FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
FOR SEPTEMBER 22, 1998
(Vol. xxviii, No. 5)

I. Call to order by James Tidwell at 2:00 p.m. (Conference Room, Booth Library)

Present: J. Allison, J. Best, J. Coons, C. Eberly, P. Fewell, G. Foster, N. Furumo, B. Irwin, G. Lockart, N. Marlow, J. Tidwell, M. Toosi, L. Walker, A. Zahlan. Excused: R. Gholson. Guests: T. Abebe, C. Ealy, L. Fagan, K. Harris, J. Hunt, J. Nilsen, N. Page, S. Rich, J. Robinson, T. Sloup, V. Woodard.

II. Approval of the minutes of September 15, 1998.

Motion (Allison/Furumo) to approve the minutes of September 15, 1998.

Corrections: Add VI. Adjournment at 4:10 (Walker). Bonnie Irwin recorded the minutes. Under IV.F.1. Dean Hitch clarified that there are more than 300 student teachers in the field for fall 1998; about 600 have applied for spring 1999. The numbers have been growing, especially during the last two years.

Yes: Allison, Best, Coons, Eberly, Fewell, Foster, Furumo, Irwin, Tidwell, Zahlan. Abstentions: Marlow, Toosi.

III. Communications

A. Minutes of Council on Academic Affairs-September 10 and 17.

B. Memo on upcoming meetings of Environmental Health and Safety Committee. Core committee will meet September 28 and October 26 from 9-11 a.m. in the Paris Room. The committee as a whole will meet November 30 from 9-11 a.m. in the Paris Room.

C. E-mail from Dean Elizabeth Hitch clarifying the number of students involved in student teaching.

D. E-mail from Assistant VPAA Charles Evans clarifying comments about General Education White Paper.

E. Memo from Assistant VPAA Charles Evans regarding draft paper on remedial courses.

F. Memo from VPBA Morgan Olsen regarding screening committee for the Director of Major Gifts/Planned Giving.

G. Memo from Jeanne Simpson, Assistant VPAA, regarding summer school statistics.

H. E-mail from Dan Sheeran, Chemistry, about summer school.

IV. New Business

A. Status of Presidential Search-Trustee Tom Johnson, Chair of Presidential Search Committee. Johnson first spoke about the master planning meeting. The task is to develop a realistic shared vision of what this place will look like in 15-20 years. The process is as important as the product. This will examine residential, academic, and recreational cores of the campus. The assumptions underlying the process: (1) EIU will remain the same size and (2) the fundamental mission will be unchanged. EIU has an aging academic infrastructure built for a student body of half the size, and we are at the mercy of the state of Illinois for our funding. Specific areas of examination include the physical sciences building, life sciences building, fine arts building, and residence halls.

Johnson shared the position statement for the EIU president with the Senate. As of Monday, there had been 20 applications. The Committee will meet on October 19 to develop a list of 6-8 candidates. They will meet with these candidates in mid-November, probably at O'Hare Airport. From those meetings they will develop the short list of 3 names. There could be a campus visit in early December or next semester. During the questions/discussion which followed, several issues were raised:

If new trustees are appointed, will they replace those on the committee? That will be up to the BOT.

Heidrick & Struggles will prepare a list of top applicants from those that apply and from those they have identified. Heidrick & Struggles work for EIU; they are being paid to augment the quality of the pool.

They hope that the Legislature will clarify the Enabling Statute to allow existing trustees to continue to serve until new ones are appointed.

Heidrick & Struggles will conduct background checks on the candidates; the members of the search committee will conduct reference checks. Only the short list will become public.

There will be no payments made to the search firm by potential applicants.

