Nov. 16, 1999, minutes

FACULTY SENATE MINUTES
FOR NOVEMBER 16, 1999
(Vol. xxix, No. 12)

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

Call to order by Bonnie Irwin at 2:00 p.m. (2504 Buzzard Building)

Present: J. Allison, R. Benedict, J. Best, J. Coons, C. Eberly, P. Fewell, B. Fischer, G. Foster, B. Irwin, G. Lockart, N. Marlow, J. Tidwell, B. Young, G. Kelly, B. Mazurski. Excused: M. Toosi. Guests: T. Abebe, J. Maholy

Approval of the minutes of November 2, 1999

Motion (Foster/Allison) to approve the minutes of November 2, 1999.

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

Communications

Minutes of the Library Advisory Board, 20 October 1999.

Resolutions regarding Lankford Walker, Susan Kaufman, and Gregg Triad. By-laws change. Dean reported on Ballenger Teachers’ Center, Governor Jim Edgar’s papers, and Library of Congress 200^th Anniversary narrative request.

Minutes of CEPS Curriculum Committee, 25 October 1999.

New courses approved: PED 2104, Technique and Theory of Aerobic Exercise and Strength Training; PED 3800, Biomechanics. Statement sent to COTE re Gen Ed: "The College of Education and professional Studies Curriculum Committee recommends that the Council on Teacher Education send a letter of support in favor of reinstating HST 2000C, PED 2850C, and FCS 2472C to the general education requirements.

Minutes of CEPS Curriculum Committee, 8 November 1999.

A proposal was submitted for a new program in Career and Technical Education, combining business education, family and consumer sciences education, and technology education.

Minutes of the Council on Academic Affairs, 28 October 1999.

New courses approved: PLS 3333, Politics of Latin America and the Caribbean; PLS 3353, Politics of Sub-Saharan Africa; CHM 4750 Environmental Chemistry; CHM 2440, Organic Chemistry. Revisions to Chemistry offerings were approved. Revised draft of Gen Ed proposal attached.

Minutes of the Council of Academic Affairs, 4 November 1999.

Policy for counting Military Service Credit.

Minutes of the President’s Council, 3 November 1999.

Revisions of IGPs regarding Recruitment procedures for Administrative and Faculty positions. Holiday schedule for 2000-2001. NCAA will be coming to conduct a study of our athletic program.

Minutes of the Council of University Planning and Budget, 22 October 1999.

Report on two budget transfers. Approval of vice-presidential advisory subcommittees. Explanation by Kim Furumo of the budget process.

Copy of Memo regarding planning process from Dr. David Carpenter, English, to VPAA Abebe, 9 November 1999.

New planning model was presented at CUPB as "proposed"; many understood it to be tentative, but since then, it appears to have been adopted. It has not been reviewed or discussed by CUPB or by Faculty Senate. Campus-wide discussions of the revised model are warranted.

Memo and attachments regarding faculty salaries from Dr. Lewis Coon, Emeritus, Math, 10 November 1999.

Copy of a memo that Dr. Coon sent to senate in 1988. He believes the concerns and issues are the same today. Attachments: 1) a salary study showing that BOG increases were below others in the state and EIU’s were lower than the BOG average; 2) University of Detroit Salary Equity Study, 1987-1990–why can we have a similar plan at EIU? 3) Article from Daily Illini regarding poor fringe benefits at UIUC.

E-mail regarding faculty forum from Dr. Alan Baharlou, Geology/Geography, 11 November 1999.

Congratulations on a successful and productive forum. Chairs are already looking at some of the ideas presented, and implementing some of the suggestions.

E-mail regarding Textbook Rental from Ms. Barbara Frahm and response from Senate Chair, 11 November 1999.

E-mail response from Ms. Frahm, 16 November 1999.

Ms. Frahm expresses her thanks for our attention. Will continue to study the issue and ask questions.

Memo regarding grant turnaround time from VPAA Abebe, 12 November 1999.

During the recent review, many complained about the grant turnaround time. Since March, Academic Affairs has been logging mail in and out of the office. Since this data has been gathered, turnaround time in the office on grant proposals has been 1.1 days.

E-mail regarding faculty/alumni relations from Dr. Anne Zahlan, English, 12 November 1999.

Recently, it was reported that someone in the alumni office told an alumnus over the phone that "faculty were not worth supporting" in the recent contract dispute. Requests that senate look into this matter.

Phone conversation regarding alumni/faculty relations from Steve Rich, 16 November 1999.

Stance of Alumni Affairs office has from the beginning been neutral. Mr. Rich reports only one call that has come in to his knowledge. That alumna was told that the Alumni Office is not "taking sides" in the current faculty contract negotiations. The office will continue to communicate that message to whoever calls.

