Student name policy

Championed by ASMSU, MSU’s undergraduate student government, the student name policy would give students the ability to choose the name they prefer to have on their diploma and on class lists. ASMSU has been pushing for this policy change since 2011, ASMSU President Evan Martinak said. Martinak said he hopes the new policy will be implemented for the fall semester, with a pilot period this summer.

“A lot of students were finding they go by a different name than what their legal name is, and sometimes it leads to problems or confusion in class,” Martinak said.

Strategies to avoid gun violence on campus

During the meeting, nursing associate professor Jacqueline Wright expressed concern that MSU has not told faculty members what they should do if a shooter were to invade a classroom.

Acting Provost June Youatt said the logistics of creating and discussing a safety plan for each classroom on campus with all faculty members is unrealistic. The safety strategy the committee is calling “campus safety awareness” will be brought to the MSU Department of Police and Public Safety.

Provost search

Steering Committee Chairperson John Powell said the process of finding a successor for Standing Provost Kim Wilcox hasn’t been decided, and a search committee has not yet been identified. The search likely will last the remainder of 2013 while Youatt currently is serving and making decisions as acting provost. Students will be involved in the search process, Council of Graduate Students, or COGS, President Stefan Fletcher said.

“It’s important that you get students on the committee, but (also) that they’re appropriate students on the committee — students who can contribute well and are diverse in nature,” Fletcher said.

MSU health care update

In January, all faculty and staff were required to submit a report documenting their current relationship to dependents on their health insurance allowing MSU to evaluate if the dependents qualified for federal health care under the Affordable Care Act, Powell said.

There were numerous faculty and staff members who volunteered to drop their dependents, while some faculty and staff did not respond at all. Unofficial numbers discussed at the meeting showed 93 percent of respondents were qualified to keep dependents on their plan.

Faculty on Facebook

At the meeting, Steering Committee Member at Large Laura McCabe led a discussion about whether or not there should be a policy in place for faculty members who are on Facebook. She said faculty and staff are posting some things about students that might be deemed inappropriate.

“They posted things about students,” McCabe said. “‘You won’t believe what this student said,’ or, ‘Can you believe people in my class don’t know what this is?’”