FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
FOR APRIL 18, 2000
(Vol. xxix, No. 27)
  1. Call to order by Bonnie Irwin at 2:05 p.m. (2504 Buzzard Building)

    2. Present: J. Allison, R. Benedict, J. Best, G. Canivez, J. Coons, C. Eberly, B. Fischer, B. Irwin, G. Lockart, N. Marlow, J. Tidwell, M. Toosi, B. Young, G. Kelly. Guests: T. Abebe, M. Beurskins, J. Niziolkiewicz.

    Chair Irwin extended congratulations to Senators Benedict and Fischer for having been awarded tenure. She announced that she will write letters to all faculty who had tenure approved. She also wished good luck to Gary Kelly who is running for student Vice President of Public Affairs.

  2. Approval of the minutes of April 11, 2000

    3. Motion (Canivez/Young) to approve the minutes of April 11, 2000.

    Corrections: The motion to approve the minutes was made by Young, seconded by Coons. The motion under V.A.2.b. should read: Motion (Tidwell/Fischer) that the Faculty Senate vehemently opposes proposed changes in Article 4 of the CUPB by-laws regarding subcommittee procedures and operations. The motion under V.A.6. was made by Fewell, seconded by Lockart.

    Yes: Allison, Benedict, Best, Canivez, Coons, Fischer, Irwin, Lockart, Young. Abstentions: Marlow, Toosi.

  3. Communications
    1. College of Education and Professional Studies Curriculum Committee Minutes, March 27, 2000. Revisions approved to EDP 3325, Educational Psychology; HST 2600, Global Health Issues: EIU 4047G. New course approved: HST 1600G, Health and Human Behavior.
    2. Faculty Senate Account Statement, March 31, 2000. Current balance: $41490.73.
    3. Committee for the Assessment of Student Learning minutes, April 4, 2000. Further discussion of the Assessment Plan draft.
    4. Committee for the Assessment of Student Learning minutes, April 11, 2000. l Demonstration of Trac Dat software.
    5. Letter from president Surles regarding IBHE Faculty Advisory Committee, April 14, 2000. We need to forward a name for a new representative and an alternate.
    6. E-mail from Sue Harvey, Records, regarding on-line grades, April 13, 2000. On-line grades available, but students will also receive a mailing this semester.
    7. Addendum to EIU report to Board of Trustees, April 17, 2000. Tenure list; honorary doctoral degree recipient will be Robert Knollenberg.
    8. Report delivered by Senate chair to Board of Trustees, April 17, 2000.
    9. E-mail from Lewis Coons, emeritus faculty, regarding changes in Social Security, April 18, 2000. We deserve dual coverage, Social Security and SURS both.
    10. John Kilgore and John Allison delivered a petition concerning free speech and rights to privacy to President Surles with more than 400 signatures.
  1. Old Business

A. Committee Reports

      1. Executive Committee
            1. Summer meeting/finals week meeting. The summer session Faculty Senate meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 13. Chair Irwin will try to schedule a luncheon meeting at 12:30. If there needs to be a meeting during finals, it will be at 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday, May 2.
            2. The Retirement Reception is scheduled for Tuesday, April 25 from 4-6 p.m. in the University Ballroom.
      2. Elections. The coin tosses are scheduled. By next week we should be able to wrap up this year’s elections.
      3. Nominations.
            1. The Senate needs to appoint a representative to the Enrollment Management Advisory Committee.

              2. Motion (Tidwell/Benedict) to nominate John Best to continue in this position.

              Yes: Allison, Benedict, Best, Canivez, Coons, Eberly, Fischer, Irwin, Lockart, Marlow, Tidwell, Toosi, Young.

            2. Alternate to IBHE FAC. Les Hyder was the alternate last year and has been appointed as the representative. We need to appoint an alternate.

      Faculty interested in serving as an alternate to the IBHE Faculty Advisory Committee should contact James Tidwell, Journalism <cfjat> by Tuesday, April 25, at noon.

