To: Academic Senate Faculty
Dear Colleagues:
As we turn the corner into spring quarter, we offer the Senate updates below on a variety of important issues, from ChatGPT to distance education policy to budgetary matters, and more. With Senate elections almost upon us, I encourage you to nominate yourself or others and to participate in voting. More information is available on the Academic Senate Elections page.
The medium-to-long-term impact of the recent academic worker contracts will transform higher education at UCLA, in the University of California, and far beyond. On our campus, we face the challenge of more than $100 million in new costs over the next three years. See below for a summary of a recent Council of Faculty Chairs letter (PDF) stating principles for how our campus should move forward. Senate leadership has emphasized the need to avoid harming research and teaching as UCLA and the University of California fund the contracts. We welcome you to attend spring Legislative Assembly (LgA) meetings (notice will come via email) to engage senior administrators on these questions, and look for an announcement of a spring town hall for faculty.
Please see below for updates on other important matters, including the new UCLA undergraduate distance education policy (covering online and hybrid courses), ChatGPT and instruction, the role of faculty and the Academic Senate in campus budgeting processes, accommodating religious observance in classes, and joint Senate-Administration task forces on faculty rebuilding and renewal, campus expansion, and graduate programs and graduate student support.
Thank you,
Jessica Cattelino
Chair, UCLA Academic Senate
Academic Senate Updates
March 2023
In this issue:
→ New Undergraduate Distance Education Policy
→ ChatGPT and Instruction
→ Presentation at LgA on Post-Contract Finances and Council of Faculty Chairs Letter
→ Systemwide Guidance on Effort Reporting
→ Faculty Role in Campus Budget Process
→ Faculty Rebuilding and Renewal Joint Task Force
→ Campus Expansion Joint Task Force
→ Future of Graduate Programs and Graduate Student Support Joint Task Force
→ Accommodating Religious Observances
→ Participation in Searches for Senior Administrators
→ Your Academic Senate
New Undergraduate Distance Education Policy
Undergraduate Council has approved a new Undergraduate Distance Education Policy (PDF) for online and hybrid courses, effective Fall 2023. Under the new policy, approval is required for all undergraduate courses in which 50% or less of primary instructional time is in-person. Departments wishing to offer distance courses in Fall 2023 and beyond must submit proposals for delegated approval by their College or School Faculty Executive Committee (FEC) prior to publication in the Schedule of Classes. For details, please consult the full policy and Distance Course Information Sheet (PDF).
ChatGPT and Instruction
Undergraduate Council Chair Kathy Bawn and Graduate Council Chair James Bisley offered guidance to instructors on ChatGPT and related AI developments. As ChatGPT and related AI tools rapidly transform aspects of higher education, instructors are encouraged to: 1) clarify and communicate expectations to students; and 2) consider incorporating academic integrity policies into your syllabus. I encourage you to read the Teaching Guidance for ChatGPT and Related AI Developments.
Presentation at LgA on Post-Contract Finances and Council of Faculty Chairs Letter
At the winter meeting of the Legislative Assembly, Interim Chief Financial Officer (ICFO) Allison Baird-James explained that the current total estimated campus impact of the recent graduate student employee contracts is $103 million from 2023 through the 2024–25 academic year. The short-term focus is on helping academic units and developing campuswide plans to cover teaching assistant and graduate student researcher appointment costs for the next academic year. In response to questions, Baird-James clarified that the Administration was taking a holistic approach to meeting the settlement costs, rather than only looking at academic units and Principal Investigators (PIs) to cover costs. Her slides are available online (PDF).
A recent letter from our Council of Faculty Chairs (PDF) emphasized the following:
“The financial responsibility for reinvesting in graduate education and postdoctoral training in the wake of the related contract settlements must not be borne disproportionately by academic units and faculty PIs. It is illogical and wrong‐headed to expect that a reinvestment in long‐underfunded graduate education and research, which are at the core of our academic mission, would slash academic budgets.
Every budget must be on the table, including administrative budgets, as our campus and UC system address cost increases.
The faculty must be involved, both at the level of the FECs and through the Council on Planning and Budget and other Senate bodies, in making these hard and likely painful budgeting decisions.”
The letter continued with concern about on the impact on graduate student and faculty diversity.
Systemwide Guidance on Effort Reporting
The Office of Employee and Labor Relations at the UC Office of the President recently shared systemwide guidance with the campuses for procedures to adjust overpayments of salary for UAW-represented student employees who withheld their labor during the strike period. Chair Susan Cochran and Vice Chair James Steintrager of the UC systemwide Academic Senate addressed a letter to all UC faculty notifying them of this guidance and highlighting procedures for faculty and PIs with reporting obligations who may need to discuss work effort during the strike period: Guidance for Faculty on Work Effort Reporting (PDF).
