UI’s Faculty Senate voted Tuesday to dissolve the university safety and security charter, and three UI professors were separately honored with the Michael J. Brody Award for Faculty Excellence in Service.

Faculty Senate President Caroline Sheerin explained that the Campus Safety Improvement Board was established following recommendations from the Reimagining Campus Safety Action Committee. The committee was a part of UI’s response to the nationwide protests sparked by George Floyd’s death in 2020.

“The university created a committee to investigate and think carefully about how to improve or reimagine campus safety,” Sheerin said.

One initiative of this committee, Sheerin said, was to implement an ongoing advisory board to facilitate open communication with students and employees at the UI regarding safety issues. 

“This board is not a charter committee, but the membership is a lot broader,” Sheerin said.

Sheerin explained that the resulting membership of the Campus Safety Improvement Board has surpassed the nine members designated for the original charter committee.

With no questions raised, the motion for dissolution was unanimously approved.

Additionally, three UI professors — Kenneth Brown, Nicole Grosland, Ana Rodríguez-Rodríguez — were honored with the Michael J. Brody Award for Faculty Excellence.

Established in 1990, the Brody Award honors faculty members who have made exceptional contributions to the university and the broader community.

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Before starting her role as dean for academic affairs and graduate student success in July, Rodríguez-Rodríguez advocated for policy reform to increase faculty pay, benefits, and morale during her time as a secretary, vice president, president, and past president of the Faculty Senate.

“Today is a very special day,” Rodríguez-Rodríguez told the DI. “This award is very special already because it is about service.”

Each faculty member received $1,000 and a commemorative piece of artwork created by MFA students Lya Finston, Al-qawi Nanavati, and recent graduate Annie Klein. 

Brown, professor of management and entrepreneurship and interim DEO of educational policy and leadership studies told the DI that the commemorative artwork is an especially meaningful piece of this award.

“I’ve known about this award for twenty years,” Brown said. “And one of the reasons I’ve wanted to win is because you get an MFA piece of art. It just feels really unique and special.”

Grosland also told the DI  it was especially meaningful to meet two of the artists at the event.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly referenced the Campus Safety Student Advisory Board. The DI regrets this errors.