    1. Faculty-Student Relations. They discussed the International Student Fees. They decided that they need to meet again with Augustine and Baharlou to see what has happened thus far. They are meeting tomorrow (April 19). There was interest expressed by the Senate to show campus-wide support for international programs. The issue is not so much whether international students should be charged a fee but whether the campus should support the international program. If there were student fees, the possibility of charging them to all students as opposed to charging such a large fee to just international students was suggested.
    2. Search Committees: VPIA. Katina Leotas will be on campus on Thursday, April 27, to meet with the Search Committee. She will bring the files on all the serious candidates she has to the Search Committee. There is a real confidentiality issue involved in these searches. Often she is approaching people who have jobs elsewhere. There have been cases where names were leaked out and individuals have lost their existing jobs. She anticipates that she will have 15-20 candidates next week for the Search Committee. She will also make herself available to answer questions and listen to concerns from members of the campus community at 2:00.
    3. The Distinguished Faculty Award committee will meet Friday, April 21, at 10:00 a.m.
    4. It was asked what the current situation is with the Radio/TV station. Chair Irwin will check into this for next week’s meeting.
    1. CUPB By-laws

Motion [from last week’s meeting] Tidwell/Fischer) that the Faculty Senate vehemently opposes proposed changes in Article 4 of the CUPB by-laws regarding subcommittee procedures and operations.

Discussion included the following:

Yes: Allison, Benedict, Best, Canivez, Coons, Eberly, Fischer, Irwin, Lockart, Marlow, Tidwell, Toosi, Young.

VPAA Abebe said that in Academic Affairs they have involved the subcommittee very actively in planning processes and will continue to do so. The subcommittee has been very helpful. Chair Irwin also noted that she has received good reports from faculty on that subcommittee. Chair Irwin also indicated that she has brought up the Senate’s discomfort with the fact that the entire Executive Committee was made up of administrators. It might be more helpful to elect the Executive Committee at the end of the preceding year.
    1. Versity.com. Chair Irwin has been receiving widely varying reports from faculty. Some are outraged by this. Others have no problem with it. She invited the senators to discuss the issue:
      • CAA should probably discuss this, too. If there is a variety of opinion, perhaps instructors could indicate their policy about it on the syllabus.
      • There is no name attached to the information on Versity.com. Instructors would be unable to enforce their policy.
      • I realize that a remark on the syllabus cannot enforce anything, but having it could offer the instructor some protection.
      • Most of the concerns that have been expressed are about the misrepresentation of facts.
      • The mixed feelings indicate that a discussion of this may not be very effective. We need more time for faculty to examine the disadvantages and advantages. Not many courses are on there yet. Many faculty have no opinion because their notes are not posted.
      • We may be making too much out of this. One thing faculty could do is tape record their classes every day. Then class presentations could be copyrighted. Students have always circulated notes.
      • Most of us change things every semester. For a student to think that what is on Versity.com is what I would be saying every semester would be incorrect. An attendance policy would take care of some of the problems.
      • I do not care. I would hand them my notes. I am not worried about how it affects us but I am worried about how it affects the students. If this system has misinformation, ultimately the students will run from it.
      • One of the issues that had been brought up is the intellectual property ownership issue.
      • Instructors could defeat such a system by posting their own notes and materials on their own web pages.
      • This has been a very good discussion. It illuminates a number of things. Faculty who change their notes every semester and change their tests control what students can do. We all want our students to learn. If they go back and research what you did in 1994, they have learned. The real issue is taking notes for commercial purposes. We do not benefit, but someone else does.
      • With intellectual property, one issue is how much of what I use in my class is mine. There really isn’t much. I am contributing some, but much comes from major minds in the field and what they have done in the past.
      • Many professors from universities across the state are still not aware of this.
      • A lot of the ideas we present in class are not new. It is the packaging of those ideas that is ours. We do not want to belittle the efforts of what we are doing. The way we are putting everything together has value.
      • Ideas cannot be copyrighted by the expression of them can be.
      • We are not here to give university students textbook knowledge; we should help them become knowledge seekers.
      • These are notes not accurate minutes of the class.
      • Versity.com wants faculty to make comments and serve as consultants.

    It was concluded that this was an interesting discussion. As we learn more about Versity.com, the conversation should continue.
    1. Adjourn at 3:35 p.m. (Benedict)

    Respectfully submitted,

    Nancy D. Marlow, Recorder

    Items for Faculty Senate Meeting–April 25, 2000