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Spring break is behind us. Winter obviously is not, but we do just have over seven weeks to Commencement at this point. There’s a lot to accomplish between now and then and a lot happening.

This is my 119th and second-to-last Senate meeting. I expect to make some valedictory remarks on Syracuse and shared governance at our last Senate meeting in April.

I also expect to step down as Chancellor sometime after Commencement.

I want to join in congratulating our new Chancellor-elect, Mike Haynie. I want to record that I have asked a lot of Mike over the last 12 years, and he has consistently delivered for our university. Chancellor-elect Haynie’s two decades of extraordinary experience and commitment at Syracuse, I think, make him an ideal leader for Íø±¬ÃÅ at this moment. I know the University is going to thrive under his guidance.

I want to extend my gratitude as well to everybody from the University Senate, the faculty, the staff, and the students who served on the Chancellor Search Committee.

It’s clear to me from the outside that this was a thoughtful, deliberate, collaborative, and exhausting process. And I thank you for all the time put into it. I am committed to doing everything in my power to position the University and Chancellor-elect Haynie for success in these last weeks of the semester. I believe the best way the Senate can help is to give Chancellor-elect Haynie some grace through the transition, which I can testify is somewhat overwhelming at Syracuse. And just please be prepared to help when called upon.

His first official order of business was helping select and announce Bryan Blair as the University’s new athletics director. Bryan joins Syracuse from the University of Toledo, where he served as the vice president and director of athletics since 2022. Bryan has earned national claim as an innovator in the changing athletics landscape, while achieving both competitive and academic success. He co-chaired the search process for Toledo’s executive vice president and provost. His experience includes leadership roles at Washington State, at Rice University, and at the University of South Carolina, where he earned a law degree. He completed his undergraduate studies at Wofford College, where he was also a D-1 student athlete on the football team. In its January report, the Senate Athletics Policy Committee outlined many challenges for Syracuse and Syracuse Athletics. That now includes a new one, which is the search for a new men’s basketball coach. From everything I’ve learned about him, Bryan Blair is the right person to lead Orange Athletics forward at this moment.

I want to follow up with two shared governance matters. First, I am meeting with the Senate’s Athletic Policy Committee Friday to go over the recommendations in their January 2026 report. There’s been a lot that’s happened this semester in the intercollegiate athletics landscape.

And second, I want to report that, assuming the Senate approves the resolution on parking at its April meeting, I intend to move forward with all four operational recommendations outlined in the report and with the governance recommendation to establish a permanent standing advisory council on parking. If appropriate, I’d like to get that done and established prior to the end of the semester, but certainly working with Chancellor-elect Haynie to have that up and running at the beginning of the fall semester.

I’m grateful for all the work of the folks on that parking council. I know it was a long project.

Thank you, everybody. I will take questions following Provost Agnew’s remarks.