University Senate members discussed campus safety and the university closing early at their meeting this afternoon.

Faculty Regent Patricia Minter said she was upset that officials told faculty the university will be closing a week early in December to cut back on energy costs.

“I’m done with things being done from the top down,” Minter said.

Provost Barbara Burch addressed the senate after Minter and said that the early closing was a one-time situation that would likely not happen again.

She said faculty members would still be able to get into their offices when the university is closed.

A campus safety resolution passed unanimously which states that faculty should be trained in emergency procedures and should be represented on any committee or task force relating to campus safety.

The resolution was a result of events on Oct. 22, when a fight broke out on South Campus and moved to the main campus, according to the resolution.

A resolution about the Student Input to Teaching Evaluation also passed unanimously.

The resolution states that faculty from all colleges, departments and divisions shall be represented on any group that reviews, develops or implements a faculty evaluation process.

Julie Shadoan, chair of the senate and author of the resolution, said she wrote it after an e-mail from a faculty member concerned about the Council of Academic Deans discussing SITE without a faculty representative.

Sharon Mutter, chair of the SITE committee, added an amendment to the resolution stating that before an evaluation system could be adopted, studies should be completed to show its validity.

At the Oct. 16 meeting, the senate voted against the SITE committee’s recommendation to change the faculty evaluation system.

A revision to the senate charter was also up for first reading at tonight’s meeting.

The changes would make committee membership consistent across all colleges and departments, Shadoan said.

It would also put senate elections online rather than using paper ballots, she said.

The charter revision will be voted on at the senate’s next meeting on Dec. 11, Shadoan said.