The Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs met in the Alexander G. Ruthven Building Monday afternoon to discuss including Central Student Government members and faculty in the University’s Board of Regents meetings. They also planned for commencement amidst free speech issues that have been arising on campus and campuses around the country.
SACUA chair Tom Braun presented his chairs’ updates and reported on a meeting held the prior week with University President Santa Ono.
Braun first addressed the draft Disruptive Activity Policy, an update to the University’s current free speech policy that clarifies rules related to disrupting events and other campus activities. This draft was shared with the campus community, who were given the opportunity to provide feedback on the policy through a survey. Braun said that the responses were received and analyzed using a combination of artificial intelligence and University employees.
“(Ono) made it very clear that that draft is no longer, and is in no shape or form going to be implemented anytime soon,” Braun said. “One of the approaches they’re using to digest the over 9,000 responses is through AI. They do have individuals looking at (the responses) as well.”
Associate history professor Melanie Tanielian said she attended a private meeting earlier on Monday with the Division of Student Life, Division of Public Safety and Security and University administration that shared de-escalation practices and insight into how commencement would be handled from a security perspective.
“The Big House, Crisler Center and Power Center are being policed in a different way than they have been in previous years,” Tanielian said. “There (will be) increased ticketing and purse searches.”
Beyond increased security measures compared to previous years, Braun said he knew of no changes to standard commencement procedures. He said Ono raised questions at the meeting about what would happen if a graduation ceremony were disrupted to the point where it had to end early.
“I think they’re thinking deeply about this,” Braun said. “To say that they would think about nothing after what happened at the Honors Convocation would be silly — and who knows, I hope it’s a very peaceful, wonderful graduation ceremony.”
SACUA then discussed items they planned to bring to the Board of Regents at their next regularly scheduled meetings with Regents Denise Ilitch (D) and Paul Brown (D).
Simon Cushing, associate philosophy professor at the University of Michigan-Flint, said he felt the board should encourage a more open dialogue between students and staff, which may decrease the likelihood of protests.
“One thing (SACUA) could bring up is a more open debate because I think part of what’s driving students to protest is that they feel they’re not being heard or that their concerns are being dismissed,” Cushing said. “If the Regents were prepared to at least explain their reluctance to consider the issue, it would seem like less of a brick wall.”
SACUA members then discussed ideas for Ono’s response to the ongoing unrest on campus, especially with increased pressure from schools like Harvard and Columbia University, where the administrations faced serious backlash for the way they handled similar situations.
“What is the solution?” Braun said. “Two presidents were fired because they didn’t say the right thing. We have another president under threat of being fired because she said the right thing, so I don’t know what to do here.”
Vilma Mesa, mathematics professor and SACUA member, said SACUA strives to work towards the best interests of the University. She expressed her desire for real dialogues, for an answer centered in ethics and for an outcome separate from that of Harvard and Columbia.
“Aligning our values and our vision to ethical investments — this should be what is guiding our decisions, but it doesn’t seem that that is the case.” Mesa said. “And I’m just worried that the visit is going to be we’re trying to do everything possible so that our president doesn’t end up testifying.”
Correction 4/30: This article has been updated to accurately reflect the name of the SACUA chair.
Daily Staff Reporter Elizabeth Stafford can be reached at libstaf@umich.edu