Memo regarding International Student Fees from Dr. Duangrudi Suksang, English, 12 November 1999.

Wrong to use fees of current students to recruit other students. International students should not have to pay more than other students for the same services. This kind of policy discriminates against international students and will harm our international student recruitment efforts.

Memo regarding International Student Fees from Kendra Barua, Association of International Students, 14 November 1999.

Administration originally implemented fee without student consultation. After meeting with dean, students were asked not to discuss situation with DEN, but then an article appeared that did not contain their views. New explanation of fees has been vague. Students have been told they can leave if they don’t like it. International students are asked to be treated with respect and to have similar rights as other students have.

Copy of memo regarding Intel LANDesk from Dr. Susan Kaufman, Journalism, to President Surles, 15 November 1999.

New software allows for remote control of all client PCs from a single point of administration. This issue affects terms and conditions of employment and is a mandatory subject of bargaining.

Minutes of the Intercollegiate Athletic Board, 11 November 1999.

Women’s Soccer had an undefeated season and won the OVC championship. O’Brien Stadium Renovation Celebration 11 November 1999. Middle Tennessee has asked to leave the OVC. OVC student-Athlete Award nominees are Rachel Wright from Women’s Tennis and Eric Hill from Men’s Track. NCAA preliminary visit will be in December for preparation for certification visit in 2001. 10^th week grade reports came back with slight positive improvements.

Faculty Senate Account Statement, 31 October 1999.

$342.09 was spent on copying in September and October.

E-mail regarding fall forum from Dean Augustine, 16 November 1999.

Congratulation on fall forum, productive discussion and exciting suggestions. Some are already in progress: 1) work is underway on a publication to highlight faculty and student research; 2) Graduate Student Expo has for the last three years highlight the work of graduate students, Dean Augustine is looking into ways to expand it; 3) Graduate forum will run through the spring and will include grant writing workshops and other topics of interest.

Old Business

Committee Reports

Executive Committee. The committee met with the President and Provost on November 4.

The issue regarding the minutes from the President’s Council was brought up; the November 3 minutes were received promptly. One of the reasons for the slow down at the beginning was that the President was unaware of Eastern’s policy at the beginning. This is not widely practiced at other universities, but the President assured the committee that she would follow Eastern’s practice. In response to a question from a senator, Chair Irwin said that she would examine existing minutes and talk with Judy Gorrell to see what minutes we still need.
The 360 evaluations are proceeding.
Communication on campus was also discussed. There is a need for sensible and sensitive communication between faculty and administration. There is a concern in Old Main as well as among faculty regarding faculty morale.
In a conference with Dean Lanham, he agreed that the Library is a wonderful place for the Distinguished Faculty plaque. The desire is for a place that is public, secure, and high traffic. He also offered to hang it now in the McAfee branch. Perhaps Old Main would be a better place in the interim. Lanham also suggested a ceremony of some type for the plaque when it takes its place in the renovated Library.

Elections Committee. Unit A faculty and chairs cast 182 ballots during the special election held November 10-11, 1999. One ballot was improperly filled out and not counted. The 181 remaining ballots were counted as follows:

Gary Canivez 62 votes

David Carpenter 60 votes

Ron Gholson 55 votes

Write-in candidates included

Valencia Browning 1 vote

Ed Marlow 1 vote

Howard Price 1 vote

Jean Wolski 1 vote

Motion (Tidwell/Fischer) to approve election results.

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

It was suggested that the system for challenging by modified for upcoming elections. When votes are challenged, the ballot should be put in a sealed envelope; then that envelope along with the challenge form should be put in another envelope and sealed. The election committee made no attempt to determine how any one individual voted, but with the existing process, this could have been done. The committee also expressed their apologies to anyone who was inconvenienced by the challenge form.

Faculty-Staff Relations. They have contacted the Staff Senate Chair indicating a willingness to work with their counter-part group. In the most recent Staff Senate minutes, there was a discussion of staff morale. It may be that staff morale is related to faculty–we all work together.
Search Committees.

VPBA. There are 23 completed applications; they are in the process of being reviewed.
Assistant Director of Financial Aid. Candidates will be on campus for interviews on November 29, December 1, and December 6. The open time is from 2:00 until 2:30. They hope to have a recommendation soon after the last interview.
Recreation Center Director. There are 18 applicants; the committee meets tomorrow. They hope to have on-campus interviews during the last week of classes and finals week with a December 16 decision.
Graduate Dean. There are 8 candidates on the short list for phone interviews. They are trying to pare that number down to 3 candidates to be brought on campus during the last week of classes.
VPIA. Some progress has been made in identifying a firm to help in the process.
University Counsel. They are meeting tomorrow; there are about 20 candidates.

