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The university will only change operations if it has to.

That’s the guidance Chancellor Justin Schwartz gave the Boulder Faculty Assembly (BFA) during its March meeting.

While acknowledging that the past few weeks have been especially disruptive, he encouraged faculty to focus on what they can control, which includes fulfilling the university mission.

“Our mission has not changed. Academic freedom has not changed. Freedom of speech and expression have not changed. Building a community of students, faculty and staff who reflect the state of Colorado has not changed. These remain central to all we do,” said Schwartz.

In addition to working with peer institutions to monitor the situation and forming the CU Boulder Transition Advisory Committee, Schwartz also listed actions the university has taken in response to actions taken by the new federal administration. Those include:

• Providing information to the Colorado Attorney General�� seeking to prevent massive reductions to the National Institutes of Health’s Facilities and Administrative (F&A) rate, as well as information related to research grant payments.
• Publishing an�� explaining and defending the F&A costs associated with research grants. To date only the National Institutes of Health Facilities and Administrative costs have been at risk, however it’s possible this won’t be an isolated situation.
• Encouraging researchers to�� aimed at protecting vital NIH funding.
• Signing a letter to Congress from various higher education associations encouraging Congress to reverse course on dramatic cuts to the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.
• Providing information to the Colorado Congressional delegation on how the executive order’s directives and memos directly impact CU Boulder.
• CU Boulder’s student government students combined forces with student government leaders from other Big 12 universities to lobby on Capitol Hill on behalf of higher education.
• Complying with lawful orders, while consistently reaffirming our commitment to not making changes to what we do unless required to do so.

While it’s not known how or when the executive orders affecting higher education will be resolved, Schwartz quoted�� in saying that CU Boulder is “committed to being a premier, accessible and transformative public research university that has diverse and inclusive working and learning environments, and to maintaining the academic freedom of the students, staff and faculty that call the university home.”

The chancellor also shared his gratitude.

“I am so grateful for your work across teaching, research and service—your commitment and support of each other and our students—and as members of the BFA. In times of change and uncertainty, shared governance is especially critical to the university’s success,” said Schwartz, adding, “We are in uncharted waters; only by working together they are navigable.”

Other business

In partnership with the BFA, Schwartz announced the creation of a Faculty Salary Task Force. While the details of the effort are forthcoming, he’s working with deans, institute directors, department heads and key members of the staff to address possible future budgetary shortfalls.

Schwartz introduced new leaders that have come onboard since his presentation to BFA last fall: Ann Schmiesing, who serves as interim vice chancellor for strategic initiatives, and Andrew Mayock, the inaugural vice chancellor for sustainability. Mayock, who will start on March 17, is the former chief sustainability officer for the United States government, while Schmiesing returned to campus on March 1 after serving as the interim chancellor at CU Denver.

“They are both committed to the success of CU Boulder and have strong records of building collaborative and effective teams,” said Schwartz.

Finally, Schwartz announced a��new initiative focused on student mental health and wellness during the meeting. This new effort includes, but is about a lot more than, just “avoiding mental health crises,” says Schwartz.

This initiative is “not in lieu of a dedicated focus on our faculty and staff,” said Schwartz. There will also be an ongoing working group that is a partnership between faculty, staff and administrators, with the aim of supporting faculty wellness.

In other BFA actions��

Announcing the new faculty athletics representative

Last fall, Joe Jupille announced that he was stepping back from his role as the campus’s faculty athletics representative. An extensive search for his replacement followed, with Nick Villanueva named as his successor.

“He’s going to do amazing,” said Jupille.

Villanueva will start this new position in the fall.

Faculty reaffirm their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion

Carmen Pacheco, the BFA diversity, equity and inclusion chair,�� to reaffirm the BFA’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.��

“This is very important because of our students,” argued Pacheco. “Our students need to know that we support them no matter what they look like. They need to hear from us and we make it clear that we stand with them.”

This motion will be voted on at the next meeting.

In closing

• �ճ����2025 winners of the BFA Excellence Awards were announced. The campus community is invited to a celebration on April 2.
• The student affairs committee introduced a new��regarding faculty preferences for how they’d like students to communicate with them.
• Three motions introduced last month were voted on and passed. These include the creation of the new��faculty shared governance advisor role; the renaming of the��BFA parliamentarian and chair of bylaws and elections role; and a recommendation for faculty to include��an AI statement on their syllabi.
• Finally, motions were also introduced to change the name and charge of the Budget and Planning Committee to the Budget, Finance and Academic Resource Management Committee; to��; and to�� for if someone cannot fulfil their term. These motions will be voted on next month.

Learn more about the BFA and previous actions on��the BFA website.