Minutes waiting to be approved by Faculty Senate

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Slide Presentaion

Faculty Senate Meeting

Harrison Hall 123

November 5, 2025

3:15pm-4:30pm

I.       Call to Order 

a.      Meeting was called to order at 3:16pm.

II.       Approval of FS Minutes from October 22, 2025

a.      Tim McDermott moves to approve. Hayes Goosey seconds. None opposed. No abstentions. Approved. 

III.      FYI Items 

a.      Annual Founder’s Day faculty award nominations due Nov. 15.

b.      First-Generation College Celebration events Nov. 3-7.

c.       MSU Celebrate Ag week events Nov. 2-8.

d.      November 11: Veteran's Day (no classes; offices closed)

e.      November 12: Last day to drop (W grade)

f.        Position opening: Sustainability Office director

g.      Animal Committee position filled (thank you, Beth Shirley)

h.      Still seeking Mortar Board and Sigma Xi interest.

i.        Can the Griz starts next week.

IV.     Undergraduate Courses and Programs 

a.      New Courses-Second Read

i.      CSCI 431 : Hypermedia Systems

ii.      EMAT 352 : Mechanical Engineering Materials

iii.      LS 398 : Internship: Supervised Professional Experience with Faculty Mentor

b.      New Courses-First Read

i.      PHSX 464 : Current Topics in Space Physics

c.       Course Changes-Second Read

i.      GPHY 329 : Environment and Society

1.      Changes to learning outcomes

ii.      EIND 415 : Industrial Internet of Things

1.      Title changes from Smart Manufacturing

2.      Changes to outcomes

d.      Course Changes-First Read

i.      ECNS 490R : Undergraduate Research

1.      New learning outcomes

e.      Course Inactivations-Second Read

i.      PHSX 435 : Astrophysics

1.      PHSX 435 was converted in 2022 to ASTR 476, which is now an ongoing course.

f.      Course Inactivations-First Read

i.      PSYX 263CS : The Psychology of Film

1.      Retired Fall 2025

ii.      PSYX 274 : Psychological Testing and Assessment

1.      Retired Fall 2025

iii.      PSYX 428 : Integrated Mental Health Practices

1.      Retired Fall 2025

iv.      PSYX 429 : Eating Disorders

1.      Retired Fall 2025

v.      PSYX 461 : Indust & Organiz Psych

1.      Retired Fall 2025

V.      Graduate Courses and Programs

a.      New Courses-Second Read

i.      EIND 594 : Seminar

ii.      EMEC 556 : The Science and Engineering of Outdoor Sports Gear

iii.      LRES 538 : Plant Community Ecology of the Northern Rocky Mountains

iv.      MEDS 516 : Integration I

v.      MEDS 517 : Integration II

vi.      MEDS 518 : Integration III

b.      Course Inactivations-Second Read

i.      CSCI 581 : Computational Thinking Tchrs

1.      This course will no longer be offered due to low student enrollment. Both MSSE and the Computer Science department have agreed upon its inactivation.

VI.     Information Updates 

a.      Interactive discussion about academic freedom and parameters of faculty free speech in the classroom, in the community, and in personal social media, with MSU Legal Counsel Kellie Peterson, and V.P. University Communications Michael Becker.

i.      See slide presentation

ii.      Questions

1.      Extension gets a stipend for cell phone use. Does that now make it a university phone?

a.      If you are using your phone, and not using the university email account, and not in your university role, you are okay.

2.      Clarify the policy: are students permitted to make recordings and take photographs during class?

a.      Students who have an accommodation to record courses can, everyone else needs the instructor’s permission.

b.      Audio and Video Recording Policy

c.       Cannot record secretly.

d.      Cannot post or duplicate without the instructor’s permission. Cannot share without a permit from communications.

e.      Guest speaker recording? They would need to get a permit first?

i.      Policy refers to students

ii.      If you had permission of speaker

iii.      Students need to know there is a recording being made as well.

f.        Will we be informed if one of our students has accommodation? Yes.

