Faculty Senate’s meeting Tuesday involved a discussion about ensuring the line is maintained between in-person and hybrid classes.

Jennifer L. Stringfellow, President of Eastern’s University Professionals of Illinois  and special education professor, opened the discussion with an issue brought to her by someone in the UPI union.

The issue was that an in-person class had enough online hours that it should have been classified as a hybrid class.

This faculty member has class three times a week, every week, and has class in-person Monday and Wednesday with Friday being a test day online.

These tests are held completely online on D2L.

If students are expecting an in-person class, with mostly face-to-face learning, but get a hybrid class instead, the student is paying for a class they didn’t sign up for.

Stringfellow said that the only reason she brought it to the Senate is because it isn’t just a union issue.

“I was bringing it to the Faculty Senate to say is there something that we need to do,” Stringfellow said. “Or is this just going to be that faculty has to work out with their chairs?”

Stringfellow encouraged faculty members to talk to their chair about any problems they have.

“Maybe in the future, we can be a little bit clearer with faculty [so] despite everything, you do have to talk with your chair,” Stringfellow said. “They’re there for a reason.”

Stringfellow added that there should be a mutual trust between staff and administration.

“So, we as faculty have to trust our administration and the administration has to trust us to make our best decisions too,” Stringfellow said.

Jay Gatrell, vice president for academic affairs, had an announcement stating that there would be no more passwords on student evaluations for faculty.

The password requirement was added because there was an event where there had been a change to an evaluation prior to turning it into the chair.

This process was in place before Gatrell took the title as the Provost in July 1, 2017.

Gatrell said that the process is a historic practice and faculty must trust one another.

Last meeting, Josh Norman, the associate vice president for enrollment management, spoke on enrollment statistics and what the Senate can do to help recruit students.

Information was shared with the senate about how faculty can help with recruitment, with main points being:

• Get involved with visit days.
• Make sure your web resources are up to date and easily accessible.
• Sign up for the monthly Enrollment management Newsletter.
• Refer your star students.
• Check out the Admissions To-Go Bag.
• Fill out the “Recommend a Panther” form if you know a student who would be great for EIU.
• Spread the word about the EIU Advocates program.

Some date’s faculty members are encouraged to look out for and attend are:

• Open House- Friday, Feb. 4 for transfer students and Monday, Mar. 28 for late upperclassmen.
• Admit Days- Monday, Feb. 21 and Saturday, Mar. 5.
• Future Panther Friday- Mar. 11 and 25 and every Friday in April.

Open houses are for students beginning their college search which consists of two student service fairs. Morning and afternoon sessions are available.

For the Saturday, Mar. 5 admit day there will be an academic breakout session in each department, a one-on-one financial aid counseling session and a luncheon.

Future panther Fridays are opportunities for students to come to Eastern and see what it has to offer. Students will be able to customize their visit and choose events to attend like a campus tour, a financial aid meeting, or a meeting with someone from their major.

Rob Le Cates can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].