WHEREAS irregularities due to introduction of NUflex, complete transition to Canvas, and continuing pandemic circumstances impacting life and work conditions of faculty and students result in disruption to teaching and learning conditions,

BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate recommend that the provost, deans, chairs, and merit committees consider the irregularity of the spring/summer 2020 terms and recognize the faculty effort required for the unexpected transition from on-ground to remote instruction in the evaluation of teaching performance that is utilized for merit, tenure, and/or promotion considerations.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that also considering resolution #25 by the 2019-20 senate, teaching evaluations for the entire 2020 calendar year take into account the challenging conditions under which instruction and learning took place.

BE IT RESOLVED that the University establish the Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies in the College of Professional Studies as approved by the University Undergraduate Curriculum Committee on 23 September 2020 (16-0-0).

WHEREAS COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Boston, in Massachusetts, and throughout the country, public health experts are recommending staying home and reducing in-person contact;

WHEREAS the recently announced Spring 2021 remote work policy is clearly in contradiction with current trends in virus proliferation and public safety in the greater Boston area;

WHEREAS most state and local agencies, and school districts are postponing phased re-opening or in-person activities;

WHEREAS the numbers of positive cases at Northeastern’s Boston campus are currently low principally because of low face-to-face interaction and low density due to a limited number of people coming from off-campus;

WHEREAS the faculty and campus community at Northeastern University will be exposed to unnecessary physical health risks on-and off-campus by a premature return to in-person instruction and their department offices and suites, where space does not allow maintaining social distance at the regular occupancy levels;

WHEREAS a forced return to campus can exacerbate mental health conditions of the faculty and campus community;

WHEREAS faculty and staff have significant additional burdens of caregiving during the pandemic, and most have been unable to find caregivers to help;

WHEREAS faculty have invested substantial effort and time to adapt their instruction and introduced significant pedagogical innovations catered to the remote format, and mandating NUFlex-only mode of instruction reduces the quality of instruction for many interactive and discussion-based courses;

BE IT RESOLVED That the Senate recommends extension of the option that allows faculty and staff members to teach courses, provide service, and conduct research remotely, partially remotely, or in person through Spring 2021;

BE IT ALSO RESOLVED That the Senate recommends that approval and authorization process for remote work be directly administered by College Deans and Unit Heads, following the Fall 2020 guidelines of "Option 2" designated by the University Administration. The Provost Office will collect but not adjudicate these requests.

BE IT RESOLVED That the University establish the Master of Science in Management in the D'Amore-McKim School of Business as approved by the University Graduate Council 28 October 2020 (15-0-0).

BE IT RESOLVED That the University establish the Master of Science in Applied Nursing Research in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences as approved by the University Graduate Council 28 October 2020 (15-0-0).

BE IT RESOLVED That the proposed Graduate Council Bylaws replace the current Graduate Council Bylaws (dated July 31, 2019) as edited and recommended by the Graduate Associate Deans and Network.

WHEREAS the 2020 calendar year has created extraordinary circumstances affecting all faculty’s teaching, service and research/ scholarship/creative activity,

WHEREAS irregularities due to introduction of NUFlex, complete transition to Canvas, and continuing pandemic circumstances impacting life and work conditions of faculty and students have resulted in significant disruption to teaching and learning conditions,

WHEREAS the Faculty Senate passed 2019-20 Resolutions 25 and 28 & 2020-21 Resolution 1 related to these circumstances,

BE IT RESOLVED that the Faculty Senate recommends that the Provost’s Office, in collaboration with the Faculty Development Committee, prepare guidelines specifying special considerations regarding the 2020 merit and annual review cycle, and disseminate to the deans, chairs, unit heads, and merit committees.

BE IT RESOLVED That the University establish the Master of Science in Human Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences as approved by the University Graduate Council 18 November 2020, 15-0-0.

BE IT RESOLVED That the University establish the Master of Science in Applied Quantitative Methods and Social Analysis in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities as approved by the University Graduate Council 13 January 2021 (12-0-0).

BE IT RESOLVED That the University establish the Master of Science in Network Science in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities as approved by the University Graduate Council 13 January 2021 (13-0-0).

BE IT RESOLVED That the University establish the Master of Professional Studies in Learning Experience Design & Technology in the College of Professional Studies as approved by the University Graduate Council 13 January 2021 (12-0-0).

BE IT RESOLVED That the recommended full-time faculty raise pool for merit and equity for FY 2022 be 4.0% of continuing salaries starting on July 1, 2021.

BE IT RESOLVED That the University changes the names of the Master of Science, PhD, and PhD--Advanced Entry programs in Medicinal Chemistry to the Master of Science, PhD, and PhD--Advanced Entry programs in Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences as each approved by the University Graduate Council 25 January 2021 (17-0-0).

BE IT RESOLVED That the University changes the names of the Master of Science, PhD, and PhD--Advanced Entry programs in Pharmaceutical Science to the Master of Science, PhD, and PhD--Advanced Entry programs in Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences as each approved by the University Graduate Council 25 January 2021 (17-0-0).

BE IT RESOLVED that the proposed module entitled “Academic Freedom” replace the current module entitled “Academic Freedom.”

BE IT RESOLVED that the proposed module entitled “Dismissal Proceedings: Full-Time Non-Tenure Track Faculty” be added to the Faculty Handbook section on Governance.

BE IT RESOLVED That the University establish the Master of Science in Population Health in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences as approved by the Graduate Council, 10 February 2021 (15-0-0).

