, Chancellor of the State University System of Florida, presented to the Board of Governors (BOG) a summary of the State University System's initiatives and efforts related to the affordability of textbooks and instructional materials.

Rodrigues said he believes textbooks should prevent anti-Semitism. He wrote a letter to FAU's Faculty Senate outlining new policies and regulations they must enact.These policies include reviewing all materials for each course they teach each semester, such as textbooks, exam and assignment questions, required and supplementary readings, and any other course materials the faculty may assign to students to read.

In addition, all textbooks containing the following words will be marked for review:

“Israel, Israeli, Palestine, Palestinian, Middle East, Zionism, Zionist, Judaism, Jewish or Jews are marked for review,” the letter to thatenat.

The BOG sent another letter The academic freedom of teachers is at risk. The letter states: “Academic freedom is not a license to promote anti-Semitism.”

At the meeting, the Senate reviewed these Letters that were sent back and forth with the Chancellor. Senator Michael Harris, an anthropology professor, shared his frustration with the Chancellor.

“You can’t control what we say and what we actually do,” Harris said.

Senator LeaAnne DeRigne expressed concerns about what teachers can teach in the classroom.

“The bigger issue here is that it limits what teachers can do in their classrooms when it comes to reading assignments. It's certainly not that you agree with the content of this article, but it creates a place for higher education to discuss things,” DeRigne said.

Further recognitions

Kevin Wilt, the head of the music department, proposed a music minor for students. This minor gives students access to facilities reserved only for music students and the opportunity to earn credit in all music ensembles.

“We are trying to put together a minor so that students can actually get credit for these courses. [music ensembles] and also have access to the facilities that currently only music students can use,” said Wilt.

The senators agreed to this proposal and passed the music minor.

Juanita Olarte is a guest author at University Press. For more information about this or other stories, please email [email protected].