Faculty Senate discussed several updates on Monday, including the university’s commitment to the office of Hope, Unity and Belonging, the new Belmont Policy Review Committee and library services.
In the Faculty Senate’s second meeting of the semester, Provost David Gregory opened the meeting by giving updates on university offices and programs.
He opened by noting the university’s continued support of the HUB in light of executive orders signed by President Donald Trump doing away with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs.
“We as a Christ centered university are going to double down who we are,” he said. “We have to live in a society that might be, some would say going the other way, but I can tell you, our commitment is very strong.”
As a private university, Belmont isn’t affected directly by the most recent executive orders but still has the ability to remove the program in the future should it decide to.
“There's a lot out there, but that does not define who we are. We have a higher calling in Christ. And so, I want you to know this won't be probably the last thing we have to say about it, but we're serious about hope, unity and belonging, and we're very committed to it as a leadership team,” he said.
Gregory also spoke on the third-year review process for professors and faculty and a recent program started by Milton and Denice Johnson to promote new hires across the 12 Belmont colleges.
Faculty Senate president Mark McEntire spoke with the senate about the new Belmont Policy Review Committee.
It will be composed of the Belmont administration and McEntire, who will be responsible for voting on any shifts in campus-wide policy.
Any proposed shifts will be heard by the Senate and voted upon for endorsement after being sent back by the committee.
McEntire brought forward the first policy shift from the committee, which will deal with Artificial Intelligence.
“This year, we have a new policy,” said McEntire. “This committee wants the Faculty Senate's response to and that's the artificial intelligence policy.”
The plan lays out university rules and regulations for AI usage among students and faculty.
It provides guidelines that will be updated as necessary and as the technology shifts.
“I think the expectation in this is it will be very, very close... there might be a final edit, or something like that, but nothing substantive is going to happen in this committee,” said McEntire.
The vote for endorsement on the policy is delayed two weeks until the next meeting after senators discussed the plan with other faculty members in their respective departments.
The Faculty Senate will meet again on Feb. 10.
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This article was written by Braden Simmons