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The University of Michigan\u2019s Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs<\/a> met Monday afternoon in the Alexander G. Ruthven building to discuss faculty representation in the University\u2019s ongoing presidential search<\/a> and debate the scope of a new Faculty Senate<\/a> committee on artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n SACUA Chair Kentaro Toyama began the meeting with a series of updates for the committee. Notably, Kentaro mentioned the passage of a previous SACUA resolution<\/a> requesting Faculty Senate representation on the University\u2019s recently restarted<\/a> presidential search committee. Toyama said the University\u2019s Board of Regents<\/a> has not yet responded to the request. Steven Buchman, professor of plastic surgery, and several other SACUA members expressed disapproval over the University\u2019s lack of communication on the matter.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe they\u2019re taking their time, but the idea that in some way they wouldn\u2019t even have the respect of the institution of SACUA to even reply, I think, is problematic,\u201d Buchman said. \u201cThe idea that the administration would not even have the courtesy to answer the question is showing us how much they don\u2019t believe in shared governance.\u201d<\/p>\n Jesse Capecelatro, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, said he believes the regents may be ignoring the Faculty Senate due to comments made by former SACUA Chair Derek Peterson. During the 2026 commencement address, Peterson praised<\/a> pro-Palestine protesters, framing their actions as part of a long-standing tradition<\/a> of student activism at the University. The speech was met with both applause<\/a> and backlash<\/a> online, and was condemned<\/a> by University President Domenico Grasso.<\/p>\n