STATESBORO — The latest Faculty Senate meeting saw an active discussion between members and Provost Carl Reiber over preparations being made for the upcoming spring semester. 

The plan for next semester is to have more classes outside of 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in order to spread out the student density on campus across a larger time span. Courses must also maintain 85 percent of classes in the face-to-face format and allow the students to see the format prior to registering for them.

This drew negative feedback from the attending Faculty who cited that the choice was made because of those who spoke out. This would lead to a choice made on the opinions of the vocal few instead of data compiled by listening to the whole. 

There was also a heated discussion about a series of miscommunications regarding which information that was sent out to the professors was a suggestion and which were required.

Before that, TaJaun Wilson, Ed.D., chief diversity officer, presented the points of his Inclusive Excellence Action Plan. You can learn more about the plan here.

Similarly, the student government association presented their initiative to diversify university hires to more closely resemble the diverse population of the student body. 

This plan would include additional funding from the office of the provost for hiring and standardizing giving students more input when it comes to departmental search committees. Reiber confirmed that the Provost Office is working to create the budget to support this plan.

Due to the time extensions earlier, parts of the agenda were postponed for other meetings including President Kyle Marrero’s report, provost’s report, and a discussion led by Professor Lisa Abbott. The discussion for an extension on waitlist response has also been tabled for the next meeting while the provost and president’s updates will be given tomorrow with the Senate Executive Committee.