In members reports:

• The APBC met Thursday last week with Provost Gronert.
• The SSEA met and approved questionnaires for the four classes of administrators being evaluated. It was suggested that the scales be reversed so that “5” was “Excellent” to be consistent with common practice.

The Faculty Senate amended the proposed new SSEA charter on the floor to mandate that each college evaluate their associate deans at least once every three years. It is not clear how to notify the parties that need to take action. It would seem that every college should have an “academic planning committee” which should be tasked with associate dean evaluation, but it’s not known who staffs these committees if they even exist. The UC will consider targeted communication later, but for now at least some communication about the new process to all faculty may start the conversation.

ASC chair Priem met with the UC and gave some preliminary information of the results of the TTC survey of academic staff. The full report will be delivered after the appropriate authorities have seen it. Many viewed the “career growth” aspects as uncertain and there is the impression that new employees with no experience are being granted the same titles and pay as long-standing experienced employees.

AVC Hwang came with UWM PD Captain Switala and Libraries Director Doylen to the UC to give more background on the “Library Gun” incident. Switala provided a detailed timeline of the event and explained why even if the individual with the gun were still on campus when the police arrived, no RAVE alert would be raised because it wasn’t being brandished or otherwise used in a threatening manner. Indeed, if it were not for the presence of Hartford School in the middle of UWM, open carry of assault rifles (as well as concealed carry with permit) on campus would be permitted under state law outside of buildings.

Hwang described how in the follow-up to the incident, policies and rules were updated to encourage more timely release of information through MarComm (Marketing and Communication) as seen in the Cambridge Common incident a week later. MarComm is in the process of compiling a full report on changes and how the new policies work to be sent out to the UWM community by summer. There was further discussion about how stakeholders other than campus affiliates (students, faculty, and staff) can be informed.

UC members appreciated the informative presentation but indicated that the campus as a whole deserved to have the full explanation of the incident and questioned the need to delay such communication any further.