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 2:05 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, M. Toosi, B. Young, G. Kelly. Guests: T. Abebe, J. Maholy, S. Skala.

2. Approval of the minutes of October 19, 1999

Motion (Fewell/Foster) to approve the minutes of October 19, 1999.

Yes: Allison, Benedict, Best, Coons, Eberly, Fewell, Fischer, Foster, Lockart, Marlow, Toosi. Abstentions: Irwin.

3. Communications

1. CEPS Minutes from October 11, 1999. Curricular changes were approved for Student Teaching requirements. STG 3000/4000 can count toward graduation. STG 4001 was updated. Catalog copy regarding student teaching was revised.
2. CAA Minutes from October 14, 1999. General education discussion items: changing senior seminar to three hours, revising the transfer section for clarification, implementation issues, definition of "transfer student."
3. LAB Minutes from September 29, 1999. There was a 10% increase in the book and materials budget. Because of this, most areas will not have journals cancelled this year. Renovation is running on schedule.
4. LAB Resolutions (3) dated October 21, 1999.
1. Whereas the Triad Complex Media Library and Computer Laboratory is an important part of the library, and whereas the Triad Complex also houses the largest group of computer stations on campus open to students for research and study, and whereas it is now past mid-term and the Triad Complex is not yet connected to the university computer network nor to the internet at large, nor is the Computer Laboratory open at all, the Library Advisory Board resolves that opening the Triad Complex Computer Laboratory and connecting it to the university computer network be an immediate priority of this university and that it should not wait upon the overall upgrade of the university connections to the internet as a whole.
2. Whereas C. Lankford Walker has worked to ensure the future of Booth Library, most recently by serving as a member (1995-1998) and chair of the Library Advisory Board (1997-1998), be it resolved that the Library Advisory Board honors Lankford Walker for his dedication, service, and contributions to Booth Library as well as to Eastern Illinois University at large and deeply mourns his passing.
3. Whereas, Susan J. Kaufman, Professor of Journalism, received the 1998-1999 Distinguished Faculty Award, and whereas, Professor Kaufman has chosen to donate the monetary component of her award to Booth Library for the enrichment of collections concerning tolerance, be it resolved that the Library Advisory Board commends Susan Kaufman for her generous gift of $1000 as a means of helping Booth Library and the Eastern Illinois University community as a whole in studying tolerance and in this particularly critical aspect of fulfilling its mission.
5. CUPB Minutes from September 17, 1999. Budget Transfer subcommittee elected (Hank Davis, Jone Zieren, Sandy Bingham-Porter, William Hine, Rob Bates, David Carpenter, Mike Johnson, John Henry Pommier, and Elmer Pullen). Executive Committee elected (Doug Bock, William Hine, Ted Weidner, Bill Schnackel, Lida Wall). Vice presidents’ reports. Presentation of proposed planning process.
6. CUPB Agenda for October 22, 1999.
7. E-mail from John Allison regarding Senate Resolution. Should senate delay voting on the resolution in light of the state of negotiations?
8. E-mail from Mori Toosi regarding Senate Resolution. Perhaps senate should delay motion, but there are things we should discuss, such as a Teaching Center to serve all faculty. Can we ask the foundation for matching funds.

4. Old Business

1. Committee Reports
1. Executive Committee. Irwin and Best will contact the appropriate people and pursue a list serve for Faculty Senate. Best represented Irwin at the CUPB meeting. In their new business they had a slate of three groups of candidates as advisory committees for the vice presidents. The main section of the meeting was a very informative presentation by Kim Furumo regarding the budgeting and planning process. There was also a discussion of the ranking issue–the value of ranking versus the flexibility that seems to be required. A senator requested that the Executive Committee seek additional details about the plans the President has to increase upward mobility of faculty. How will that be addressed? Many EIU faculty have become administrators. Why is there such a need for this? In response it was indicated that this was faculty development in all its forms. The President added that this is another important component of faculty development for those interested. There has been an administrative internship program here in the past. At this time there are no specific plans in place. Over the past 10-15 years politicians have become presidents of universities. Part of the President’s thought was that we recruit and train our own. If we do not do the administrative task, it will still be done.
2. Elections Committee. Senator Best distributed a sign-up sheet for elections on November 10 and 11. Each senator was asked to fill two time slots, preferably one on Wednesday and one on Thursday. Three individuals have submitted petitions: Gary Canivez (Psychology), Ron Gholson (Sec. Ed. And Found.), and David Carpenter (English).

A motion (Foster/Fewell) to approve the slate of candidates.

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

3. Student-Faculty Relations. They have met with students and will continue to do so once a month. Senators Fischer and Benedict attended the meeting of the Task Force. The push now is to put things together and take it to the city. They spoke of a long-term task force but not what the make up would be. The city really wants to see a vice president on that group as a validation of the campus’s concerns about the issues. There was a charge–to put together a list of things each group should be doing to come to a consensus. They want to discuss more issues than the bar hours, but they did not say what these issues were. There were administrators at that meeting who report directly to the VPSA. It was suggested that an appropriate vice president might be the VPEA. Senators Fischer and Benedict expressed some uncertainty about their role on this committee.
4. Search Committee for Assistant Director of Financial Aid. They are now looking at the applications of about 12 candidates. They will meet on Thursday to narrow it down to four. They hope to have candidates on campus for interviews in early December and a decision before the break.
5. Ad Hoc Drafting Committee. The Senate discussed whether to delay action on a resolution regarding the Ballenger gift:

• The gift is a gift, and we are grateful. Delaying the resolution would not be called for; the resolution should not trouble the negotiating process.
• The motion drafted by the committee is completely appropriate.
• We do not know what they are negotiating. If there were some from the negotiating team who feel there is a conflict, then it must be true. If that $1 million will give opportunities to individuals directly, that will create a conflict, but not if it is going for a center. We do not know where it is going to go.
• This is much to-do about nothing. We should go ahead and pass the resolution

• Should we include the gift in the resolution? Many may not be aware of the connection between her and the gift.
• The audience for this will know what we are talking about.

