Last Thursday’s faculty meeting included discussion on next year’s university budget, ongoing administrative search committees and the unequal treatment of non-tenure track faculty. Provost Lisa Lynch facilitated the meeting in Olin-Sang 101.

The meeting began with two memorial tributes to Prof. Emeritus Andrew Szent-Györgyi (BIOL) and Prof. Barbara Levy (ENG). Lynch then began her provost report by noting that the March meeting of the Board of Trustees, which historically has focused on a presentation of the University’s budget for the upcoming academic year, will take place this week.

Lynch stated that the proposed budget will include requests for increases in the salary pool, tuition increases and room and board increases.

She noted her personal request to use some of the funds from the sale of Brandeis House in February in order to address concerns about faculty retention and salary gaps.

Lynch characterized the upcoming budget as “a steady-as-you-go budget” and “not a budget that has cuts in it, but it’s not a budget that has massive new initiatives associated with it.”

She added that the University’s current financial status is secure, which she believes is “a good place to be in terms of we’re not going to scare the hell out of any presidential candidates.”

The Board will also be viewing a 10-year projection for the University’s financial model.

Lynch stated that the University has received applications from across the country for the position of vice provost for research but urged faculty to consider applying for the position themselves.

The University will begin reviewing applications at the end of the month, according to Lynch.

Interim Dean of the Heller School Prof. Marty Krauss (Heller) asked about the search processes for other positions, including for the vice president of human resources, which will be vacant after Scot Bemis steps down on March 31.

Lynch said that a search process has begun. In an email to the Justice, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Steven Manos confirmed that he will lead the search committee.

Prof. Tom Pochapsky (CHEM) delivered the Faculty Senate report.

According to Pochapsky, the Senate has been reviewing faculty nominations to appear on the presidential search committee at the request of Board of Trustees member Lawrence S. Kanarek ’76 who, according to Pochapsky, has been appointed the chair of the search committee by chairman of the Board Perry Traquina ’78.

Kanarek and Traquina will have the final say on which faculty members appear on the committee, according to Pochapsky. Pochapsky described the presidential search as “a time-consuming but important task.”

Pochapsky also noted the International Business School’s recent completion of an internal climate assessment for Title IX compliance, which involved bringing in the retired ombudsperson of Dartmouth College, Mary Childers. Pochapsky said that “there were no major issues identified” at IBS.

According to Pochapsky, the faculty senate is also gathering data on how adjunct faculty are used across the University’s schools and departments, in response to such faculty being contacted by the Service Employees International Union.

According to Pochapsky, the term adjunct “means different things in different departments” and “different departments use the same type of faculty for different jobs,” which is why the Senate is gathering data on the different roles adjunct faculty play across the University.

However, Krauss questioned why this data collection was necessary, as a committee completed a thorough assessment of the role of adjunct faculty across all three schools over the course of two years “about 10 or 12 years ago.”

Lynch added that she used the previous report as a template for discussing relations between tenure track and non-tenure track faculty during her time as academic dean at Tufts University, stating that it was “at the frontier” of discussing the issue.

Pochapsky claimed to be unaware of the previous assessment but reinforced the importance of the issue, saying that “people who don’t feel like they’re part of the process are nevertheless doing quite a bit of teaching work—even the brunt of the teaching work.”

Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Prof. Eric Chasalow (MUS) stated that investigating equity for non-tenure track faculty after the previous assessment “makes a lot of sense to me,” but that it was important not to conflate such an investigation with SEIC contacting adjunct faculty members.

According to Lynch, University President Frederick Lawrence was unable to attend the meeting due to being in New York for the launch of Prof. Jonathan Sarna's (NEJS) new book, Lincoln and the Jews: A History.