The University Council — an academic governance body made up of faculty, students and administration officials who discuss issues relevant to the entire university — held a work session to determine what to ask of the incoming permanent president, and what actions the university should be developing in the meantime to improve.
Recently appointed interim president Satish Udpa spoke for a few minutes at the start of the first University Council meeting of the semester.
During his time at Michigan State, former Interim President John Engler rarely attended the meetings, even though according to the Bylaws for Academic Governance, the chair position belongs to the president.
Former Vice-Chair Deborah Moriarty now serves in this position, taking over for former Chair Rob LaDuca, who resigned from his academic governance roles in December.
Udpa led the meeting by declaring that his administration would be focused on listening and that he wanted to build a safer, more respectful and nurturing culture. He also said that he would be attending these meetings regularly, to the applause of many members.
Also in attendance was Trustee Kelly Tebay, who made accessibility a key to her recent election campaign, and wants to hear input from around the university to inform her decisions as a member of the Board of Trustees.
After official remarks were finished, the council was given time to fill out their personal answers to the questions:
After being split into groups of four to ten people, members of University Council shared and discussed their answers.
Professor in the College of Education Alyssa Dunn began the conversation with what became a familiar theme for the afternoon.
“Our first 'ask' is that the new president develop greater shared governance processes and rebuild the relationship of trust between students, faculty, staff and the president — especially survivors," Dunn said.
As the microphone traveled around the room, members were quick to share their points.
Points about supporting culture change, giving students and faculty input and voting power at the highest level of shared governance and giving an official public apology about the way MSU has dealt with Larry Nassar were all brought up.
The next University Council meeting is scheduled for Feb. 26.
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