3.      Is a course syllabus a public document?  Does it represent a legal contract in any sense?

a.      Yes, a course syllabus is a public document. Probably doesn’t represent a legal contract, but it’s important that your syllabus reflects what is in the classroom, for accreditation purposes

4.      If a student makes a remark in class about, say, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, which the faculty member or a student finds offensive, what does MSU prefer to happen?

a.      You have the right to maintain your classroom. If they are off topic, you can redirect them.

b.      Offensive comments are not protected.

c.       What ground rules have you set for behavior in the classroom?

d.      You should set expectations for how we talk to each other in the classroom. No personal attacks. No swearing.

e.      What if Montana Hall gets a complaint because a professor offended someone in class?

i.      We will help you and support you, but we won’t take action against protected speech. As long as they aren’t breaking other policies, offending someone is not a violation.

f.        If a faculty member makes a remark in class about, say, the presence of transgender individuals in our community, which a student finds offensive, what does MSU prefer to happen? If a topic such as evolution, homosexuality, vaccination, climate change, reintroduction of wolves, etc., is within the syllabus scope of a course, but a student finds the topic offensive for some reason, is the faculty member somehow exposed to potential sanctions by the university if the student (or the student’s family) lodges a complaint?

i.      Prepare students for these conversations. How do you deal with hearing things we don’t like?

1.      As long as the topic is part of the course.

g.      If a student complains that a professor is antisemite while talking about Isreal, will there be an investigation? Yes.

h.      Syllabus doesn’t have every detail of the course. What advice do you have if a discussion moves slightly but still related to a topic of the course?

i.      Very clearly set up the framework as to why this is important.

5.      Op-ed: Is it okay to say you work for the university and state your position.

a.      You may identify yourself by title and your position.

b.      Can you use a work computer to write this?

i.      Is it part of your job to write this?

ii.      If it is your opinion, that is not a job function of the faculty and should not be done on a work computer.

c.       If not, policy is violated and no laws are skirted, there would be no cause to sanction the employee.

6.      Personal social media: If it is a personal social media account and they are speaking on their own behalf, there is no violation.

a.      Is it impacting how you do your job at the university?

b.      What about the professors from other campuses that were put on leave?

i.      There is evaluation of personal, classroom safety.

ii.      Looking at all the factors, there is a point where you can say they should not be in the classroom.

1.      Just because they’ve been removed doesn’t mean they were terminated or are not getting paid.

c.       When posing on social media, there is always a chance that someone could take it the wrong way. You may want to make the personal choice not to post personal political opinions online. You may not be protected from social consequences.

d.      Each specific situation is different and evaluated separately.

7.      Teaching multicultural awareness. Language from sites has been scrubbed. What is the protection of our role as an educator, working with racial trauma, LGBTQ populations? Group of “parents for education” asked to audit syllabus. Still teaching the curriculum that was approved.

a.      If you find yourself “doxed” on websites, let legal know and they will look into it.

b.      Keep teaching your approved content. You cannot change what students believe. We can observe their behaviors. Are they acting accordingly?

c.       On an emotional level, I’m not sure where MSU stands.

i.      Not the right person to answer that. Reach out to Center for Faculty Excellence.

8.      Controversial topic but necessary for pedagogical reasons: Protected

a.      Political and not related to the course: Not protected. Should be redirected.

b.      Faculty has a responsibility to not start the off-topic conversation

b.      Revised policy for Senate consideration: “Ethical and Professional Standards Policy” (first reading).

i.      Library faculty has issues. Section two on second page. It doesn’t specify that you are acting in a professional capacity. Want to make that clear that it is not personal capacity.

ii.      Definition of “integrity”?

1.      It would be the common definition.

iii.      “Appropriate” comes up a lot. Language is never going to be perfect but feel it could be tightened up before next reading.

1.      You or your department can send Rob Maher ideas of different languages.

c.       Council Updates (University Council, Grad Council, Research Council, ...)

i.      Why is it not okay for students to consume alcohol if they are over 21 years old? 

1.      University policy is that students are not served alcohol at events.

2.      Risk management. Public perception. 

VII.            Senators’ Open Conversation 

a.      Increasing number of students getting disability accommodations. Over the last 10 years there's only been a .25 FTE increase in staffing even though we have such an increasing number of students getting disability accommodations.

b.      How our calendar changed where our fall week is two weeks before the end of semester. Was told Faculty Senate approves the calendar. Not true. 

c.       Faculty lounge: Do we want one, and how do we get one?

i.      The new hotel being built may have a facility that could be useful in that regard. 

d.      Compact: President Tessman is not concerned. He has had no one reach out about it. If faculty came forward with a proposal/resolution in regard to the compact, what would he do? He would not ignore it. If that did happen, that could attract the attention of those who want to “bring it on.” 

VIII.            Public Comment 

a.      Leila Sterman from library

i.      The Ethical policy is a strange policy. It reads like a quick overview, without linking back to the specific policies. Encourage you all to look at it very carefully. It could have a significant impact. The language has changed quite a bit. When it comes to AI, who is making the call on if we are misrepresenting original work? 

IX.            Adjourn

a.      Tim McDermott moves to adjourn. Chris Posbergh seconds. Meeting is adjourned at 4:30pm