By SUSAN JONES
The Senate Faculty Affairs committee held its first meeting of the school term on Dec. 8, as it tries to define its role with half of faculty represented by a union and half not.
The core of the meeting was a report by Tom Hitter, assistant vice chancellor for policy development and management, on a new vaccine policy for students and for employees who work in high-risk areas. The draft policy eliminates the requirement for a COVID vaccine, but includes all of the vaccines that students have long been required to have. The one major change is that students will be required to have all the vaccines before they enroll. There also is a provision for the University to add a vaccine if needed during another public health emergency.
The committee endorsed the draft, which had already passed through the Benefits & Welfare committee. It now moves on to Faculty Assembly.
The rest of the meeting was a discussion of how the committee should proceed. Frank Jenkins, an associate professor in the School of Medicine and School of Public Health, was elected as co-chair to replace Tom Songer, an assistant professor in the School of Public Health.
Songer noted that the committee was formed about seven years ago to explore issues impacting part-time and other non-tenure-stream (now called appointment-stream) faculty. It has since evolved into dealing with issues that affect all faculty, such as Title IX and instruction changes during the pandemic.
“We are in an environment where large numbers of our faculty are covered under the bargaining unit of the faculty union and the entire medical school is not,” Songer said. For fall 2023, there are 2,784 faculty in the School of Medicine, and 3,146 in the rest of the University. Having Jenkins, a medical school faculty member, as co-chair — along with Gosia Fort of the Health Sciences Library System — is important, he said.
Songer said the Faculty Affairs committee still has the the ability to discuss a large number of issues that impact all faculty. One problem that has arisen is that the chancellor’s appointees to the committee — Vice Provosts Lu-in Wang and John Wallace — have not been attending the meetings because they are restricted from discussing issues that could be included in the contract negotiations.
Senate President Robin Kear suggested that the committee consider getting a chancellor’s appointee from the medical school, so it could effectively discuss faculty affairs issues related to those faculty. “After the contract is finished, I think it will be much more clear what this committee can and cannot focus on for representated faculty,” she said. “That doesn't mean that they cannot focus on faculty affairs-related issues for the medical school faculty.”
Jenkins noted that discussions the committee might have about policies related to non-bargaining unit faculty could make their way to the union to consider, “so our discussions can be beneficial for both sides.”
“I hope we get to that place eventually,” Kear said.
Songer said he is researching how faculty affairs committees operate at other universities with faculty unions. “A big part of this committee is going to be thinking about an effective way to bring important issues affecting the faculty to the administration, whether it's through the administration directly or through the bargaining and representation,” he said.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
Have a story idea or news to share? Share it with the University Times.