The Faculty Senate agenda is posted weekly on the Web, at 2504 Buzzard, and at 315K Coleman.

1. Call to order by Bonnie Irwin at 3:15 p.m. (2504 Buzzard Building)

Present: R. Benedict, J. Best, G. Canivez, J. Coons, C. Eberly, P. Fewell, B. Fischer, G. Foster, B. Irwin, G. Lockart, N. Marlow, J. Tidwell, M. Toosi, B. Young, G. Kelly. Excused: J. Allison. Guests: M. Buerskens, S. Gustafson, J. Miller, J. Ruppel, K. Rutter.

2. Approval of the minutes of January 18, 2000

Motion (Eberly/Fischer) to approve the minutes of January 18, 2000.

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

3. Communications

1. Council of Graduate Studies minutes, 7 December 1999. New courses approved: INT 5173, Global Technology; INT 5133, Total Quality Systems; COS 5103, Science and Technology of Leadership. Other actions: 99-12 Ethical Treatment of Human Subjects revised; 98-43 Thesis Guidelines Manual tabled until Sp 2000.
2. Council of Graduate Studies agenda, 14 January 2000.
3. Committee for the Assessment of Student Learning minutes, 11 January 2000. Discussion of draft assessment document. Doug Eder will be the keynote speaker for the annual Assessment Forum on 2-24-00.
4. E-mail from John Kilgore, English, regarding Textbook Rental Service, 10 January 2000. Dr. Kilgore advocates keeping TRS: 1) allows instructors to choose books that students would not be able to afford if they had to buy them; 2) TRS staff helpful in answering questions, ascertaining what books are available; 3) TRS does not indicate a disrespect for books but a recognition of economic reality; 4) Suggestions–give TRS more space so they can keep a larger backlog; encourage faculty to use backlog more efficiently and creatively; increase amount that can be spent on supplementary texts.
5. Memo from VPAA Abebe with attached revised FY 2002 Focus Statement, 19 January 2000. Per our discussion, revisions in the focus statement have been made.
6. Board of Trustees agenda, 24 January 2000.
7. Board of Trustees minutes, 18 October 1999. Jeff Cooley appointed Board treasurer. FY 2001 Tuition and Fee recommendations approved. Sale of University House approved. Various rooms in O’Brien stadium expansion named. Award of honorary Doctor of Public Service to former governor Edgar approved. Various purchases approved. Presentation of the Florence Coles Ballenger gift.
8. Board of Trustees Executive Committee minutes, 6 December 1999. Various purchases approved.
9. Report to the Board of Trustees and addenda, 24 January 2000. Financial Aid report: nearly $44 million was awarded in FY 1999; Eastern has one of the lowest default rates in the state (4.5% of direct loans, 3% on Perkins loans). IBHE budget recommendations: EIU is recommended to receive a 6.9% budget increase, second only to Chicago State; Booth Library equipment is 2^nd on BHE priority list, new fine arts center is 20^th–both are likely to be funded this year.
10. Memo from VPAA Abebe regarding Forum on Teacher Quality, 20 January 2000. Nationwide, improving teacher education is a major issue. VPAA would like to appoint a planning committee to organize a university-wide "Forum on Teacher Quality," March 2 at 2 PM. Senate asked to suggest 3 or 4 people to participate in planning. Senators Canivez, Coons, and Lockart volunteered to participate; the Senate approved them by acclamation.
11. Copy of thank-you letter from Senate Chair to Ms. Julia Abell, 19 January 2000.
12. Copy of thank-you letter from Senate Chair to Acting VPER Nilsen, 19 January 2000.
13. Copy of thank-you letter from Senate Chair to VPAA Abebe, 19 January 2000.

