The University of Oregon Senate held its first meeting of the year Wednesday Oct. 8. Lawrence 115 was filled with faculty and a handful of students gearing up for the 2014-2015 academic year.
“One that promises to be, I think, a most productive year.” University Senate president Robert Kyr said.
The two hour meeting outlined different goals of the University Senate for the upcoming year.
The subjects weighed heavily towards the student conduct code and sexual violence.
Also on the agenda was adopting the hundreds of Oregon Administrative Rules (OARs) to the University of Oregon since its exit from the Oregon University System last year. Since leaving the OUS the University of Oregon switched to a Board of Trustees.
The Board of Trustees recently made temporary changes to the student conduct code, which some members of the University Senate criticized.
“The governing board, without explanation, decided that the student conduct code should be the board’s action.” UO law professor John Bonine said. In the past the student conduct code was decided by the faculty and president.
In the meeting Bonine said that he did not take issue with the changes made but with the process used by the board.
Bonine presented a motion to make changes to the student conduct code divided into nine separate amendments. The senate passed parts, one, two and four, which dealt mostly with changes to the rhetoric, redundancies and making implications explicit.
The third part of the motion however was tabled after much debate, and senate will vote on motion three during its November 5 meeting.
The potential amendment proposed that the statute of limitations be removed from sexual misconduct complaints.
There was some confusion during discussion about the potential punishment for sexual misconduct if the statute of limitations was removed or extended. Sandy Weintraub, director of Student Conduct and Community Standards clarified that university degrees can only be revoked for academic misconduct.
Interested members of faculty senate will meet before the Nov. 3 meeting to discuss and amend the amendment.
Part five of the motion was also postponed to Nov. 5 along with the other four motions that were not addressed in the meeting.
Interim President Scott Coltrane addressed the university senate for the first time since taking the position. Coltrane’s remarks touched on the upcoming review of the OARs, strategic planning and an upcoming capital campaign. In addition, Coltrane said that the university plans to partner with community colleges and other Oregon universities to ask the state to reinvest in higher education.
Coltrane emphasized the diversity of the freshman class, calling it the most diverse incoming class ever with 29% domestic minorities, 24% first generation college students and 37% Pell Grant eligible students.
University Senate will meet again on Oct. 22. The meeting will include a report from the Task Force to Address Sexual Violence and Sexual Assault.