Section I 

1.1 WHEREAS the UO Constitution adopted 7 December 2010 in its point 8.5 states: “The University Senate shall establish, maintain, and be advised by, an Academic Council charged with bringing to the University Senate issues relating to the academic mission of the University with recommendation(s) for action.” 

1.2 WHEREAS the Senate Bylaws in Article 6 also clearly defined an advisory role for the Academic Council. 

1.3 WHEREAS the Senate wishes to maintain trust and confidence in the academic mission of the University of Oregon;   

1.4 WHEREAS, the State of Oregon, beginning with the University of Oregon Charter and subsequent amendments [Section 14, 1876 (ORS 352.010, 352.004, 352.006)], provides that the faculty “have the immediate government and discipline of the public university and the students therein;”  

1.5 WHEREAS Section 1.5 of the Constitution of the University of Oregon (2011), via ratification by the statutory faculty, delegates said authority to the University Senate;  

1.6 WHEREAS the University Senate, as delegated by the statutory faculty, is the primary faculty governance authority over all academic matters as commonly understood in higher education at the University of Oregon, and as such has authority over the methods of instruction and awarding of grades; and 

1.7 WHEREAS the Report of the Academic Integrity Task Force completed in 2016 stated in its Principle 1 that, “The true instructors of record (i.e., faculty and GTFs/GE) should maintain control and choice over how to manage their courses, assignments, final exams and grades. This includes submission of final grades.” 

1.8 WHEREAS said report further states that, “This principle is a bedrock of academic freedom, academic integrity, and professional ethics. Unilateral administrative decisions to replace true instructors of record with others who have had no involvement with courses amounts to academic malpractice.” 

1.9 WHEREAS Policy Number 11.01.06 enacted and revised on May 10, 2019, states that “the President of the University, or designee, can declare a “Campus State of Emergency,” after which the Academic Council will be charged with evaluating whether to declare a “significant academic disruption”  

1.10 WHEREAS implementation of any Academic Council Academic Continuity Plan bypasses the direct vote and approval of the full Senate, when the Senate is able to meet;  

1.11 WHEREAS the University Senate strongly objects to the implementation of a continuity plan that  immediately replaces and effectively locks out striking Instructors of Record (IORs) from classes they have designed and taught, and consequently, makes alterations to grading procedures and course assignments without properly consulting the University Senate; 

1.12 WHEREAS the Academic Council has rejected the directions offered in the Senate and in the Senate Executive Committee to provide a scaled approach to avoid a full replacement of Instructors of Record should there be a labor strike on our campus; 

Section II  

2.1 THEREFORE BE IT MOVED that Policy Number 11.01.06 paragraph 2 of Section III: PROCEDURE FOR ACTIVATING ACADEMIC CONTINUITY PLANS DURING A SIGNIFICANT ACADEMIC DISRUPTION be revised as follows: “After such a declaration, the Academic Council will be convened to determine, in coordination with designees from the Office of the Provost and the Senate Executive Committee, an appropriate Academic Continuity Plan, if needed, to manage any associated disruption of academic activity. Approval of any such plan will require a majority vote of the faculty members of the Academic Council and of the University Senate, and if the Senate is unable to meet within a reasonable time frame due to the emergency or disruption, the vote of the Senate Executive Committee.” 

2.2 BE IT FURTHERMORE MOVED that Policy Number 11.01.06 Section III: PROCEDURE FOR ACTIVATING ACADEMIC CONTINUITY PLANS DURING A SIGNIFICANT ACADEMIC DISRUPTION be revised to insert the following paragraph between paragraphs 6 and 7:”All emergency academic continuity measures will be subject to ongoing evaluation by the Academic Council and University Senate with the specific goal of proposing revisions to an approved Academic Continuity Plan in order to guarantee that the key principles of academic integrity, transparency, and fairness to students are being met;”