The Faculty Senate will vote on a resolution at its meeting Friday that would endorse recommendations made by a subcommittee tasked with reviewing disciplinary and legal proceedings for students arrested at the pro-Palestinian encampment last spring.
Sarah Wagner, the co-chair of the Educational Policy and Technology Committee and professor of anthropology, will present a resolution for the senate to endorse recommendations outlined in a report drafted by the EPT Committee to ensure that GW leadership supports all University students in pursuing their educational endeavors. The report recommends that GW leadership use the interim suspension process in a way that is “politically neutral” and timely.
At the Senate’s December meeting, Wagner and Irene Foster, co-chair of the EPT Committee and professor of economics, presented the findings of the report and highlighted the inconsistencies found by the group of the University’s account of their role in criminal and internal conduct proceedings and the accounts provided by the arrested students.
If the resolution is passed, the senate would endorse recommendations for the Conflict Education & Student Accountability office to recommit to principles like not engaging in collective punishment and responding to internal student conduct processes in a timely manner.
At the December meeting, Phil Wirtz, a faculty senator and professor of decision sciences and psychological and brain sciences, said he had drafted a resolution that turned the working groups findings into a resolution for the senate to vote on. Wagner said the committee had decided to solicit feedback from the faculty senators before drafting a resolution to present to the body but that they would come back to the senate with a “better informed” resolution for the senators to vote on.
The report also recommends that the University commit to increased “communication and consultation” with faculty in the future and be more transparent when it comes to matters that impact educational instruction.
After the pro-Palestinian encampment was cleared by the Metropolitan Police Department last May, faculty senators criticized University officials for a lack of faculty involvement in their decision-making about the encampment. Senators said faculty should have been used as a resource when making decisions about the handling of the encampment given professors’ relationships with students.
Oded Rozenbaum, an associate professor of accountancy, will be nominated as a voting member of the Fiscal Planning & Budgeting Committee and Katherine Puskarz will be nominated as a nonvoting member of the Libraries Committee.
University Chaplain Kristen Glass Perez and Simran Kaur-Colbert, director of the Center for Interfaith and Spiritual Life, will both be introduced to the senate by Dean of Students Colette Coleman. GW Staff Council President Kim Fulmer will be introduced by University President Ellen Granberg.
Officials hired Glass Perez and Kaur-Colbert in October after announcing the establishment of the center in June.
Granberg, Provost Chris Bracey and Faculty Senate Executive Committee Chair Ilana Feldman will also share reports.
