UNIVERSITY PARK – During its first meeting of the 2023-24 academic year, the Penn State Faculty Senate passed a positional resolution affirming its support for diversity in Penn State’s student body. It also engaged in a robust discussion with University leadership around the issues of free speech and faculty harassment.
The nonbinding diversity resolution passed, 103-5, reinforcing the senate’s support for Penn State’s Office of Enrollment Management’s efforts to promote diversity in the student population while also adhering to the guidelines set by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action in June.
During discussion with Vice President and Provost Justin Schwartz, faculty members voiced concerns about threatening emails that some faculty received in response to signing an open letter on antiracism. Some expressed the view that faculty who were the recipients of hate-filled emails did not feel supported by University administration. The open letter corresponded with a resolution passed at the July faculty senate meeting in support of the continued teaching of racial and social justice, and expressing solidarity with faculty, students and staff engaged in those disciplines.
One faculty member who received a threatening email shared the content and several asked for more support from the University.
“The messages are horrific,” Schwartz said. “I recently also learned family members received them. I don’t have an update on the status of the investigation. Authorities are looking into what can be identified but electronic information is difficult to trace and address. I tried to reach out to every faculty member I knew of who got an email to offer support, and I spoke to several personally and asked what else we could do.”
Questions were also raised about what the University is doing to prepare faculty and students in advance for how to respond to these types of threats, in addition to reporting to the police.
Kathy Bieschke, vice provost for Faculty Affairs, noted that Penn State’s social media handbook includes guidance on how to respond to hateful messages received online, but acknowledged that this specific incident falls beyond the scope of the handbook.
Bieschke and Schwartz agreed that it would be beneficial to work with the senate to better equip faculty to navigate these types of incidents and mentioned some form of a “rapid response team.”
Rita Foley, benefits strategist for Penn State Human Relations, also mentioned that Penn State’s Employee Assistance Program is a free and confidential resource that employees and eligible family members who experience harassment can use.
“Some response from us will be forthcoming,” Bieschke said. “We want to be responsive to issues like this.”
Presidential and advocacy update
President Neeli Bendapudi thanked faculty members for their dedication to the University’s academic, research and service missions as the 2023-24 academic year has gotten under way. She also praised the efforts of Penn State’s researchers, including the work of faculty senator and Dorothy Pate Enright Professor of Materials Science John Mauro to develop the new material LionGlass in collaboration with several graduate and undergraduate students.
Bendapudi also discussed the importance of the University’s free speech obligations, which was the topic of a recent video message released to the Penn State community, noting that the University has a constitutional obligation as a public institution to allow student groups to invite speakers who espouse views some find controversial or offensive. She also affirmed that the University denounces the views of speakers who hold views that are hurtful and denigrating to members of the University community, and she affirmed the importance of safe and responsible protest as another form of protected speech.
Zack Moore, vice president for the Office of Government and Community Relations, and Mike Stefan, assistant vice president for state relations, gave an update on the political landscape and Penn State’s advocacy efforts.
Despite the Board of Trustees’ approval last week of a total appropriations request of $483.4 million for 2024-25, the state General Assembly has yet to approve the appropriation bill for the previous fiscal year, 2023-24.
The funding for Penn State and Pennsylvania's other state-related universities remains in limbo in the state House of Representatives at least until legislators return to Harrisburg later this month. In Pennsylvania, there’s no formula for how the state and state-related schools get funded, so it’s all up to politics, Stefan said.
In the meantime, the University is continuing its Advocate Penn State campaign to encourage members of the Penn State community to share their stories of Penn State’s impact on the commonwealth with state legislators.
“You’ve all heard me talk about how important it is that we are all funded to the same extent as our peers,” Bendapudi said. “We are getting so much less than others to promote our vision when, I would argue, ours is even more critical because we are present in every county in the state, because of the people we serve and the difference we are making.”
2024 health plan and design updates
Jill Musser, senior director of employee benefits, shared changes to the 2024 health care plan design and contributions with the full senate, on behalf of the Senate Committee on Faculty Benefits, the Health Care Advisory Committee and Human Resources. The University will maintain the current “Lion Traditional” and “Lion Advantage” plan designs, while making changes to salary contributions for the first time since 2018.
Under the 2024 plan, employees earning less than $140,000 each year would see modest increases, ranging from between 43 cents and about $12 a month, depending on salary and what health plan an employee selects. Employees who earn between $140,00 and $200,000 will see additional monthly contributions on a sliding scale. The updates to employee plan contributions have been designed to minimize impact on most employees while maintaining the University’s long-term commitment to pay 75% of employee health care costs.
Musser thanked the senate committee members for their input and help with shaping the final 2024 health plan, as well as the full senate for its feedback to the health plan update shared at the July faculty senate meeting. That feedback included increasing the salary-based contribution threshold. That threshold was raised from $180,000 to $200,000 since that update, though some senators argued the threshold should be even higher.
Email reminders regarding the annual benefits open enrollment process also will be shared with all benefits-eligible employees ahead of the benefits open enrollment period, Nov. 6-17, and educational webinars will be conducted during October and November.
All benefits-eligible employees can take advantage of the Benefits Mentor decision tool, available in Workday, to compare plans using their individual claims history. The Highmark concierge team also will be available for specific coverage and claims questions.
Other business
The senate heard a presentation from Penn State Human Resources (HR) about the Compensation Modernization Initiative. The HR team released an online preview of the new full-time staff catalogue in June. The release of the updated salary bands is on hold, pending the passage of the state appropriations bill. Senators raised concerns about cost of living not being taken into consideration when calculating the new salary medians. “We’re looking at national averages of how much others are being paid for similar types of work, and that’s where the market threshold is being based,” said Rachele Brida, senior director of operational excellence and Human Relations IT.
The Senate also:
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Heard an update from Renata Engel, vice provost for Online Education, and Lance Kennedy-Phillips, vice provost for Planning, Assessment, and Institutional Research, on the One Penn State 2025 initiative to strengthen and enhance access to a world-class education.
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Will keep a public document to track the status of advisory and consultative reports shared with University leadership. The updated document will be a part of the agenda packet for each Penn State Faculty Senate meeting.