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The University of Michigan’s Senate Assembly gathered in the Alexander G. Ruthven Building Monday afternoon to vote on committee charges — documents that list the tasks and duties of a committee — and the procedure for filling off-cycle member vacancies. The remainder of the meeting focused largely on the revisions to the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities made effective July 18.
Rebekah Modrak, Art & Design professor and chair of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, began the meeting with updates about creating a collection of departmental faculty guidelines, which the Senate Assembly committee would consult when discussing University policy. .
Senate Assembly members then voted on the committee charges discussed during the Sept. 16 meeting. The charges were all approved with a 57-0 vote and 1 abstention.
Senate Assembly members followed up with another vote to clarify the standard operating procedure for filling off-cycle Senate Assembly vacancies. According to the proposed procedure, vacancies would be assumed by a Senate Assembly member. Following a three-week nomination process, the Faculty Senate would solicit candidate statements, and voting would open for the general Senate Assembly for 72 hours. The clarification was unanimously approved.
The remainder and bulk of the meeting was spent discussing the revisions made by the University’s Board of Regents to the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities, who did not consult the Student Relations Advisory Committee within the Senate Assembly as they have in the past.
Senate Assembly members discussed the SRAC’s Aug. 15 request for University President Santa Ono and the University’s Board of Regents to pause the SSRR revisions and consult with SRAC prior to enacting the amendments, as outlined in Section VII, subsection J of the SSRR. Ono denied their request on Sept. 18 via email.
SRAC member Jonathan Brennan, associate professor of linguistics, expressed his disappointment with the board’s decision to revise the SSRR and Ono’s response to their request, which he described as devaluing previous efforts by the committee.
“I just want to give one perspective on that letter and that response … which is a concern about a significant waste of resources and time for members of our community,” Brennan said. “Significant work hours are going into this process, which are essentially potentially overwritten by these actions. That concern of our value, of our efforts, is something that we see acutely on the SRAC committee.”
Senate Assembly member Susan Najita, associate professor of American culture and English, shared a similar perspective to Brennan. Najita expressed concerns that the board was not sufficiently considering the impact on the U-M community in their decision making.
“The fact that we have a procedure within the Senate for revision of the statement of the SSRR and the University seems not to know that there is such a review process suggests that there is a culture of disregard for consent,” Najita said. “There’s an understanding that this process has the consent of the students, faculty and administration, and to undermine that consent is actually to undermine trust and relationships that have been built over many, many decades. That’s a very damaging thing that we should all be concerned about.”
Other members of the committee said they felt the policy changes suppress students’ right to freedom of speech at the University. Senate Assembly member Aileen Das, associate professor of classical studies, said she was concerned about how the SSRR revisions diminish student voices, particularly those from marginalized communities.
“Silencing protest to protect the majority is obfuscating the power dynamics,” Das said. “Protest is a way for minority individuals to be seen, to express their visibility and their discontent. This is all coming from the top, who are asking us to step up with DEI 2.0 (strategic plan), but yet silencing a mechanism often used by minority voices to be heard.”
Senate Assembly member Jon Zelner, associate professor of epidemiology, expressed his concern for the situation and what it means at the University level.
“The tool at our disposal is speech,” Zelner said. “The University is nothing without the students, staff and faculty.”
Daily Staff Reporter Patricia Leoncio can be reached at pleoncio@umich.edu.
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