The following agenda is published in accordance with the Faculty Senate Rules. Any member of the standing faculty may attend SEC meetings and observe. Questions may be directed to Patrick Walsh, executive assistant to the Senate Office, either by telephone at (215) 898-6943 or by email at senate@pobox.upenn.edu.

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Report from the Senate Tri-Chairs. Faculty Senate Chair William Braham reported on the following matters:

• The Senate Tri-Chairs have met weekly since the rise the Omicron variant in December and consulted regularly with the administration and the Senate Select Committee on Planning for Post-Pandemic Penn (“P4”) to advise Penn leadership on navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and maintaining the interests of Penn and its faculty in the process.
• SEC members are requested to consult with their constituents to seek feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of the new set of common start times for classes that became effective during Fall 2021. Time will be devoted to discussing this matter during SEC’s February meeting.
• Following on the Faculty Senate Seminar held December 8, Academic Freedom and Responsibility in Contentious Times, a 15-minute excerpt of the seminar recording and an information sheet was shared with deans and department chairs along with a request that time in a faculty meeting be reserved to discuss its content with respect to diversity, equity, and inclusion issues faced in their respective areas and in particular classroom practices and norms. A follow-up to this seminar is being planned and will be announced in due course.
• The Tri-Chairs understand that Carey Law School Dean Ted Ruger is considering bringing charges against Professor Amy Wax but are not yet aware of the specific nature of the charges or proposed sanctions. The Faculty Senate will be following the protocol set forth in Faculty Handbook Section II.E.16, which includes several due process steps. The process will remain confidential and will not be taken up by the Faculty Senate in any public way.
• The Senate Select Committee on Scholarly Communication was formed in 2019 following observations of a change in the publishing industry to a pay-to-publish model. Penn Libraries’ leadership has been actively involved in the Committee’s deliberations and has entered into its first “read and publish” arrangement with Cambridge University Press for the calendar years 2022-2024.

Update from the Office of the President. President Amy Gutmann expressed gratitude for the numerous contributions made by the Tri-Chairs, the Senate Executive Committee, and the Faculty Senate in advancing the life of the University and the excellence and eminence of Penn.

Faculty Senate Seminar: “Returning to In-Person Teaching”. At 4 p.m. ET, a Faculty Senate Seminar was held virtually and was open to all Penn faculty, of which an archived recording is available on the Faculty Senate website.