University Senate

By Michael Terrazas mterraz@emory.edu

Interim Provost Woody Hunter opened the Nov. 27 University Senate meeting in Woodruff Library’s Jones Room by commenting briefly on ongoing budget discussions and endowment spending. Hunter said endowment spending accounts for approximately 20 percent of Emory’s Educational and General Budget. This figure, Hunter said, is somewhat higher than average for educational institutions, and while it provides for more aggressive budgets during good economic times, it also means slowdowns in the economy have more of an impact on Emory’s spending growth.

Hunter also announced the formation of the Strategic Planning Committee, which will examine the structure of Arts & Sciences faculty at Emory (see story). Hunter will co-chair the committee with anthropology Associate Professor Michelle Lampl.

Employee Council President Bill McBride gave Senate members a draft of resolution the council is working on to address the University’s policy on designated smoking areas. The draft resolution urges the Emory administration to earmark areas “away from all building entrances and ventilation intake ducts” (such as loading docks) as temporary designated smoking areas until permanent smoking kiosks can be built. McBride said the resolution hopefully will be finalized at the council’s December meeting, then be brought before the Senate for formal consideration.

Student Government Association President Anna Manasco said, while she has received a significant number of e-mails from student smokers on this issue, she has yet to receive any input from nonsmoking students. McBride urged students to attend the Employee Council’s next meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 12, from 2–4 p.m. in the Jones Room.

Next on the agenda was a presentation by Erick Gaither, senior associate vice president for business management, and Emory Police Chief Craig Watson on emergency preparedness plans currently under discussion among Emory and its Clifton Corridor neighbors, as well as DeKalb County.

Counting students and campus visitors, Gaither said, there are more than 40,000 people in the corridor at any given moment during the workweek, and a complete evacuation of so many people would be no small task.

Watson said he and his security counterparts along the corridor have used a worst-case scenario to make emergency-response plans, which he said could be modified to address whatever event may occur. He said Emory is using traffic-management plans developed for Commencement day as a foundation for new plans.

Watson said his team has divided the campus into four zones, using North Decatur and Clifton roads as dividing lines, and designed evacuation plans funneling people away from campus from those four zones, with the goal being to keep Clifton Road as clear as possible. He said he will begin working soon with Moses Ector, retiring assistant director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, when Ector becomes DeKalb’s first director of homeland security in December.

To close the meeting, President Bill Chace announced the University has raised 75 percent of the $415,000 goal of EmoryGives, the revamped workplace-giving program. The campaign concludes at the end of December, and Chace urged people to give whatever they can.

The next Senate meeting will be held Jan. 29 at 3:15 p.m. in the Jones Room.

If you have a question or concern for University Senate, e-mail to President Frank Vandall at fvandall@law.emory.edu.