The importance of shared governance, the chancellor鈥檚 listening tour this fall and free expression were among the topics addressed during Chancellor Justin Schwartz鈥檚 first address to the Boulder Faculty Assembly (BFA) on Thursday, Oct. 3.
鈥淭hank you all for the warm welcome. I want to start by expressing my warm gratitude to all the faculty for the work that they do every day, but also for the warm welcome I鈥檝e received in my first three months,鈥� Schwartz opened to the group, which met both online and in-person. 鈥淚鈥檓 really looking forward to getting to know more and more of you in various venues as this year rolls forward.鈥�
Schwartz began by reiterating his support for shared governance.
鈥淪hared governance is important and particularly relevant today,鈥� Schwartz said. 鈥淚 say that because of the significant challenges that higher ed, as an industry, faces nationwide. Some of the issues that have hit our peer institutions in different forms have not hit Boulder, and we should be thankful for that in many ways, but simply because we haven鈥檛 been hit doesn鈥檛 mean that we shouldn鈥檛 be proactive in thinking ahead. It means we should still be a leader for higher ed across the country through these turbulent times.鈥�
鈥淔or that to happen,鈥� he continued, 鈥渨e have to have a strong, collaborative, shared governance system and a shared commitment to each other and a shared commitment to the mission and vision of the university.鈥�
During his remarks, Schwartz briefly mentioned his welcome event last week outlining his two priorities鈥攄iversity, equity and inclusion and sustainability鈥攁nd the listening tour currently underway. He鈥檚 using this event to get to know each unit and their particular needs so that they can be addressed.
鈥淭he commitment here is to both hearing and doing,鈥� Schwartz said.
Schwartz also reminded faculty they are required to work with disability services for any students needing accommodations and touched on the ongoing searches, including the faculty athletic representative search and the provost鈥檚 search. More information on the latter can be found in this CU Boulder Today article. A webpage with information about how to nominate someone to join the search committee is also now available.
He also thanked the faculty who provided their feedback regarding the now tabled Board of Regents鈥� free expression resolution that was brought up during the previous BFA meeting.
鈥淚 also have some serious concerns about the resolution,鈥� Schwartz said. He reminded the group that, 鈥淲e are committed to free expression at CU Boulder. It is a cornerstone of higher ed. It is critical to our success, it鈥檚 critical to our students鈥� experience, and so we are working to make sure we are coming out of this with the absolute best situation for CU Boulder.鈥澨�
Schwartz closed his remarks with a reminder for faculty to take care of themselves.
鈥淥ften this gets talked about near the end of the semester, but your mental health is a priority. Don鈥檛 wait until you鈥檙e feeling burnt out to take time to disconnect and recharge.鈥�
In other BFA action听
Artificial intelligence
The BFA heard from Marin Stanek, vice chancellor for information technology and chief information officer, about what the university is doing regarding AI.
Stanek outlined the different ways that CU Boulder is currently coordinating its response to AI so that it can not only educate and provide best practices to faculty but also ensure responsible use and data stewardship.
鈥淢y public service announcement is that we need not take naive risks,鈥� Stanek said. 鈥淲e need to be coordinated, we need to be informed, and we need to be deliberate in what we鈥檙e doing.鈥�
The group was also briefly reminded that there is an AI community of practice hosted monthly by the Center for Teaching & Learning, in partnership with BFA. Those events are listed on .
This year鈥檚 priorities
After a survey distributed to all of the members, which had a 74% completion rate, the BFA determined that the priorities this year are as follows:
- Faculty pay equity
- Regenerative AI
- The climate crisis听
- The campus budget
BFA Director Shelly Miller ended the meeting asking everyone to consider attending Indigenous People鈥檚 Day on Oct. 14 and 16, adding, 鈥淚鈥檓 proud that our campus is doing this.鈥�
Learn more about the BFA and previous actions on the BFA website.
