BGSU’s Faculty Senate’s last meeting of the semester Tuesday covered various issues including concerns from the Graduate Student Senate on Title IX changes, BGSU email security and findings from a committee investigating bias in student evaluations.
In an interview after the meeting, President Rodney Rogers also addressed student reactions to the new installment of BGSU letters in the Union Oval.
In a video made by BG News copy chief Brionna Scebbi, business student Jakiah Moore said she thought the installment was a “waste of money.” Other students, architecture major Nick Brooks and exercise science major Joe Black, reinforced Moore’s comments in the video.
“The funding for that specific display is a combination of things, including a donor who had that desire and perhaps would not have directed that money to other purposes,” Rogers said.
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Rogers said BGSU is always looking for ways to elevate the value of education at BGSU, and the installation could promote a more residential atmosphere on campus. He compared the installation to the falcon statue outside the Stroh Center and the seal in the middle of old campus.
Rogers also thanked the Gish Theater task force for their investigation into the renaming of the theater and found their data to be very thorough and complete.
“I was just so proud of the way in which the student body, the faculty and the staff came together to talk about these issues in a very respectful way,” Rogers said.
Rogers will present the task force’s findings to the Board of Trustees Thursday and Friday.
The senate made a motion during the meeting to support a statement of concern regarding changes to Title IX. The changes were proposed by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, and the statement referenced five changes along with the potential ramifications of each change.
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The statement reads, “Several of the proposed changes could negatively influence our students, creating challenges in our ability to provide a safe space for all members of the BGSU.”
GSS President Daniel Ricken said the statement was drafted by a graduate student issues sub-committee of the graduate council, which includes both graduate students and faculty.
Another item presented to the senate was the implementation of two-step authentication for BGSU email accounts. Matthew Haschak, chief information security officer, said there were various motivations for the change, which will take place on Aug. 1.
Around $58,000 were stolen from BGSU health savings accounts by hackers in 2018. The majority of the health savings accounts were accessed through phishing emails.
However, no accounts with two-step authentication were compromised.
The new system will operate exactly like MyBGSU two-step authentication.
The senate also reviewed a resolution to commission a work group to investigate student bias in teacher evaluations. The resolution was not voted upon, but will be brought up again next academic year. The findings of the ad-hoc committee that performed the investigation can be found here.