B. Status of University Fund-Raising and Lobbying Efforts-Jill Nilsen, Acting VPER. Nilsen distributed an organizational chart for the areas under external relations: publications, special events, governmental relations, media relations, development, alumni services, planning and institutional studies, and WEIU Radio/TV. She also introduced her staff members: Steve Rich, director of Alumni Services; Cris Ealy and Nancy Page, Foundation; Kim Harris, Lisa Fagan, and Jill Robinson, Telefund. Development at EIU has three parts: (1) Alumni services involves relationships and fund raising. This may begin with a Student Alumni Association. They are trying to plan an event each month. The publications are The Eastern Alumnus and Old Main Line. (2) Annual giving program is an effort to establish a pattern of giving among alumni and gain support from others. It consists of Telefund and the Commemorative Courtyard. Future projects may include renovating the public spaces in Pemberton and the presidential portrait campaign. Funds are gathered through direct mail, telemarketing, and personal visitation. (3) Planned giving/major gifts include projects of a much greater scale-wills, bequests, etc. The master planning process is an opportunity to look at potential major donors and offer them "naming" opportunities. None of the current staff is experienced in this area.

These are not three separate blocks; the key to developmental activities is communication. Development is a process of building external relations. All of us serve as development officers for EIU. Communication is also important to make sure that none of our developmental efforts conflict with the others. The Foundation Board will meet this weekend. Laible is coming in as president of the Foundation and serving as executive officer. During the question/discussion period, key issues included:

Should the search for the Director of Planned Giving/Major Gifts wait until after the new president is in place? The position was vacated by Hilke, and someone is needed in that position. The new president will want to look at the position held temporarily by Nilsen, not a position that reports to her.

Money raised through development efforts is usually designated for a particular area.

It is too early to determine if individual development officers for the colleges will be worth the expense.

The salary range for positions comparable to the Director of Planned Giving is $50,000-$60,000.

The Commemorative Courtyard was designed by an architectural firm. The cupola and clock tower are separate items for which they are seeking donors. Athletics generated the idea for this. As it was discussed on campus, it became a campus-wide project. A portion of the proceeds goes for the construction; most will go to the departments.

The percentage of Telefund monies that goes to the departments varies.

Government Affairs Specialists, Inc. of Springfield has been hired to conduct EIU's lobbying. They were first hired in January 1998, and their contract was renewed for this academic year. They have been excellent for EIU. They will be on campus tomorrow for the meeting with IBHE. They are working on items that will go before the veto session this fall, including the procurement bill and trustee legislation. During the question/discussion period, key issues included:

Will they look into our sick leaves? From the university perspective this is very expensive, but it is a great benefit for faculty.

There is a new chance of supplemental appropriation, and there some thought that 5+5 might be introduced.

Faculty are the strongest support EIU has. Faculty interactions with the public are the best way to get Eastern's message out.

We need to look at the impact of the Lake county Learning Center very carefully. One advantage EIU has is that we are the traditional college experience.

Part of our job is to sell this institution to the presidential candidates. We need to ask challenging questions, but we need to sell this institution.

We are selling the idea of small classes to our publics, but that isn't always what we're doing. Is the administration aware of this contradiction?

C. Nomination of two faculty members to serve on the screening committee for the Director of Major Gifts/Planned Giving. Faculty Senate members expressed great concern over this process. Policy #12 of the Internal Governing Policies states that the proposed composition of the screening committee should be circulated to the campus for comments. This was not done. Further, Senate had less than a week to submit names to VPBA Olsen; this requires making instantaneous nominations and prohibits the solicitation of interested faculty. All of these committees that require student and faculty representation have had their compositions approved. It was suggested that we invite Cynthia Nichols to a meeting to explain to the Senate how she determines which committees should and should not have faculty and student representation. The Executive Board will pursue this.

Eberly moved to nominate L. Walker and N. Furumo by consensus.

V. Old Business

A. The Fall Forum will be finalized at the September 29 meeting.

B. Committee Reports. Because of the time, most committee reports will be postponed until September 29. Foster reported that the candidates for Associate VPAA are on campus this week. Faculty sessions are at 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Dr. Abebe has given half of his allotted time to students since they were not represented on the search committee.

VI. Adjourn at 4:10 p.m. (Allison)

Respectfully submitted,

Nancy D. Marlow, Recorder