4. Old Business

1. Committee Reports
1. Executive Committee. A schedule of meeting times was sent to the Senate officers; the first meeting will be February 3. University Studies has been undergoing review. Chair Irwin received a call from Mary Herrington-Perry. A change in name to Center for Academic Support and Achievement has been proposed. The unit will be the same as it is now–Academic Advising, Disability Services, Academic Testing and Assessment, Learning Assistant Center. They will resume the search for a director. This is not a new position; it was noted that the position would be director–not dean. Items from the CUPB meeting were also shared. Eastern’s recommended budget increase is the second highest in the state but seven percent less than what was requested. Under a new state plan, Eastern should be getting more for deferred maintenance--$1.5 million per year. The capital projects total was second only that of the University of Illinois and the fine arts project is the largest in the state. There was a recap of planning during the CUPB meeting. The process is meant to be inclusive and dynamic. Each of the vice presidents who had advisory subcommittees used them. All of them used input from other sources. None of the actually focus statements were presented because the President has not signed off on them yet.
2. Elections. The process will be started in the next couple of weeks.
3. Nominations. The process of getting the lists together will begin soon.
4. Search Committees. University Counsel–they are planning a report to the President next week. Rec Director–the paperwork was in today. They hope to have someone signed by February 1. VPIA–one of the concerns has been the scheduling issue, which will has interviews during the summer. The search is well launched, and we need to give the search firm the latitude they need to do the job. If we try to compress the search, we may end up missing the best candidates. It may be better to try to schedule the interviews during the first four weeks of the eight-week session. This appears to be the time with the most faculty on campus. We need to make sure that other groups also have representatives on campus. We may need to disseminate information why it takes that amount of time. The process the consultant outlined was a minimum of twelve weeks. We do not want to see this happen on a regular basis–especially with academic searches. One of the things that distinguishes this search firm is that they do more sifting through of candidates. There will be a mid-search report.
2. Textbook Rental Service. Chair Irwin presented the conclusions from a survey that appeared to have been done in the 90s. 1) In general the faculty were not satisfied with TRS; 2) faculty with more years of service were likely to be more satisfied with TRS; 3) there were significant differences in the attitudes of faculty regarding TRS. Although not philosophically opposed, there are negative academic costs. The advantage to students is cost. The disadvantages to students include outdated books, supplemental readings difficulties, students do not develop personal libraries. There were more disadvantages than advantages noted, but the faculty were definitely split on the issue. The main findings from a 1997 survey of students were 1) the majority of students do not purchase their books; 2) the majority of students believe that the materials from TRS are up to date and complement faculty presentations. Only 48% read the materials from TRS; 3) there were no significant differences among students based on discipline or experience with TRS at other institutions (or a lack of experience with TRS at other institutions). It was noted that graduate students can avoid the rental fee only if they purchase all of the books for all courses by a given date. A discussion followed:

• Looking at the benchmark data, EIU is way on top in terms of expenses.
• We need to give a fair option to students who want to purchase books; they should not have to pay the rental fee. It should be the student’s choice.
• There are market forces that prevail on the prices of books. The manufacturer’s suggest price is not always the one paid. Students should have the right to participate in TRS, and if they choose not to participate, not pay the rental fee.
• Graduate students should have a choice of books they want to purchase.
• How do you prorate a fee if students purchase only some of their books? There was some discussion as to whether this can be done or not.
• The system is designed to discourage students from buying books.
• According to the performance indicators, other universities with textbook rental do not have graduate students participate in this. I would recommend that we require graduate students to buy their textbooks and look at the undergraduates separately.
• I have a graduate student this semester who had textbook rental at another university and disliked the system there. One problem with the process is that it restricts texts that the faculty can choose. Academic freedom is a factor. Books are investments; they are tools. Tools sometimes need to be upgraded.
• The recommendations from 1993 were good. The fee increase since then has only been $10 (from $60 to $70). This is not keeping up with increases in book prices. There needs to be a way to store books that are not currently used for classes for a longer period of time.
• In principle it is a good idea to give students the option, but it would be difficult to manage TRS without knowing how many students were going to rent their books.
• We are discussing TRS in an isolated context. The stipends for our graduate assistants are limited. TRS does in a sense reduce their cost of going to EIU. This is a campus with many first-generation college students; many students are also paying for their education through loans. Requiring students to purchase their textbooks would increase their debt load. Anything they can do to reduce their debt assists them. We want students to have professional libraries; however, very few of them are going on to be college faculty. How many actually have professional libraries. The idea is in the mind of the faculty.
• The students become very nervous whenever faculty discuss TRS; they fear that it will be abolished. Faculty Senate, Student Senate, and TRS need to develop the best way to deal with

Respectfully submitted,

Nancy D. Marlow, Recorder

• Eric Davidson will visit the Senate on February 1, 2000, to discuss the campus alcohol coalition.
• Jon Laible and Dick Cain will visit the Senate on February 8, 2000, to discuss the EIU Foundation.
• Other future agenda items: Academic calendar, LANDesk, "Promoting Eastern" presentation