By Phillip Lentsch–
The University of Louisville faculty senate passed a motion saying they want Governor Matt Bevin to appoint the necessary racial minorities to the current board of trustees on Oct. 5.
Senate chair Enid Trucios-Haynes presented the recent SGA resolution with a similar compliance request. Senator Beth Willey asked for the senate to make a similar statement.
“I think we need to create a statement of our own saying that we support the students and to tell the governor to take further actions to bring the board fully in compliance with the resolution,” Willey said.
The discussion quickly turned into a motion sent forth by Trucios-Haynes, which passed with overwhelming support from the senate. A statement will be released soon going into further detail on the senate’s position.
Willey also presented the new Quality Enhancement Plan that U of L has created in response to the accreditation process it’s going through.
“We want this program to be more student-intensive,” Willey said. “We find that while we create many opportunities for incoming freshmen when it comes to classes and involvement. We aren’t doing enough for older students. The focus of this plan is to target second-year student retention.”
Acting President Neville Pinto also reported to the senate. Pinto gave an update on the performance budget model that the university has been pursuing, which seeks to give more funding to research institutions across the state.
“We have found that the research universities in Kentucky are actually the ones that are underfunded, while comprehensive universities have an advantage,” Pinto said.
Pinto mentioned campus crime, in regards to the string of sexual assaults and robberies that have occurred near U of L.
“We do actually have a RAVE alert app – Cardsafe – that can be downloaded, but only a few hundred students have it on their phones,” Pinto said. “We have 22,000 students here, so we need to do something to increase awareness of technologies like this.”
Pinto also discussed the current status of the U of L Foundation and Board of Trustees, shedding light on recent appointments to both organizations.
“Since our last meeting, President Ramsey stepped down from the foundation, and we’ve changed the composition of the board substantially,” Pinto said. “We made four new appointments to the board, and I feel as though we changed the process of nomination to be more robust and more transparent.
“Ultimately, the board governs the foundation. Right now, the foundation membership is 15 total, with ten community members who are not associated with U of L, four board of trustees members and the university president,” Pinto said.
“We’ve also established a joint committee that’s going to be overseeing an audit of the foundation,” Pinto said. “It’s been combined with the university and foundation board, because we need to bring people on both of these bodies together.”
Other university personnel issues were discussed, including the ongoing search for a new ombudsman and the faculty salary equity adjustments.
File photo / The Louisville Cardinal