University faculty senators discussed whether to remove University vice presidents as ex-officio members from the Senate and executive council at Friday’s full faculty Senate meeting. The Senate also heard from University President Jim Ryan regarding the Trump administration and its impact on the University, as well as Senate candidates for four executive council positions.
Senate bylaws currently state that the University president, vice presidents, school deans and the University librarian are ex-officio members of the Senate and executive council. According to the bylaws, ex-officio members are able to participate and share their perspectives at meetings, but do not have voting power.
Aaron Bloomfield, Academic Affairs Committee member and Computer Science Prof., said that the AAC had worked to review these bylaws, with minor changes such as fixing grammar but also with the larger change of removing some ex-officio members.
The broader change aimed to remove vice presidents as ex-officio members of both the Senate and the executive council and replace them with the University provost, vice president of academic affairs and vice president of the finance committee — which are not currently included as members — as ex-officios. Bloomfield noted that this change was made because most vice presidents are not active in the Senate.
Voting on this motion will take place online immediately following Friday’s meeting and requires 60 percent of faculty senators to be in favor.
Assoc. Education Prof. Brian Pusser said that the University vice presidents should not be removed as ex-officio members from the Senate and executive council before a discussion is had as to what exactly an ex-officio member is and what their responsibilities include.
“I think before we vote on this… we should present to the Senate what we expect from ex-officio appointments before we say, ‘okay, we’re just cutting these ones,” Pusser said.
Bloomfield responded by saying there are many vice presidents with an ex-officio title who are not active in the Senate — emphasizing that most do not even show up to meetings. However, to close the meeting more quickly, an informal motion was made to leave vice presidents in the bylaws for the time being.
The informal motion also called to add chair of Staff Senate and chair of General Faculty Council along with the original proposals of adding provost, VPAA and VPFA. This would add five positions as ex-officio members to the Senate and executive council while also keeping the vice presidents.
The full faculty Senate unanimously approved this amendment to the original motion, keeping vice presidents and adding the provost, VPAA, VPFA, CSS and CGCF as ex-officio members of both the Senate and executive council.
Ryan also spoke at Friday’s meeting discussing how the University has been responding to recent executive orders being made by the Trump administration. While Ryan did not note any exact measures being taken, he said a group of university presidents meets daily at noon to talk about the latest federal changes and how they apply to universities. Ryan brought up the Board of Visitors' recent decision to dissolve the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and said despite that dissolution, he remains optimistic.
“I’m optimistic that we’re going to end up in a good place where we are not walking away from our values,” Ryan said. “I can guarantee you that we will continue to seek talented faculty and students of [all] backgrounds.”
Ryan was asked by a senator if he could share specific information from the conversations being had between university presidents. Ryan responded by reiterating that there are a number of conversations happening on a daily basis and the best thing to do right now is to recognize universities must work collectively, rather than individually.
“Trying to act collectively, rather than individually, is the way to go,” Ryan said. “The difficulty, frankly, is that we may be in the same form, but we're not in the same boat. Different universities have different resources and different perspectives, [but] there are obviously basic values and principles that I think all institutions share.”
Ryan also discussed the current status of international students at the University, given one graduate student had their visa revoked as well two recent alumni. He said he did not want to disclose which schools these individuals were a part of but that all three of them have been met with and the University had ensured they were equipped with legal services. Further, Ryan noted the International Studies Office — which provides resources for international students, researchers, faculty and official short-term visitors — has been meeting with international students and faculty to ensure they are aware of their rights and that the ISO has been available to meet one-on-one with individuals who have specific concerns.
Regarding research funding, Ryan explained that with President Trump’s recent proposal to cut the U.S. National Institutes of Health budget in half, and Trump’s signing of the executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, the University has had 14 federal research grants terminated this academic year with another one currently on a stop order. The University is also down 5 million dollars this academic year in overall research funding.
Following the meeting, Matthew Bolton, Assoc. School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Prof., told The Cavalier Daily he was disappointed and wished there was more of an urge by the administration to discuss and recognize research. He noted the federal government does not conduct much research which is why there have been executive orders to cut federal funding, and that instead, research has become more of a business.
“I’m always disappointed with these meetings. I think that scientific research is a serious crisis,” Bolton said. “Why would I be a University professor if I could go into business and get paid more?”
Finally, Ryan said he wanted to explain the University’s current “numbers” to share good news. According to Ryan, undergraduate applications have increased 60 percent since 2018, with the most recent undergraduate application cycle for the class of 2029 having received 65,000 applications for roughly only 4,000 seats. The University is also only one of two public universities in the country to meet 100 percent of need-based financial aid and the University has the highest four-year graduation rate of all public universities in the country, with the rate being 94 percent.
“We absolutely always have room to improve, and we are not completely insulated from the world outside of Charlottesville,” Ryan said. “We may face difficult choices and decisions ahead, but this is a remarkable institution, and it is one worth protecting. We are in a strong position for the short run and for the long run.”
During Friday’s meeting, the Senate also heard from candidates running for four positions. These included a seat on the Faculty Senate of Virginia, two executive council at-large, full term Senate seats — who are voted in by the entire Senate and serve a full term — and chair-elect of the Senate, who serves in the absence of the chair and as the officer in training. Voting will take place by senators online beginning Monday and ending Thursday at 5 p.m. According to past-chair Michael Kennedy, all positions require a 50 percent majority of the senators voting and in any case where a majority is not reached, a run-off election between the two candidates with the most votes will be conducted.
The full Faculty Senate will reconvene May 16 at 2 p.m.
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