Cochran and Steintrager underscored that these conversations with employees are only required if the regular mechanisms for reporting time or attesting to project completion status are insufficient. If a conversation is necessary to clarify work effort during the strike period, it should take place via email and focus on work and time completed, as opposed to missed. The letter offers specific wording that may be helpful for faculty and PIs.
Faculty Role in Campus Budget Process
This year, the Academic Senate is resuming collaboration with the Academic Planning and Budget Office and the ICFO to offer “Budget101” training for Senate leaders and members of the Council on Planning and Budget (CPB). CPB and Senate leadership are advocating for increased involvement of faculty (through CPB and Faculty Executive Committees [FECs]) in the campus budgeting process. These recommendations stem from past UCLA practice and current practice at other UC campuses.
Faculty Rebuilding and Renewal Joint Task Force
The Faculty Rebuilding and Renewal Joint Task Force, announced in the January – February 2023 UCLA Academic Senate Updates, is co-chaired by Michael Levine, Vice Chancellor for Academic Personnel, and Kathleen McGarry, Past Chair, University Committee on Planning and Budget. The Joint Task Force is focused on initiatives to support faculty and reverse several trends including increases in the student-faculty ratios, a shift away from tenure-track faculty hiring, and pandemic impacts on faculty. It is considering faculty hiring, higher salaries, research funding, and continuing research and teaching relief. The co-chairs invite faculty feedback and questions, including suggestions on topics and ideas to improve issues facing faculty, by writing to ovcap@conet.ucla.edu.
Campus Expansion Joint Task Force
UCLA Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost Darnell Hunt and UCLA Academic Senate Chair Jessica Cattelino have co-charged a Campus Expansion Joint Task Force to focus on recommending optimal academic programmatic uses of the newly acquired UCLA campus expansion in Rancho Palos Verdes. It is co-chaired by Christina (Tina) Christie, Dean of the School of Education and Information Studies, and Andrea Kasko, Vice-Chair of the Academic Senate. The Joint Task Force is leading a process of ideation and consultation to conceptualize an academic program for the campus expansion. They welcome questions and ideas at CampusExpansionTaskForce@conet.ucla.edu.
Future of Graduate Programs and Graduate Student Support Joint Task Force
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Darnell Hunt and Academic Senate Chair Jessica Cattelino have co-charged a Future of Graduate Programs and Graduate Student Support Joint Task Force, to be co-chaired by Susan Ettner, Dean of Graduate Education, and James Bisley, Chair of the Graduate Council. The Joint Task Force will recommend a plan for the future of graduate programs and graduate student support at UCLA. Members will consider longstanding structural issues and the new reality of graduate education in light of recent collective bargaining agreements with graduate student workers. In making its recommendations, the Joint Task Force will keep in mind the University of California’s mandated responsibility for the State's research enterprise and academic graduate education, and consider how changes to graduate programs and graduate student support might affect UCLA’s role as an R1 research institution. There will be an upcoming town hall for faculty to provide ideas, views, and other feedback.
Accommodating Religious Observances
This year, March 22 to April 21 marks the month of Ramadan, observed by Muslims as a month of fasting and prayer. For Jewish community members, observance of Passover begins the evening of April 5 and continues through the evening of April 13. Many Christians are currently observing Lent, which culminates with Good Friday on April 7 and Easter on April 9. The Academic Senate encourages instructors to review UCLA’s religious creed policy regarding requests to accommodate alternate examination dates for students who observe religious holidays. Thank you for your ongoing dedication to respecting the faiths and practices of all members of our campus community.
Participation in Searches for Senior Administrators
The faculty, through Academic Senate leadership, advise the Administration on searches for senior administrators. This year, Senate leadership has interviewed all candidates and opined on the searches for Dean of the School of Law, Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning, Dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine, and (still to come) Dean of the Samueli School of Engineering.
Your Academic Senate
The Academic Senate is only as strong as its engaged faculty. We uphold the principle of faculty governance in higher education only when faculty exercise their governing authority. We welcome you to volunteer, contact your Legislative Assembly representatives (PDF), reach out to your Faculty Executive Committee Chairs who serve on the Council of Faculty Chairs, visit the Academic Senate website, and follow us on Twitter at @UCLASenate.
Download this BruinPost PDF Here
