Dear Faculty,
I write to you today to inform you of a grave concern I have with the recent actions of the Provost office specifically, Ms. Christine Harper and Provost DiPaola. The office has decided not to acquire a new PollEverywhere account, but instead assumed control of the University Senate’s PollEverywhere account, giving them access to all Senate-recorded votes.
Today, I was interviewed by Lisa Tannock and Bill Verbel concerning instructions given in my role as Senate Council Chair to a University Senate administrative staff member, to archive the individual votes from the May 2024 Senate no-confidence resolution. During the interview, I was informed that the resolution for the vote of no confidence, as well as the motion to table the vote of no confidence against the Board, were "trashed" and could not be located. To my knowledge, these votes are archived in the PollEverywhere system, and the administration’s apparent technical difficulty in retrieving these records seems to be of their own matter.
According to the University Office of Legal Counsel, under the Open Meetings Act, the University Senate needed only to show within its minutes whether a motion was approved or disapproved, the minutes did not need to show the votes of the individual members. This interpretation of the University Office of Legal Council was relayed to the Senate Council on October 18,2021 and subsequently reconfirmed by the Office of Legal Counsel (in an exercise of the Open Records Act dated October 20, 2021).
Retaliatory actions have already been taken, evidenced by the dismantling of the University Senate. Further, the administration's interest in obtaining information on the individual votes for the no-confidence resolution and the motion against the Board could have the appearance of a blatant act of retaliation.
I have verified and have proof that these University Senate records still exist and are archived. I have reviewed a downloaded response history, which confirms that the Provost office has access to all Senate votes, including the motion on the resolution against the Board of Trustees. Former senators can log into their PollEverywhere accounts and view their individual votes and records for all voting activities, indicating that these votes are indeed archived and accessible. These votes should remain in the University Senate PollEverywhere account system but should be administratively accessed through appropriate channels being an official open records request.
This situation raises a critical question: Why is the administration attempting to access individual voting records for the vote of no confidence?
The administration’s actions in this matter appear to constitute a significant breach of confidentiality. As the President stated in his email today, "Core to that [mission] purpose is the idea that we are many people, who together, comprise one special community." If this is indeed true, we must protect our people and establish processes and procedures that allow us to work without fear of retaliation.
Best,
DeShana
DeShana Collett, Ph.D., PA-C
She/Her/Hers (What’s this?)
Chair of the ARC-PA Commission
Commissioner At-Large
Past Chair University Senate Council and Professor
900 South Limestone Street, CTW Building Ste 205G
Lexington, Kentucky 40536