BE IT RESOLVED That the University establish the Master of Science in Advanced and Intelligent Manufacturing in the College of Engineering as approved by the Graduate Council 24 February 2021 (16-0-0).

BE IT RESOLVED That the University establish the Bachelor of Arts in Public Health in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences as approved by the University Undergraduate Curriculum Committee 3 February 2021 (18-0-0).

BE IT RESOLVED That the School of Pharmacy in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences be renamed as the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

BE IT RESOLVED That the School of Health Professions in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences be renamed as the School of Community Health and Behavioral Sciences.

BE IT RESOLVED That the Physician Assistant (PA) Program in the Bouvé College of Health Sciences be reorganized into the Department of Medical Sciences.

WHEREAS advisor caseloads across the University far outstrip national averages in higher education, and whereas the workload is unsustainable due to overwhelming range of responsibilities including advising large number of students, teaching courses, managing peer-mentor programs, and increasingly getting forced to triage mental health concerns, and whereas advisors are looking to more developmental, proactive advising to students,

BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate recommend that the Office of the Provost allow for the immediate hiring of new advisors in Advising units with a goal that the average workload for Advisors at the University does not exceed 250 students to meet with NACADA recommendations.

WHEREAS the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic presents an unparalleled circumstance which affects student mental health, and whereas advisors are increasingly forced to deal with emergent issues among students, and whereas holistic success of students is paramount,

BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate recommend that the Provost Office review available staffing vis-à-vis student demand for mental health services through NU Find and UHCS and, if needed, make further counselors immediately available; and that the Provost Office review the effectiveness of supplementary services from WeCare, to satisfy unmet demand among the growing student community across Northeastern University campuses, to unweight these roles from advisors.

BE IT RESOLVED that the Provost’s Office gathers more data from G14 or other sources to provide discipline specific match-mate data for all FTNTT faculty, in order for equity to be evaluated openly by both the administration and the FTNTT faculty, in accordance with the faculty handbook equity module.

BE IT RESOLVED that the Provost’s Office, in collaboration with appropriate standing Faculty Senate committees, works to standardize FTNTT faculty titles across disciplines and phase out less-used titles to increase uniformity.

WHEREAS the University does not consistently define and track Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in faculty ranks,

BE IT RESOLVED that the University adopts a consistent data collection benchmark that breaks down faculty into the racial and ethnic categories including but not limited to: Black, Indigenous, Latinx/Hispanic, Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, Asian, and multiracial; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the University collect benchmark data to better understand BIPOC representation relative to peer institutions.

WHEREAS the availability and assignment of leadership positions for FTNTT faculty is handled differently for each college, resulting in observed discrepancies which are in conflict with the University’s One Faculty model and have the potential to create University-wide inequities for FTNTT faculty; and

WHEREAS FTNTT faculty serving in leadership positions have been successful,

BE IT RESOLVED that the Provost’s Office, in collaboration with the Dean’s Offices, prepares guidelines and assessment criteria for colleges to make leadership positions equally available for FTNTT faculty across all colleges.

WHEREAS upon opening a Northeastern Retirement Plan (403(b)) should a staff/faculty member not select an investment option, they are placed into a (TIAA or Fidelity) Lifecycle Fund based on their current age, which is known as the Default Option, and

WHEREAS these Lifecycle Funds are also one of the most popular investment choices, and

WHEREAS the Vanguard Target Retirement Funds with similar strategies are very popular, with strong performance and have the lowest expense ratios in this family of funds

BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate recommends that the University as Plan Manager offer Vanguard Target Retirement Funds, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Senate recommends that the Default Option for those who do not specify a particular investment upon opening their 403(b) account be the age-appropriate Vanguard Target Retirement Fund.

WHEREAS approximately one-half of full time faculty at Northeastern do not receive the information that is required by the Faculty Handbook.

BE IT RESOLVED the NU administration is called upon to fulfill its obligations and fully comply with the equity process as detailed in the Faculty Handbook (e.g., in the context of the equity appeal process all full time faculty should receive salary ranges by rank and by tenure/non-tenure track appointment within their colleges when cell size allows).

WHEREAS Northeastern University is a global leader in experiential education and research with intersecting commitments to sustainability, resilience, social justice, and racial justice,

WHEREAS anchor institutions like Northeastern are contributing to both climate change and racial inequities through our policies, processes and practices

WHEREAS the impacts of climate disruptions and the capacity to adapt are distributed unequally among and within local and global communities

WHEREAS equitable climate adaptation and strengthening climate resilience requires new transformative investments, innovations, and actions to rectify the disproportionate burdens on those who are most vulnerable

WHEREAS climate justice action involves striving for transformative systemic changes that link technological and social innovation prioritizing social, racial, and economic justice

WHEREAS we endorse the College of Science resolution to support the climate experts who warn of the serious consequences of global climate change caused by human activity, and acknowledge our continued investment in fossil fuels is undermining Northeastern's role as a leader in sustainability.

BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate calls on University leadership to:

Establish a standing faculty committee on climate justice action appointed by the faculty senate to provide continual assessment and feedback on university strategy, investments, policies, practices and processes. We call on senior leadership to collaborate, consult and engage with that committee.

Demonstrate leadership in climate justice through our actions as an anchor institution in our research, teaching, experiential learning, investments (managing our endowment), campus operations, and our engagement with the cities and communities in which our campuses are located.

Take the clear step of divesting itself from fossil fuels within two years.