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April 23, 2003 Minutes

APPROVED FACULTY SENATE MINUTES 44TH FACULTY SENATE APRIL 23, 2003



 



Approved Senate Minutes

April 23, 2003

Present:  Senators Renick, Conroy, Sawey, Peeler, Gillis, Stone, James, Blanda, Gordon, Frost, Hindson, Bell-Metereau, Brennan, Stutzman, and Riepe

Guest: Professor Horn

Chair Renick called Faculty Senate to order at 4:02 and reviewed the agenda.

I.      Employee Retirement System Insurance Changes:
Chair Renick reported on the current situation with ERS, saying that he had contacted Bill Fly to determine whether we could approach the attorney general's office on this issue.  A definitive answer will be forthcoming, but he saw no obstacle to this move.

II. Review of PAAG meeting
Senator Blanda opened this discussion with questions regarding the status of promotion and tenure procedures.  Several senators voiced concern about what appeared to be a change in policies regarding promotion and tenure after the fact.  That is, faculty had gone into their review, assuming that certain standards were in effect, to discover that more stringent criteria are applied. Also, the question of people withdrawing and taking instructor positions emerged.  While this was offered as a means to give people time to improve their records, it was not clear what criteria had to be met in order to achieve an adequate record.  Also, several senators noted that similar records seemed to receive different evaluations.  The senate agreed to wait for senators to review the records before making any recommendation.  Several senators discussed the example of President Supple's decision to alter his initial recommendations in light of the fact that it was his first year and he did not
want to apply standards that people did not yet fully understand.

III.            Status of Senate Report to Faculty
Senator Frost reported on the senate report and requested that each of the subcommittees provide him with a report from their committees.  He requested that people have materials to him by May 2nd.  He will then provide the faculty with a draft for consideration, revision, and approval at the May 7th meeting (although he, himself, will be out of town on that date).

IV.             Faculty Jurisdiction of Curriculum ­ Curriculum Committee
The committee reported that the committee needs a new chair, and suggested Dan Lochman.  Senator Bell-Metereau said that Dr. Lochman did not want the position. Senator Hindson moved that the composition of the curriculum committee be changed, but then withdrew that motion for future consideration. Senator Hindson moved and Senator Gillis seconded that the curriculum committee members be appointed by the faculty senate rather than by the Committee on Committees.  The motion passed with one senator opposing.

V.      Old Business:
The senate will recommend acceptance of a modified honor code, with no inclusion of how this will be implemented.  Senators Blanda and Stone reiterated that the grading process must be separated from the honor code issue.

The list serve issue has still not been resolved, with Dr. Gratz voicing some concern about "spam."  Senator Frost said that the first use of the list serve would be to distribute the faculty senate report.  In the event that we still do not have a list serve, we will distribute a hard copy of one page, front-back.  This would, of course, waste money and paper, if this were necessary.

New Business:  The grade equalization bill is being considered, and the legislature may end up passing this bill.   TFA has come out against it, and the senate agreed that the chair should draft and send a letter.  Senator Stone moved and Senator Peeler seconded the motion to send such a letter, with unanimous approval of the motion.

Senator Hindson asked how and when the faculty evaluations would be published.  Currently the senate has received over 200 evaluations, from 630 sent out.

The minutes were approved as revised and the meeting adjourned at 6:15.