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Oct 23, 2002 Minutes

APPROVED FACULTY SENATE MINUTES 44TH FACULTY SENATE OCTOBER 23, 2002





Approved Senate Minutes
October 23, 2002

Senators Present: Bell-Metereau, Blanda, Brennan, Carns, Frost, Gillis, James, Hindson, Peeler, Renick, Sawey, Stone, Stutzman

Guest: N. Nusbaum

4:00 Call to Order, welcomed guest

I.  Continuation of Facilities Report

Ms. Nancy Nusbaum, Assistant Vice President for Finance and Support Services, bravely returned to continue her Power Point presentation on new and planned construction. In the interest of time, it was agreed that Ms. Nusbaum would be allowed to complete her presentation and then entertain questions. As stated in the minutes of the 10/16/02 Senate meeting, the slide presentation can be found at http://www.vpfss.txstate.edu/temp/PardonOurDust20020802.ppt .

During the presentation, Ms. Nusbaum took the opportunity to interject answers to questions posed during her previous visit. One of which was concerning the Universityís bond rating. She reported that the University no longer has an individual bond rating, but that we are included with all institutions of the Texas State University System, and that the Systemís rating was AA or better.

The current and planned construction projects presented include:

1.   Expansion of Strahan Coliseum
           Demolition of Married Student Housing units was almost complete.
           Anticipated project completion: early 2004.
2.   New Business Building
           Will be built on Read Hall site.
           Will include a 475 space parking garage.
3.   New Student Center
           Set to begin 12/2002 or 1/2003.
4.   Renovation of the First Floor of the Alkek Library
           To accommodate I.T. and provide better utilization of existing space.
5.   Modification of Education Building
           Planned enclosing of patio and roof area.
6.   Renovation of Technology I Building
           To be ultimately occupied by Occupational Education.
7.   Texas River Center at San Marcos Springs
           Joint project with Texas Parks and Wildlife.
8.   Concho Hall (Residence Hall)
           Will provide 400 beds to replace those lost with the removal of Buckner and Elliot Halls.
9.   Facility for the Round Rock Higher Education Center (MITC)
           Established as the #1 special request for the TSUS.

After completing her formal presentation, Ms. Nusbaum addressed questions, concerns and comments from the floor. Some of the items and/or her responses were as follows:

There are no current plans for Derrick Hall when the Dept. of Business moves to its new facility.

The University Grounds Dept. was working with campus groups to minimize the loss and provide possible replacement of ìgreen spaceî lost to new construction.

There was a question raised concerning the procedures for making facilities decisions as they are outlined in P.P.S. 04.03. The feeling is that decisions are primarily made by administrators and without sufficient input from end users. It was suggested that faculty should have a greater presence in the decision making process, particularly on the Facility Issues Sub-Committee of the University Facilities Committee, since it is apparent that this is where the greatest influence lies. Ms. Nusbaum agreed to include an additional faculty member (to be chosen by the Faculty Senate) on this sub-committee.

Plans have been made to repair the crack in the courtyard associated with the Art Building which results in flooding during heavy rains.

Ms. Nusbaum reported that proposed plans call for part of the Art Building to be "mothballed" since proper repairs would be too costly.

In response to a question posed during the 10/16/02 presentation, Ms. Nusbaum reported that, in the event of financial default by the company issuing the bonds for Bobcat Village, possession of the complex reverts to the company insuring the bonds.

The question was asked whether there was any coordination between the University Facilities Dept. and the City of San Marcos on University construction projects. Ms. Nusbaum stated that meetings are held between representatives from the City and Facilities.

Another question concerned whether any space had been requested for Education beyond that indicated in the recent PhD program. Other than the previously mentioned modification, the only request had been for a space for the Texas School Safety Center.

Senator Conroy voiced a concern that there has been no apparent attempt to integrate  "Mission Tile" into recent and proposed construction projects, and that, as a result, an architectural and visual heritage was being lost. Ms. Nusbaum said that the tile was  not mentioned in the Campus Standards document, but that she would look into it.

