University Times

Faculty Assembly last week endorsed a resolution suggesting that faculty avoid scheduling exams or having major assignments due on Election Day (Nov. 2) or the following day.

Lewis Jacobson, who introduced the resolution, argued that as good citizens Pitt faculty should make an effort to facilitate student participation in the electoral process.

The resolution, which passed unanimously with two abstentions, is not binding.

Assembly also tabled a resolution proffered by Richard Tobias, chair of the University Senate antidiscriminatory policies committee, to endorse the establishment of a volunteer educational intervention program called Safe Zone.

According to Tobias and other supporters who attended the Sept. 7 Assembly, the purpose of the program would be to improve the climate of diversity on campus by identifying individuals who will pledge to provide “safe and supportive contact for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students, faculty and staff.”

Participants would be asked to attend one training and one follow-up session and would merit “Safe Zone” signs to display in their work space upon completion of training as “safe mentors.”

Dozens of colleges nationwide have adopted similar programs, Tobias maintained.

In a wide-ranging discussion, a number of Assembly members raised objections to endorsing the resolution as presented. Included in their arguments were:

– The resolution called for the University to support the program with office space and a budget for a facilitator without providing a needs assessment to justify allocating resources;

– An implication in adopting the program is that those work spaces not displaying the Safe Zone symbol were unsafe;

– Faculty expressed a reluctance to claim to be mentors for a particular student sub-group after one training session, and

– The potential exists that other student sub-groups would not benefit equally from the program.

Tobias agreed to re-work the wording of the resolution prior to future discussion. In another issue brought to the Assembly, Jacobson of biological sciences asked that the appropriate Senate committee “inquire on the status of [the Pittsburgh campus’s] power reliability, which has been a serious issue over the last few weeks, without any obvious weather problems” that might explain recent power outages.

Senate President Nicholas Bircher, who leads Assembly meetings, asked the plant utilization and planning committee to take up the issue.

Bircher also asked Thomas Metzger, chair of the educational policies committee, to report to a future Assembly meeting on a recent report by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force on the climate for gays and lesbians on college campuses nationwide (available at: www.ngltf.org).

Metzger told the University Times that members of his committee had copies of the 66-page document, but that the committee had not finished its evaluation nor made recommendations.

Educational policies also was asked by Bircher to examine Pitt’s policies on student cheating and subsequent consequences, which may vary by department, he said.

Bircher summarized the agendas for some of the Senate standing committees for this academic year. Included in his summary: * Antidiscriminatory policies: Examine Pitt’s compliance with the Americans With Disability Act.

* Athletics: Further discussion on whether Pitt should join the Coalition On Intercollegiate Athletics, which the University declined to join last spring. (See May 13 University Times.)

* Benefits and welfare: Faculty and staff use of campus recreational facilities; negotiations regarding Pitt’s health benefits plan; expanding employee training options for automated external defibrillators.

* Computer usage: Electronic publishing options and expansion; Pitt’s policies on the possible monitoring of e-mail by deans and department heads.

* Plant utilization and planning: Monitoring of construction projects’ progress; alerting affected people on construction- and renovation-related disruptions. In other Faculty Assembly developments:

* The Senate fall plenary session is set for Nov. 3. The day-long conference will focus on the scholarship of community service, and will feature workshops, exhibits and discussions.

* Bircher said the current “favorite” for the spring plenary session (March 23) is a discussion on whether the faculty and others in the Pitt community have enough “say” in Pitt’s athletics policies and use of funds.

* Bircher said he’d follow up with Provost James Maher on faculty concerns that graduate student financial aid is dwindling.

* Tobias prompted an ovation from the Assembly when he announced:

“The antidiscriminatory polices committee has received news with great pleasure and delight that the University will offer domestic partner benefits,” something his committee has advocated for several years. (See Sept. 2 University Times.)

-Peter Hart