Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes October 21, 2015

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes October 21, 2015

Senate Meeting called to order at 4:00 PM

Approval of Minutes:  Nancy Autin noted a correction to the minutes regarding her report from the SEI committee. Dr. Neiheisel made a motion, seconded by Dr. Wooddell, that the corrected minutes of the September 16, 2015 meeting be approved.  The motion passed.

Executive Officer report: 

Lewis Deaton reported that the University Council discussed the issue of NCAA violations and concerns about the effect that would have on the University. 

Next in his report, Dr. Deaton stated everyone should take a look at the new policy on prohibited sexual conduct.  He said that the new policy will be an enormous undertaking and require considerable training of officials.  Senators then raised questions about obligations under the policy and whether comments regarding the policy will be taken into account to modify the policy.  Senator Bary asked whether an employee would be allowed to call police or whether they would have to call an administrator first.  The consensus of those present at the senate meeting was that nothing in the policy prevented calling police at any point.  Senator Autin stated that University Police are not always available to respond immediately.  Senator Bary suggested that the Status of Women Committee look at the policy and present comments to the senate.

Dr. Deaton also reported that the university is moving towards hiring staff to serve as academic advisors and centralizing advising.  He stated that the administration seems to hold the view that departments should not specify particular courses to meet general education requirements for their majors.  Senator McDonald suggested that Dr. Henderson meet with the senate to clarify various comments that have been made since the issues differ from one department and college to another. 

Reports of Senate Committees:

Committee on Committees:   Dr. Mary Neiheisel distributed a ballot to elect senators to fill vacancies on permanent senate committees.  For the Committee on Committees the following members were elected, Mark Smith from the College of Business Administration, Jean Kiesel from the Library, Brian Kelly from the College of the Arts, and Scott Duke-Sylvester, David Baker, and Gus Gallo as at-large members.  For the Academic Planning and Development Committee Nancy Autin was elected from the College of Education.  For the Governmental Concerns Committee the following members were elected, Colleen Schwarz from the college of Business Administration, Daniel Gang from the college of Engineering, Candace May from the college of Liberal Arts, Allison Gallaspy from the Library, and Salah Massoud from the college of Sciences.  For the Ways and Means Committee Jamie Baldridge was elected as representative from the college of Arts.
Ways and Means:  no report
Academic Planning and Development:  no report
Governmental Concerns:  no report
Faculty Advisory Council Representative:  no report

Ad Hoc Committee on Underrepresented Faculty Groups:  no report
Ad Hoc Committee on the Status of women:  written report submitted.  Leslie Bary reported that the committee has had difficulty getting salary date and that the committee would present a motion addressing that issue.  Senator McDonald suggested that President Deaton contact Ellen Cook on an informal basis and ask about the problem of getting requested data.

Reports from University committees:

Curriculum:  no report
Faculty Grievance:  no report
Faculty Benefits and Welfare:  no report
Library:  no report
Academic Affairs and Standards:  no report
Parking and Planning:  no report
Student Evaluation of Instruction:  Nancy Autin noted that the list of committee members can be found on the Academic Affairs website and stated that the committee will be active this year.
Distance Learning Leadership Council:  no report
Strategic Program Review:  no report

Unfinished Business: 

Extension of Probationary Period for Tenure:  Senator Wooddell proposed an amendment eliminating the exclusion within the last year of the probationary period.  The motion to amend the policy was seconded and discussion followed.  A question was raised as to whether the 1 year period meant 1 year before the decision or 1 year before the 7 year “tenure probationary period”.  Robert Slater suggested deleting the paragraphs regarding “within the final year”.  This was accepted as a friendly amendment to the original motion.  During discussion Alice Ferguson noted the difference in the chain of submission between extension for reason of birth/adoption of a child or for family care and said that the chain of submission should be the same for both cases.  The motion to delete paragraphs stating that a request for extension may not occur within the final year of a faculty member’s probationary period was voted on and passed unanimously.  The sentence “Requests for extension of the probationary period must be received within one year of the birth or adoption of the child.” is to be moved to the end of the previous paragraph and the sentence following deleted, along with the corresponding paragraph under dependent care.
Senator Bary made a motion, seconded by Senator Wooddell, to change the chain of submission listed for an extension request due to dependent care from department head, dean, and then Provost to the same process as for submitting a request due to birth of a child, i.e. directly to the Director of Equity, Diversity, and Community Engagement.  The motion passed unanimously.

Strategic Plan:  Senator Wooddell presented a motion to amend the wording of the strategic plan regarding establishment of a University Senate substituting “Establish a University Governance Council for the purpose of promoting cooperation and understanding among the various independent, representative governance bodies.” for the original wording, “Establish a University Senate, with representatives from each of the above governance bodies, which will support broad participation in the determination of University initiatives and resource allocations.”.  The motion was seconded.  Senator McDonald stated that he opposed the amendment because all employees should have equal say on policies, e.g. the tobacco policy, which affect everyone.  Other senators commented that the “University Senate” language is vague and that the faculty senate should not agree to be subordinate to an undefined entity.  The motion was voted on and passed.

Since the time was past 5:30 no further business was addressed.

Meeting adjourned at 5:41 pm.

Kathleen Knierim
Secretary