IBHE Faculty Advisory Committee. The committee met on November 5 at Elgin Community College. During the morning session there was a discussion of the CEO model of leadership being adopted by many universities and its potential harm to faculty governance. The University of Illinois faculty have passed a resolution to have faculty representation on all three campus boards. During the afternoon session, the individual subcommittees met. It was suggested that we examine the possibility of proposing a resolution similar to the one passed at the University of Illinois.

Event for International Students. Invitations are being sent out to those on the International Programs mailing list, but the event is open to the entire campus and area community. It is set for Tuesday, November 30, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. in the Tarble Arts Center. The brief formal part of the program will start at about 3:30; this will consist of welcoming statements from the Faculty Senate Chair, a representative from Student Senate, a representative from International Programs, and Dr. Terry Barnhart’s presentation on the Old Main Centennial. Cookies and tea/punch will be served.
Senate List Serve. There are several decisions that have to be made. The drafting committee will meet to come up with a formal proposal for language and options. We also need to find a volunteer to "own" the list. The plan is to have it together by the first of the year.

Faculty interested in serving as owner for the Faculty Senate list serve should contact James Tidwell (Journalism).

Survey Results. The first attempt to post the results to the web page failed. We will get those results out to the faculty. There is a proposal in the works to change the way grades are sent out in summer school. This will be in the next meeting’s communications. We are following up on the grade reporting concerns.

Textbook Rental. Faculty Senate will continue to discuss this issue–although not necessarily the "elimination" of textbook rental as reported in the DEN. The Faculty Senate will review the TRS policies and a report completed a few years ago by Dr. Sylvia. Then a joint discussion will be scheduled with Student Senate to allow suggestions of changes to the policies to be made in a meeting with Klingenberg. There have been student concerns about the practices regarding the purchase of textbooks. The Student Senate has already expressed an interest in this issue. October and March are the periods during which undergraduates may purchase their textbooks; students may not purchase texts for other than courses in which they are enrolled. The Senate may also want to explore new net textbook services. This item will continue as an agenda item. One senator remarked that once he had assured his students that the faculty are not empowered to eliminate the TRS overnight, students’ discussion of TRS did not evidence as strong support as one may think.

New Business

LAB Resolutions. These were printed in their entirety in the communications section of the minutes of October 26. The Gregg Triad is now open.
Faculty Forum. The feedback has been good; people are excited about moving forward on this. Some senators expressed concern that faculty senators may have dominated the conversations in breakout sessions. It was also noted that many administrators were also in the group, and they were listening. Others did not get the feeling that anyone lost the opportunity to speak because senators were speaking. Senators stimulated discussion but did not dominate. A relatively small number were in attendance. How can we continue this type of discussion with more faculty participation? It was suggested that those in attendance–especially senators–continue this discussion in our departments. The Forum went very well but Senate’s job is far from over. More faculty were not there because they feel there is not follow-through. Our challenge is to come up with recommendations. Then we can challenge others to take up these issues at the department level. The university’s assessment group will address the suggestions from the assessment breakout session. It was suggested that informal subcommittees be formed for the other three areas: faculty (John Best, convener), students (Bud Fischer, convener), and community (Bonnie Irwin, convener). The groups will report to the Senate at the December 7 meeting with tentative lists of suggested action items.

Motion (Allison/Foster) to approve the minutes of the Faculty Forum of November 9, 1999.

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

Any faculty members with suggestions and comments relating to the four topics of the faculty forum should send them to John Best (faculty), Bud Fischer (students), Bonnie Irwin (community), or Mary Durkin Wohlrabe (assessment).

Planning Process. Questions were raised about when the planning proposal became actual policy and why the Senate was not informed. If this has been implemented, Article 3 of our Constitution has been ignored. Many have taken offense to the use of the word "recommitment." It implies there was a period when were not committed to excellence. The claims are that this process is not top down, but it certainly has the appearance of being top down. Senators were asked to examine the documents, especially the items following the chart. It was noted that the BOT mandated that the President establish goals, but it was questioned whether there was an opportunity for the Senate to have a role in the planning process. Is the planning proposal open to revision? It was suggested that the Senate ask Jill Nilsen and Julia Abell to come to Faculty Senate.

Motion (Allison/Coons) that the President consider the new planning model open to revision until the Faculty Senate can provide open discussion and consultation.

This motion will be considered for voting at the next meeting. Structurally, the departments are left out of this process. They are not on the time line. The roles of Faculty Senate and CUPB need to be clarified.

Adjourn at 4:05 p.m. (Young)

Respectfully submitted,

Nancy D. Marlow, Recorder

Upcoming Agenda Items

International Students Fee

Planning

Faculty Forum Issues

Textbook Rental Service

Visit from John Laible and Dick Cain, EIU Foundation