Jeremiah
2019-2020 FACULTY SENATE
FULL MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 25, 2020
Video Live Stream
The sixth regular meeting of the 2019-2020 Faculty Senate was held on Tuesday, February 25,
2020, at 2:10 pm in the East Carolina Heart Institute.
Agenda Item I. Call to Order
Jeff Popke, Chair of the Faculty called the meeting to order at 2:10 p.m.
Agenda Item II. Approval of Minutes
The January 28, 2020 meeting minutes were approved as presented.
Agenda Item III. Special Order of the Day
A. Roll Call
Senators absent were: Tuttle-Newhall (Medicine), Horsman (Geological Sciences), Arnold (Art &
Design), Moss (Dental Medicine)
Alternates present were: Kirchoff (Business), Lawrence (Business), Medina (Foreign Languages and
Literatures), Herron (English), Abney (Engineering and Technology), Liu (Economics)
B. Announcements
Professor Popke summarized a few of the announcements. He noted that next month’s Senate
meeting will be in the Mendenhall Great Rooms. He called attention to the Leadership Profile
developed by the Chancellor Search Committee and asked that nominations for chancellor
candidates be sent to the address specified in the Announcements. He reminded everyone that the
Research and Creative Activity grant applications were due on Thursday (February 27), and thanked
Lisa Barricella for serving as a teller for this meeting. He explained that a teller was necessary for this
meeting because there would be elections for the Faculty Officers Nominating Committee and went
on to describe the requirements and responsibilities of that committee. Professor Popke highlighted
the Green Dot training information.
There was a motion to rearrange agenda slightly so that Interim Chancellor Mitchelson and Interim
Vice Chancellor Van Scott could both attend another meeting scheduled for the same time as Senate.
The proposed change was to switch the order so that Associate Vice Chancellor Bill Koch would
speak before Interim Vice Chancellor Michael Van Scott. A vote was taken and the motion was
approved.
C. Ron Mitchelson, Interim Chancellor
,Interim Chancellor Mitchelson began by thanking all of the Senators for their leadership and
governance. Interim Chancellor Mitchelson’s remarks focused on how recent scandals with the Board
of Trustees have impacted the Chancellor search. He opened his remarks by asking who in the
Senate was troubled, embarrassed or terrified about current leadership issues. Interim Chancellor
Mitchelson then admitted that an unusual sequence of events has occurred at ECU but he asserted
that he refuses to have our identity as a university confused with these governance issues.
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February 25, 2020
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Interim Chancellor Mitchelson said he has found sources of confidence and signs ECU can and will
move forward in a positive fashion. He asked that ECU faculty let this process unfold before
responding. Interim Chancellor Mitchelson does not want ECU faculty to be part of the “crappy
chemistry” (aka, vitriol surrounding these events).
Interim Chancellor Mitchelson admitted that what happened with the Board of Trustees has likely
slowed the Chancellor search process down. In March the committee will be working through the pool
of qualified of applicants. He asked members of the search committee to raise their hands and told
the Senate that he knows these members of the committee well and that they will do the job and
insist that the right thing happens. They will make decisions in the best interest of ECU. Interim
Chancellor Mitchelson said he is thankful for this strong search committee.
Interim Chancellor Mitchelson said another source of confidence is that there are people in the North
Carolina state legislature who have integrity (and he has talked to a few of them). Another source of
confidence are Board of Governors members who are also unhappy with the recent Board of
Trustees scandals. Interim Chancellor Mitchelson said that we saw evidence of their displeasure in
the two Board of Trustee resignations (Moore and Lewis).
Interim Chancellor Mitchelson said his greatest source of confidence is that ECU’s voice had an
impact: the students, faculty, and staff spoke up, and that led to these resignations. Collective voice is
still valued here at ECU. He also noted that Senator Burr and UNC President Erskine Bowles came
together to write a statement about corruption. These, too, are all positive developments and another
reason to maintain confidence in our institution.
