August 25, 2026 Executive Committee Minutes

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES

Present:          Baesu, Gorman, Gruverman, Leiter, Lewis, Pierobon, Reimer, Robison, Shrader, Tschetter

Absent:           Timmerman

Date:               Tuesday, August 25, 2026

Location:         203 Alexander Building

Note:   These are not verbatim minutes.  They are a summary of the discussions at the Executive Committee meeting as corrected by those participating.

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1. Call (Leiter)

Leiter called the meeting to order at 2:39 p.m.

2.0       Announcements 

            2.1       Request to Sponsor a Forum for Regent Candidates

Leiter reported that he received an email message from an emeritus faculty member who asked if the Faculty Senates at UNL and UNO could sponsor a forum for the candidates who are running for election to the Board of Regents.   Griffin was unsure whether the Regents Bylaws and Policies would prohibit a recognized faculty organization like the Senate from being able to sponsor a political event and suggested that the General Counsel office should be consulted.  Lewis reported that the local AAUP advocacy chapter is planning to hold a forum with the candidates.   

 3.0       Approval of June 30 and July 28, 2026 Minutes

            Leiter asked if there were any revisions to the June 30, 2026, minutes.  Hearing none, he asked for a motion to approve the minutes.   Shrader moved, and Tschetter seconded approval of the minutes.   Motion approved.

            Leiter asked if there were any further revision to the July 28, 2026, minutes. Hearing none, he asked for a motion to approve the minutes.   Robison moved, and Pierobon, seconded approval of the July 28^th minutes. 

4.0       Executive Committee Goals for 2026-2027

            The Executive Committee worked on refining the Committee’s draft goals that were identified at an Executive Committee retreat held on August 21^st.   Once finalized, the goals will be shared with the Faculty Senate.         

5.0       New Business 

5.1       Motion for Executive Committee to Establish an Online Portal to Hear Faculty Concerns

The Executive Committee reviewed a proposed motion to establish an online portal through which the Committee may receive concerns and suggestions for solutions from faculty members.  Leiter suggested using an AI bot to scan through any comments.  Gorman stated that he would work further on the language of the motion and report back to the Committee. 

5.2       Title IX Training Concerns

Reimer reported that she received an email message from a faculty member voicing concern about why every employee of the university should be considered a mandated reporter.   She noted that the faculty member pointed out that this mandate could actually discourage some victims of sexual assault, stalking, and other Title IX violations to talk to someone because it disrespects the victim’s right of autonomy in deciding whether they want the issue to be addressed further or whether they just wanted to speak to someone about what happened.  She pointed out that research has been conducted that shows that mandatory reporting can in fact discourage victims from coming forward.  The professor also pointed out that Title IX does not stipulate that all employees of a university must be made mandatory reporters.   

Gorman wondered whether there might be some federal regulation requiring universities to make all employees mandatory reporters.   The Executive Committee agreed to invite Associate to the Chancellor, Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance, to speak with the Executive Committee about the issue.   

5.3       Joint Summit on September 30

Leiter reported that there will be a joint UNL-UNMC Summit, “Enhancing Partnerships in Education and Research” help on September 30^th and two faculty members from the Faculty Senate Executive Committee are invited to attend.   He stated that he would like to attend the event, and it was suggested that a faculty member from the Academic Planning Committee be invited to the summit.   Griffin stated that she would contact Professor Bradshaw, chair of the APC, to see about identifying someone from the APC. 

5.4       Problems with Canvas 

Tschetter noted that there are currently two Canvas sites, but faculty members need to log out of the old system website and sign into the new Canvas website in order to use the program. 

5.5       Meeting with AI Institute Directors

Pierobon reported that the directors of the AI Institute met with the faculty in the School of Computing to discuss the Institute.   He pointed out that the directors are willing to come and speak with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee.  He noted that the Institute has limited funding and staffing and they are currently working to try to acquire grants to try to keep the Institute operational.    He stated that a main focus of the Institute is to educate the whole system on the use of AI and how it can be incorporated into classes and research. 

Pierobon stated that in a separate conversation with the AI Institute directors he suggested that there be a steering committee which would include more experts with AI knowledge from around the campus.   He noted that the steering committee should have members from the School of Computing and also from the humanities.  He reported that the AI directors agreed with the idea of creating a steering committee.   

Pierobon stated that the AI Directors are trying to have a campus-wide, Chat GPT enterprise account.   He pointed out that this would allow us to use ChatGPT, but all of the data and information would be kept at UNL.   He stated that he suggested that we instead move to a doc solution where we actually use in-house models pointing out that we have the expertise and knowledge on campus to create these models.   He pointed out that having a ChatGPT enterprise account could cost a significant amount and having in-house models could save considerable money.   

Pierobon reported that the AI Institute is seeking campus-wide ChatGPT enterprise access, but he proposed that an in-house AI solution could be developed instead.   Gruverman noted that we have enterprise AI tools available already with Chat GPT, Copilot, and Microsoft 365 Copilot, and asked if Pierobon was suggesting something different.   Pierobon asked if Gruverman was referring to compliance issues with these AI tools.   Gruverman stated yes and said that he believes there is ChatGPTEDU which should be available to the campus.   Pierobon stated that there are but there are a limited number of these licenses available.   

The Executive Committee agreed to ask Interim Chancellor Ankerson if there is any further information about a ChatGPT enterprise. The Committee also agreed to invite the directors of the AI Institute to an Executive Committee meeting.   

The meeting was adjourned at 4:09 p.m.  The next meeting of the Executive Committee will be on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, immediately following the Faculty Senate meeting.  The minutes are respectfully submitted by Karen Griffin, Coordinator and Ann Tschetter, Secretary.