The ULM faculty senate voted to delay the election of a new president and secretary. The senate took action on the matter at their regular meeting Thursday.
The agenda item was to nominate and elect new officers whose jobs would begin at the start of the 2025-2026 school year. The Faculty Senate Constitution states that “officers of the faculty senate shall be elected at the first regular faculty senate meeting of each academic year.”
Faculty Sen. Pat McGuire, an assistant professor representing the ULM School of Humanities, suggested the motion.
“In my opinion, I think it’s too quick,” McGuire said. “I think we can’t make nominations for these positions in today’s meeting.”
McGuire proposed that the senators be given a two-week extension to nominate a president and secretary so that the election would occur during the next senate meeting.
After motioning to postpone the election, McGuire asked Jeff Anderson, the current faculty senate president, to explain the tasks of the president and secretary. Anderson, the ULM School of Humanities associate director, is serving his second term as president.
“I want Jeff to elaborate on the positions and the job description itself,” he said. “I think it’s important to know exactly what you are assigned to do.”
The president-elect serves as a member of the Faculty Handbook Committee. Anderson worked with this committee last year due to the absence of a president-elect.
Anderson explained that once the senate chooses the president-elect and secretary-elect, they will have an entire academic year to learn the tasks and functions of their elected position. They will also assist the current president and secretary. The five faculty senate officers are the president, the past president, the president-elect, the secretary, and the secretary-elect.
“It is important and very worthy work,” Anderson said. He encouraged members to nominate fellow senators for the positions.
Only when the election takes place will the positions of the president-elect and secretary-elect be fulfilled.
On another front, Glenn Anderson and Mark Arant have been rewriting the ULM Faculty Handbook over the last year.
The handbook, which the committee last updated in 2019, will have a few changes. Potential amendments include updated duties of the president and secretary, policies for AI use in classrooms, and workload policies.
Following the election of a new president and publication of a revised constitution, the faculty senate will reconvene on the tabled agenda.

Glenn Anderson and Mark Arant were incorrectly identified as faculty senators in the Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, version of this story.