Robert Holmgren News Today

The Faculty Senate took nominations for the 2022-23 president-elect in Wednesday’s meeting.  The Executive Committee, which is composed of Senate leadership and standing committee chairs, nominated chemistry Prof. Regan Thomson, the chair of the Faculty Rights and Responsibility Committee, to the position. McCormick Prof. Luis Amaral nominated himself. The candidates will prepare written and oral...

Northwestern’s Faculty Senate passed a joint resolution on Wednesday amending staff benefits and increasing transparency on the status of position fulfillment.  Biology Prof. Fred Turek and Kellogg Prof. Martin Lariviere co-sponsored the resolution. Lariviere said the joint resolution will increase staff compensation and make job design, like virtual teaching options, more accommodating for potential hirees....

In December 2020, Northwestern’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors  made public a report that critiques the University administration’s handling of the pandemic. Among the recommendations our chapter made were that administrative support must be rehired, that academic units be properly supported across the University, that retirement funds should be restored to faculty...

Over a decade ago, a committee from the previous faculty governing body was charged with establishing a more effective governance system for Northwestern faculty. Two bodies were established: the Faculty Assembly encompassing the entire faculty, and the Faculty Senate with membership elected from the departments, non-tenure eligible faculty and librarians.   Since its founding, the Faculty...

University President Morton Schapiro and Provost Kathleen Hagerty discussed Northwestern’s budget, hiring and Counseling and Psychological Services in Tuesday’s Faculty Assembly.  NU’s bicameral faculty governing body, which consists of the Senate and the Assembly, passes resolutions and recommendations about matters pertaining to campus life and hiring policy.  Faculty Senate president and molecular biosciences Prof. Robert...

City policies and a lack of University action have put the push for universal all-gender bathroom access on hold — and some Faculty Senate members emphasized at a Wednesday meeting that Northwestern must act now.  A Gender Queer, Non-Binary and Trans Task Force report published in winter 2020 recommended ensuring access to all-gender bathrooms to...