1. VPAA Abebe distributed a copy of EIU’s best practice from the results report. EIU’s best practice is the integrated learning environment. "All areas of the University consequently work cooperatively to provide students with a seamless learning environment that is affordable, safe, attractive, intellectually challenging, and professionally and personally rewarding. The basic components of this environment are (1) cooperative, student centered programs and services and (2) learning centered instruction.
2. Senator Foster reported on the Textbook Rental Service Committee. Last year per student cost was $72/semester. This fall it is $75, and next fall it will be $78. That reflects some attempt to keep pace with inflation. The cap that we as faculty can spend remains at $70 per semester per course. This has not kept pace with inflation. The committee has requested raising course limits to $85. It was noted that graduate students can buy books during the first 20 class days of the semester and receive a refund of the rental fee. This is not being done often. It may be that they are not aware of this option until too late. The CGS representative on TRS is taking this back to CGS to see if they can give this option more visibility. Any student can buy textbooks during October or March but without the refund of the rental fee. There may be a proposal that graduate students purchase their textbooks. They are also asking that the TRS committee meet more often than once per semester. The same issues keep emerging because they are raised by there is no opportunity to address them when they meet only once per semester. Currently other materials (CDs, passwords for internet sites, etc.) do not fit well with our system. The official TRS policy is that if it is possible to obtain the basic text and software separately, the software will be sold through the bookstore. If this is not possible, then both are to be sold through the bookstore. It was also noted that student teachers pay the same rental fee. They are paying for a service–not individual books. The cost of the books is spread over the total student population. Discussion of TRS followed:

• As time goes on there will be an increasing number of problems with TRS. Very frequently, professors will find that their students have different editions of works in literature classes. Some of these editions are incorrect. There are instructional and opportunity cots to this system and they will increase however charmed people are with the idea of avoiding book ownership. It is difficult to learn when discouraged from making marks in books. It is increasingly apparent that textbook rental is not in the best interests of this institution.
• Do students want a first-rate education or to save a few dollars.
• The one thing that the higher education appropriations committee of the Illinois legislature praised Eastern for was the TRS.
• This has been discussed at Student Senate. There were three points. The first was the issue of student teachers paying the fee. If this were changed, there would be an increase in fees for other students. The $3 increase, when presented to Student Senate, was to offset TRS employee salaries; the $3 next fall will reach the textbooks themselves. Placing supplementary texts in the bookstore is not a viable option; not all students buy them. The Student Senate does not want to change TRS but if necessary they would do so.
• TRS is a bad investment because it denigrates the degree. It costs students thousands of dollars to have this in place.
• It would be interesting to see what books would cost students if they would take advantage of some of the internet sites for used college textbooks.
• The current TRS system looks at the cost of the degree, not the value of the degree.
• 26 other universities (about 1% of all universities) in the nation have a rental system. If this were a really good idea, certainly other universities would be doing it.
• Faculty can get permission to put readings together. We need to look at alternatives to get around TRS.
• The 26 other institutions with rental systems are not our peers, and they are certainly not in our aspirational group.
• This would be an appropriate time to open up discussion to explore other possibilities. We may find a quite economical way to have texts without breaking the bank. It is no longer an open and shut case that rental is the best way to go.
• The issue of access may be the historical reason for TRS at EIU. If there is some way we can do those same things and address that access issue in a way that satisfies the legislature we should do so.
• One senator commented that he hated the system but we are stuck with it. He would like to see TRS change the policies. We need to figure out how to deal with TRS.
• The TRS policy is ludicrous. It discourages students from having anything but the traditional textbook.
• TRS will handle the CDs the first semester of the new book, but when the books are returned the CDs may not be there. They will not purchase additional CDs without the book, nor will they handle the CDs in subsequent semesters

1. Event for International Students. The subcommittee will meet at 1:15 prior to next week’s Senate meeting.
2. Survey Results. We have to turn the findings back out to faculty whenever we are finished talking about them. We need to plan for when and how. Senators Tidwell and Foster will look into getting the results on the Senate web page. It was also suggested that survey results, in the form of a cover letter or executive summary, be forwarded to President’s Council, Dean’s Council and BOT. Since we are so close to the forum date, it was decided to wait until after the forum to prepare the summary; that way the analysis of the forum can be included as well. Senators were asked to re-examine the survey comments before next week’s meeting to see if there is anything for discussion. One senator would like to discuss the perception issues Senate has as a body. It was commented that there was also a thread of positive comments. One comment suggested that Senate make its activities more visible. Would that correct misconceptions?
3. The Executive Committee was asked to follow up on Administrative Evaluations.
4. It was also suggested that the Senate discuss fund raising and naming opportunities in Booth when Laible and Cain visit the Senate. Senator Toosi’s question about asking the Foundation for matching funds for the Ballenger gift can also be discussed.
5. A concern was raised that we are not receiving minutes from the President’s Council. The Executive Committee will bring this issue up as well. It was noted that the Council is obliged to provide minutes not only to the Senate but to the public as well.

4. Adjourn at 3:55 p.m. (Coons)

Respectfully submitted,

Nancy D. Marlow, Recorder