Further discussion was RTA'd until the 10/30/02 meeting, at which time, the Senate would consider the most appropriate method for choosing the additional faculty representative to the Facility Issues Sub-Committee.

II. Old Business

Information Items:  Chairman Renick updated the Senate on the status of several previously discussed items:

Software Compliance Audit: VPIT Van Wyatt indicated that the appropriate person to contact regarding the audit was Dr. Yvonne Eixmann, Director Internal Audit. The memo originally sent to the VPIT involving the Senate's concerns regarding the audit being done on faculty computers in the absence of the faculty member would be forwarded to Dr. Eixmann.

Parking and Transportation concerns: RTA'd until 10/30/02 meeting.

Work Load Credit Report: Chairman Renick reported that a communication had been sent to President Trauth and VPAA Gratz encouraging the use of the existing work load data, and also encouraged to respond to this information rather than mandating a new report.

IDEA Survey: Chairman Renick also reported that he had requested that the data from  the survey be provided by 10/28/02.

Texas Council of Faculty Senates Meeting: A reminder to the Senate that the meeting would be held 10/25 through 10/26.

Anti-Discrimination UPPS No. 04.04.46:  After a brief discussion concerning proposed UPPS No. 04.04.46 ? "Prohibition of Illegal Discrimination or Harassment Based on Race, Color, National Origin, Age, Gender, Religion, Disability or Sexual Orientation", the following motion was made and seconded (Sawey/Gillis): "The Faculty Senate supports the language of UPPS 04.04.46 with the deletion of the word "Illegal" from the title." The motion passed unanimously.

Higher Education Center in San Antonio: The appointment of a faculty member to the committee evaluating the possibility of a Higher Education Center (MITC) in San Antonio was again raised. The feeling was that there would be a higher education presence in the San Antonio area ? the only question being which of the several interested institutions would provide it. Assuming that SWT would be a likely choice, an apparent concern of President Trauth was avoiding the development of three separate and distinct faculties to service these campuses (San Marcos, Round Rock and San Antonio). Committee discussions would involve weighing the institutional risk versus opportunity, and any Senate nominee should be informed, and motivated. Item was RTA'd until the 10/30/02 meeting.

III. New Business

Curriculum Committee: Senator Blanda distributed suggested changes to the current Curriculum Committee procedures. Several concerns were raised regarding this committee. These include:

The apparent inconsistency which routes program changes through the Senate for approval, but not course changes. These two procedures are governed by different
PPS's ? 2.01 for courses and 2.05 for programs.

Many in the Senate also felt that the committee mainly dealt with minutia and not substantive evaluation of proposed additions, deletions and changes.

In response to these issues, and to reinforce the principle that ownership of the curriculum lies with the faculty, several suggested changes were proposed:

The responsibility of appointing members to the Curriculum Committee should be removed from the Committee on Committees and placed directly with the Senate.

PPS's 2.01 and 2.05 should be rewritten to clearly state that no course or program change is official until approved by the Senate.

In order to further action on this issue, a request will be made to the person leading work on Senate objective #2 to evaluate PPS's 2.01 and 2.05 with an eye toward incorporating proposed changes. It was also suggested that this item be added to the next PAAG agenda. Chairman Renick announced that the Curriculum Committee would meet with the Senate on 10/30/02.

Miscellaneous Items:

The next joint meeting of the Senate and CAD will be on 11/19/02. Chairman Renick will request that the meeting time be from 3 to 5.

The discussion concerning "junk" email was RTA'd until 10/30/02.

The question was raised about investigating the disparity between administrative and faculty salaries. RTA'd

The question was raised and briefly discussed concerning whether SWT was an appropriate member of the TSUS, given our size relative to sister institutions.

The minutes of 10/16/02 were approved as submitted.

Senator Stutzman distributed information concerning the Salary Compression Study. He asked that the Senate formally request the indicated data necessary to complete the study. RTA'd until 10/30/02.

Meeting was adjourned at 6:10.