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General Assembly April 4, 2024 Meeting

Spring flowers student biking

The BFA held it's regular monthly meeting on April 4, 2024 via Zoom. Chancellor DiStefano was on hand to address faculty for the final time as CU Boulder Chancellor. Areas on his mind as the academic year is wrapping up included a concern about academic freedom in light of recent events this year as well as upcoming elections. DiStefano encouraged faculty to be empathetic and to remain open to civic discussion around hard topics. He emphasized that democracy is fragile but that CU Boulder has a critical role to play in educating tomorrow's leaders. During questions from members, DiStefano also said an important concern was the public perception of higher education.

When asked about things over his tenure at CU that he’s most proud of, the chancellor noted that shared governance is unique to higher education and that he's appreciated the guidance from the BFA along with other campus bodies that he's worked with over the years.  DiStefano told members that he has great pride in where Boulder stands in relation to AAU peers and gives credit to faculty in particular for their work over the last fifteen years in research, scholarship and creative work. Additionally, he noted that during his time as Provost, he was also proud of work done with the BFA to begin improving conditions for instructors. In particular he noted the efforts of Cathy Comstock and Rolf Norgaard on the Instructor Bill of Rights. DiStefano also noted that previously fundraising in his role was not a main focus, but that through his efforts he more than doubled the amounts and noted that fundraising would continue to play a key role in the future.

Lastly, the chancellor told members that he’s looking forward to returning to the faculty and noted that back in the day he had been an original member of the BFA (known as the Faculty Council at that time). DiStefano received many thanks from representatives for his work at CU in both the room and chat.

Dr. D’Andra Mull, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, who joined campus last fall, reviewed the student affairs organization and the role they all play in the student experience.  The mission of Student Affairs (SA) mission is to “..create a comprehensively excellent student experience through the development of dynamic programs, services and support structures that prepare Buffs to thrive as lifelong learners in a globally engaged society.” To achieve this her office is focused on student development through engagement, belonging, academic support, and high-impact practices. Mull walked members through an organizational chart designed to give faculty a better understanding of who they can go to for specific issues and how to contact them. Associate Vice Chancellor, Dr. Joe Thomas also spoke with members about his role in connecting and aligning Student Affairs with faculty and academics. He partners with Undergraduate Education on the common curriculum and other high impact programs with Buffs Undergraduate Success (BUS) group. Both Mull and Thomas encouraged faculty to reach out to them directly with any questions.

BFA Chair Miller introduced a resolution on behalf of the Executive Committee BFA-R-1-030424 to recommend that Academic Affairs form a working group next fall to review issues, benefits, and alternatives to the anonymous open comment section currently on the FCQs. Per any changes to campus FCQs must include input by faculty and students appointed by shared governance bodies. Concerns regarding the open comment section include: a lack of support and follow-up when students anonymously report misconduct violations instead of utilizing campus reporting procedures, as well as well-established data showing a negative impact on women and under-represented faculty from student biases in anonymous comments. Conversely, many faculty, including the BFA Diversity and Academic Affairs committees support the use of anonymous comments for constructive student feedback for courses and instructors. The BFA Executive Committee supports a full review of the issue and asks that the working group making recommendations to the Provost on the following:

  1. Would the removal of the open comment section be an overall benefit or cost to both faculty and students?
  2. What additions or changes to the FCQs should be made to provide students with the proper resources and information on reporting inappropriate behavior and alerting them to campus support services?
  3. Should the university create an inventory of recommended practices for faculty to collect student feedback on courses and teaching methods that is reviewed annually and notes potential bias issues, and if so, how should this inventory be created and publicized?

The motion is under consideration for thirty days and will be voted on at the May 2 meeting. Representatives are asked to share the resolution with constituents and send all feedback and questions to Shelly Miller at: bfa@colorado.edu.

Lastly, Assembly members heard more about the for course materials introduced last year. CU Bookstore Director Jessica Carlsen along with Assistant Director Matt Avena, and the Redshelf VP of Product, Tim Shea gave faculty an overview of the program. Goals include ensuring that students have materials on the first day of class, reducing the cost to students - in particular in certain fields, and committing to a reduction in the environmental costs associated with printing thousands of books each semester. Carlsen noted that the high success of the program has already allowed CU to lower the subscription price for all students. Representatives noted issues for faculty included a need for publishers to provide greater useability and to make offerings more faculty focused. Examples included issues like page number confusion between digital and hard copies as well as problems with annotations. Several faculty also pointed to “digital fatigue” that their students were experiencing. Shea welcomed faculty feedback and questions as they continued to improve the system. Carlson stressed that faculty are strongly encouraged to choose whatever course materials are best for their classrooms and noted that the cost of printed over digital will not affect students opting into the program. However Carlsen did want faculty to be aware that most publishers have greatly reduced the availability of printed materials which also impacts the availability of pre-owned items. Avena also offered a potential solution for students to request official photocopies of pages for a few dollars in case they found it useful to have both the digital and hard versions. See the presentation slides and email questions to bfa@colorado.edu and they will be forwarded to Carlsen’s group.

In conclusion BFA Chair Shelly Miller reminded members of the following BFA items:

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