The faculty senate heard a report on the anti-racism task force and voted on proposals from the Educational Policy Council in their Feb. 13 meeting.

Amoaba Gooden, vice president for the division of diversity, gave a presentation about the progress of the anti-racism task force.

The anti-racism task force came out of the international response that came from the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the 2020 rock incident at Kent State, Gooden said. Students, faculty and administrators make up the task force to collaborate and address racism on Kent State’s campus.

In 2021, the task force presented 108 recommendations. The University has completed 25 of the recommendations.

“Some of the completed recommendations include the development of a syllabus statement on diversity,” Gooden said. “We have a formal mentoring plan for faculty with increased awareness of mental health for faculty and staff and students across campus, and we’ve expanded in marketing for safety escorts.”

Many of the recommendations are still ongoing. These initiatives include recruiting more diverse students and faculty and eliminating barriers in the application process.

Following Gooden’s presentation, the Educational Policy Council proposed three new amendments and measures.

The Educational Policy Council is a part of the Faculty Senate that presides over long-term curriculum changes.

Cathy DuBois, associate dean of graduate and online programs, proposed an amendment to the graduate dual degree policy.

“This policy change allows the use of 12 credits from a prior degree obtained at Kent State toward another graduate degree,” DuBois said.

The policy amendments proposed passed.

Another item proposed the creation of a new biochemistry major. The new major would fix an error regarding concentrations taking up more than 50% of the required credit hours. The proposed solution was to change the biochemistry concentration to a new major that will house the biochemistry and pre-med concentrations. The chemistry major will continue to house the industrial chemistry and materials chemistry concentrations.

Associate Professor Diane Stroup proposed the amendment and brought in data to support it.

“When you combine the biochemistry and the biochemistry pre-med concentrations, enrollment fall of 2022 is 120 students,” Stroup said. “All the other concentrations of the BS chemistry combined are 41 as of fall 2022.”

The proposal to create a new major passed.

There was contention over the third proposal from the Educational Policy Council concerning the wording in university policy about grant-funded post-doctorate students. The issues were surrounding the phrasing “with appropriate faculty consultation.”

The wording would require any faculty member with a grant-funded post-doctorate student to seek approval from an appropriate faculty governing body before starting the search for the post-doctorate candidate.

Senior Lecturer Linda Smith motioned for the wording to be changed to “include consultation with the appropriate faculty governance body of the academic unit,” for clarity reasons.

“There’s a contractual requirement that appropriate faculty bodies be consulted on anything that’s central to the academic mission of the academic unit,” Smith said. “And whether something is central to the academic mission has nothing to do with who’s funding it.”

After a discussion about the difference between consultation and approval, the proposal to amend the phrasing passed.

The next faculty senate meeting will be March 13 in the Governance Chambers of the Student Center.

Jocy Holtsberry is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].