Questions
Professor Ticknor (Education) thanked Interim Chancellor Mitchelson for sharing his confidence. She
shares his confidence as well but is also worried how recent events will impact our pool of candidates
for the Chancellor position. Whomever is hired has a tough job ahead of them.
Interim Chancellor Mitchelson responded that “we will cross that bridge in a few weeks.” If the search
committee determines that it is not a good pool, then we might need to hire a search firm. He
acknowledged that the next Chancellor will have their hands full. Interim Chancellor Mitchelson said
that we deserve a great leader. The good news is that other universities have great leaders—we will
have that too, here at ECU. He has confidence that the next Chancellor will be powerful enough to
deal with the governance issues.
Professor Bauer (English) asked about fixed term contracts. When will those go out? If a fixed-term
faculty member has not yet heard whether they will be getting a contract, how confident should they
be?
Interim Chancellor Mitchelson said that questions was better addressed to the Acting Provost, but
said the green light is on and those requests can come forward and the contracts will be processed in
short order. He wants faculty to be in the loop and know what’s going on.
Professor McKinnon (History) asked about promotion raises.
Interim Chancellor Mitchelson said yes, promotion raises will occur this year.
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February 25, 2020
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D. Bill Koch, Associate Vice Chancellor with Campus Operations and
Deb Garfi, Director of Parking Services
Associate Vice Chancellor Koch stated that parking at ECU must be self-supporting. No state dollars
or student fees are allocated to support parking. Most of it is funded via permit fees. He said Parking
Services works hard to keep costs low for everyone. Fees are based on convenience and distance
from campus. They have identified additional revenues—like pay-by-station events and the new
parking garage. He noted that Faculty Senators do not have to pay to park in the garage for Faculty
Senate meetings (Ms. Baker validates parking for Senators). The Board of Trustees passed a 2%
increase which means A permits go up by $8/year and B permits will go up by $4/year. These
increases will generate $60,000 and will begin in July. Garage fees are excluded from fee increases
because they are still gathering data on those. Reserve parking permits will go from $560/year to
$720/year in next fiscal year.
Associate Vice Chancellor Koch said the Student Center parking garage is breaking even, which is
good. The garage is set up with spaces for faculty and staff. They have sold 150 of those permits and
rest are available as hourly space, as well as evening and weekend space. They are filling up.
There is sometimes back up in the garage because they were limited in the number of entrances and
exits they could install. They needed the garage to work with the imprint of Student Center. They
have 3 entry/exit lanes which can be switched depending on traffic patterns. The best way to move
quickly through the garage is to pay at a kiosk, rather than at the gate.
Current parking challenges include construction and barriers throughout the city, which are
unavoidable.
Questions
Professor Herron (English) asked about the relationship of the Associate Vice Chancellor’s office with
parking downtown as ECU begins expanding their operations downtown. Professor Herron noted that
much of the parking downtown is blanketed in asphalt without much concern for environmental
impact, and he asked whether such impacts had been considered, keeping in mind the hotel that will
be built.
Associate Vice Chancellor Koch replied that ECU owns some of the land and city space in the uptown
area. They partnered with the city to hire a consultant to conduct parking studies. They are working
with the city to design more places to park and determine which spaces are being utilized. He
acknowledged the hotel will disrupt student parking that will have to be made up in another area.
There is a Town/Gown committee that meets regularly, as well as a development group. Every
initiative is collective in an effort to create parking that works for both ECU and Uptown.
Professor Herron (English) asked whether the planning process takes into account beautification and
environmental issues. How sensitive are people to environmental issues and quality of living when it
comes to parking?
Associate Vice Chancellor Koch says retention and drainage are built into some new construction,
and said it is a nicer looking parking lot. He said the parking they own in the Reade Street area is
really undeveloped, and there have been several plans to just asphalt that as a surface lot, in which
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