Montevallo’s Faculty Senate met Friday Feb. 14.  

The primary topic of discussion at the meeting was the decision by the University to keep the due dates for senior grades the same.  

This same issue came up in an SGA Senate meeting, and many senators expressed their preference for the grades to remain due at the same date so that Seniors could receive their diplomas on graduation day.  

A week after the issue was first brought to the attention of the SGA, Dr. Dahle informed SGA president, Olivia Eldridge, that the due dates for grades would not be changed.  

The Faculty Senate had a very different viewpoint than the SGA.  

When faculty senate president, Dr. Tiffany Wang, informed the Faculty Senate of the University’s decision many of the Senators reacted with outrage, particularly when Wang told them that the administration had informed her that they were making the decision without any Faculty input.  

Wang conveyed that she had been informed some students were polled prior to the decision, but expressed her own doubts on the thoroughness of the polling. She also said that she had been informed that some alumni had expressed concern over the change.  

Several faculty senators responded by asking why any alumni should care about when graduating Seniors received their diplomas.  

The Faculty Senate discussed possibly passing a resolution to express their belief that the due date for senior grades should be pushed back.  

After several reports had been given, Dr. John Stewart III, UM President, came to speak to the Faculty Senate.  

UM is currently looking to hire a new Chief Information Officer. Stewart acknowledged that the relationship between IS&T had been poor, and highlighted that as the chief reason that they were being very selective in their consideration for the CIO.  

“IS&T and campus relations disintegrated with Craig at the helm,” said Stewart. 

Stewart clarified that this was not meant as an insult, but was merely a breakdown of what he saw as the facts.  

Stewart also discussed the idea of increasing the number of staff sabbaticals allowed per year. He outlined the issue as becoming a sabbatical versus travel grant money for professors.  

Dr. Raymond Ozley, an associate professor for communication and a Senator for the department of communication, raised the idea of offering fundraising options for faculty sabbaticals. The idea being that if the money was provided by donors, then the University wouldn’t have to choose between increasing travel grants and increasing sabbaticals.  

Prior to Stewart’s arrival, the Senate had been discussing information that some of their members had brought forward from a meeting of the Technology Advisory Council that the University was considering no longer keeping a subscription to Box.  

Many of the Senators expressed concern over this, stating that many files were already stored on box, and that it would be a large inconvenience to switch to a new system at this time.  

When asked, Stewart stated that he didn’t know anything about the situation with Box, but that he would get back to the Senate once he knew more.  

Senators reported that new minors for Sports Business and Cybersecurity had been approved with revisions. A new general education course will also be added to the course list, the new course will be designated Pysch 202. 

The University is also looking for a new Chief Financial Officer.