The University of Michigan’s Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs met Monday afternoon in the Alexander G. Ruthven Building to discuss Michigan Medicine’s decision to end gender-affirming care for patients under the age of 19, academic policies regarding artificial intelligence and the decrease in faculty involvement in decision-making processes.
SACUA Chair Derek Peterson was joined by Regent Paul Brown (D). At the beginning of the meeting Peterson discussed the high voter turnout for the initiative to make the Collegiate Travel Planners travel service optional. Because of the widespread opposition to CTP, this initiative received the most votes in Faculty Senate history, according to Peterson.
Jesse Capecelatro, associate professor of mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering, said the high costs of CTP for the University and individual faculty members make the service extremely unpopular among faculty. Capecelatro argued the service is wasting research funding as he feels it is largely ineffective.
“With all the issues of federal funding and all these programs being cut, our research dollars are very vulnerable, so we don’t want to have to spend more of it on travel,” Capecelatro said. “It’s a new system. I think it’s fundamentally flawed.”
Peterson then discussed Michigan Medicine’s decision to end gender-affirming care for patients under the age of 19, which was announced in August. He emphasized that many faculty are opposed to the decision.
“80% of faculty would like Michigan Medicine to end the pause and resume gender-affirming care,” Peterson said.
This motion to urge Michigan Medicine to resume the care was passed by the Faculty Senate on Nov. 6, 2025, with 2,432 votes yes, 555 votes no and 651 abstaining.
Brown said he wished the percentage was higher, recounting a personal experience with the topic. Brown described how his close friend devoted her life to gender-affirming care as a doctor and the impact of restricting gender-affirming care on those in the medical field.
“(The federal government is) going to come with a big hammer, saying we’re going to prosecute doctors that do it and we are going to punish institutions that allow their doctors,” Brown said. “These doctors are absolutely devastated. They’re heartbroken and work very hard for those patients.”
The committee moved to briefly discuss the role of generative AI in education. Brown said a comprehensive policy is infeasible, advocating for context-specific policies to address the presence of AI in various subjects.
“What I think is appropriate is every professor and researcher in their unique area of expertise help develop policies and procedures,” Brown said. “AI should absolutely be embraced and researched and adopted (in some), and in others, maybe not at all. It’s just there’s such a huge spectrum. I’d love to see a comprehensive policy statement written. I just don’t know how.”
Peterson introduced the call for a revision of the grievance process, pushing for faculty involvement in final decisions regarding violations of the code of conduct. Kentaro Toyama, professor of community information and professor of information, expressed his frustration with what he sees as decreasing decision-making power for faculty.
“I’ve been here 10 years, but it seems like the sense of sharing decision making with the faculty is going away,” Toyama said. “There have been cases where those hearing boards came to a decision and then at the VP level, the decisions were overturned. I mean, it just seems very autocratic.”
Assembly members turned to a similar issue: the lack of faculty involvement in the selection process for the new University president. Peterson said faculty feel left out of the conversation and selection process are concerned the president will not be connected to them.
“Well, if (the University President) are good at their job, which hopefully they are…they (should be) reading everything that comes out from faculty,” Peterson said. “Once they are picked, their first job is to pick out the faculty and find out what their concerns are.”
Daily News Contributors Kathryn Pyne and Isabella Puccio can be contacted at kathrypy@umich.edu and ipuccio@umich.edu.
