Faculty Executive Committee convenes, discusses SCiLL, programming updates

The UNC Faculty Executive Committee met on Monday at Wilson Library to discuss recent events, policy on recording lectures and how to engage in civil discourse on campus. 

Attendees included faculty members, representatives from the Office of the Provost and Jed Atkins, the Dean of the School of Civic Life and Leadership.

Here's what happened:

Discussing Civil Discourse

• Beth Moracco, chair of faculty governance, opened the meeting by introducing Provost Christopher Clemens. Clemens spoke briefly about Hurricane Helene.

• Clemens then discussed faculty lectures being recorded. He said he ordered the deans to not record professors without their knowledge until the University forms a policy regulating recordings. Clemens said the policy is in its first draft and told faculty to discuss situations that may require recordings with him beforehand so he can dissuade them. 

• Clemens, Atkins and Emily Boehm, faculty development consultant for the Center for Faculty Excellence, all commented on civil discourse on campus, primarily in regards to the war in Gaza. Clemens said to the council that many student organizations will be holding events to memorialize Oct. 7, 2023, and that administration is prepared in “various ways.”

• Atkins discussed the Better Discourse project, a guide designed for the purpose of bringing campuses together during difficult times. He said he spoke with executives of the Arava Institute, an organization which he said brings Jewish and Muslim Israeli individuals together through residential living and study.

• Clemens said he had the “privilege” of attending the Nantucket Project, an annual event committed to “finding truth through conversation,” according to the organizations’ website. There, he said he listened to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian peace activist Ali Abu Awwad.

Center for Faculty Excellence Updates

• Marissa Stewart and Erin Malloy, both affiliated with the Center for Faculty Excellence, said that CFE will be holding events throughout the year, particularly before the 2024 elections, in which they will provide a space for professors to learn and discuss the topic of civil discourse within the classroom. 

• Boehm said that the CFE is hosting a workshop on Oct. 29 to discuss “faculty as a source of managing conflict.” In this workshop, she said the CFE will share resources for faculty navigating conflict in professional spaces and will also serve as a space for more practical skill-building.

• The CFE also hosts “Conversations in Teaching in Challenging Times,” a series of one-hour sessions for faculty to share ideas and build teaching support networks, approximately every two weeks. Stewart said Kevin Marinelli, executive director of the Program for Public Discourse will be joining the conversations.

• The CFE has created a series of handouts called “Teaching in Challenging Times” that provides a framework for facilitating conversations in the classroom. They offered flyers for interested attendees.

Questions and further discussion

• Francesca Carpentier, a professor at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media, asked if the CFE has considered creating a training program that covers universal conflict recognition and resolution that could be distributed on a larger scale. Stewart said that the CFE addresses needs as they arise and they are open to additional ideas. 

• Sue Estroff, a research professor in the Department of Social Medicine, and Mehdi Shadmehr, an adjunct associate professor with the UNC Public Policy department, asked Atkins about the faculty that left SCiLL. Atkins said that only two professors “did not engage in the program” because one received another offer and the other was not interested in the line of work SCiLL would be pursuing. The Daily Tar Heel spoke with four inaugural faculty members who said they left SCiLL. 

The next Faculty Executive Committee Meeting will be held on Oct. 21. 

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