Despite low attendance at a series of Faculty Senate open forums this week regarding the faculty conduct policy, senate members say they are not discouraged about the level of interest in the policy.

Denise Vrchota, co-author of the faculty conduct policy, said the senate was not expecting a large turnout.

“I think the attendance at these open forums are pretty typical of the way attendance would be. We weren’t surprised,” said Vrchota, adjunct assistant professor of journalism and mass communication.

Two faculty members attended the meeting Jan. 18, and none attended the meeting on Friday.

David Hopper, president-elect of the Faculty Senate, also said he was not surprised by the attendance.

“This is a very busy faculty. I’m not surprised that many of them aren’t able to attend the open forum,” said Hopper, professor of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine.

Vrchota said the senate has gotten response from faculty in other ways.

“The Faculty Senate president, Dean Ulrichson, has made some huge attempts to ensure that people could give feedback. We had four small group study sessions with invited individuals and received a huge amount of feedback,” she said.

Hopper said the information about the faculty conduct policy is available on the Faculty Senate’s Web site, www.facsen.iastate.edu. Faculty members with concerns can also talk with their Faculty Senate representatives, he said.

“There are many other avenues of communication for faculty,” Hopper said.

Vrchota said the authors of the bill have been working with the administration for two years. The bill will go to the Faculty Senate for discussion next, she said.

“Generally for something like this, the only source of feedback would be the senate, so we have all these other groups who have an opportunity to give feedback,” Vrchota said.

Vrchota said she hopes the faculty conduct policy doesn’t have a large effect on ISU faculty.

“For most of the people, it won’t be affecting them,” she said. “It’s a policy that’s useful if you get into trouble, and most people won’t. So, if you’re the person who gets into trouble, then of course, it becomes important to you.”