UNIVERSITY COUNCIL
Minutes No. 2
2001-2002
Thursday, November 29, 2001
I. CALL TO ORDER AND ATTENDANCE: The James Madison University Council
met electronically on Thursday,
November 29, 2001.
PRESENT: Mr. Ralph Alberico, Dr. Jerry Benson, Dr. Doug Brown,
Dr. Barbara Castello, Mr. Charles Crosson, Mr. Brandon Durflinger, Dr. John
Gilje, Dr. Dona Gilliam, Dr. Linda Halpern, Dr. Art Hamilton, Ms. Donna Harper,
Mr. Charles King, Mr. Meghann McCroskey, Mr. David Mills, Dr. Bill O'Meara, Dr.
Robert Reid, Dr. Lin Rose, Dr. James Ruff, Dr. Robert Scott, Dr. Craig Shealy,
Dr. Anne Stewart, Dr. William Walker, Dr. Mark Warner, and Dr. Richard Whitman.
ABSENT: Dr. David Brakke, Dr. Stephanie Chisolm, and Ms. Rachel
Franco.
II. COMMISSION/COUNCIL REPORTS:
Committee on Academic Programs:
This committee has not met.
Graduate Council:
Dr. William Walker, Interim Dean, forwarded the following report:
· One Faculty/Instructor approval
Old Business:
·
Eighteen electronic
Faculty/Instructor approvals
·
Two administrative Faculty
Instructor approvals
New Business:
1.
Iris Wilson reported on the Jack
Kent Cooke Scholarship. Dr. Walker will be contact person for JMU.
2.
Discussion
regarding the procedural issues of the month:
a.
Conditions
on admission: Who’s responsible for tracking conditions?
b.
Consistency
in expectation of FT GA work hours, i.e.
“…15 to 20 hours per week.”
3.
The
issue of electronic voting being similar to “rubber stamp approval” was
discussed.
4.
Two
policies were voted on electronically and were approved:
·
Policy for graduate students
requesting permission to participate in the graduation ceremony just prior to the full
completion of their graduate program requirements.
Each program
will include a statement in their graduate program catalog description that
clearly states the individual program policy for students requesting
participation in graduation ceremonies prior to the completion of their program
requirements. Any request for exception to the individual program policy must
be made to the coordinator of the graduate program.
·
Policy for graduate students
receiving assistantship funding requesting
permission to seek
paid employment in addition to their assistantship.
Graduate students receiving stipends from VA state funds are permitted to
pursue employment in addition to their 15-20 assistantship hours provided the
decision is endorsed by the student's program coordinator or core faculty. This decision should be carefully made taking
into account the overall effect on the student's academic performance. A memo or letter must be filed with the Dean
of the College of Graduate and Professional Programs describing the
arrangements made with the student.
5. Comments from the Advocacy and marketing sub-committee were:
·
Address the question—What makes
us unique? Then market in that direction. Look at mission statement from each
of the programs to discover their uniqueness and then find commonalities.
6.
Comments from the
Analysis/allocation of assistantship sub-committee:
·
Should there be a reallocation?
-- discussion consisted of questioning fairness in allocations
-- duties of GA
7.
Announcements:
·
Amy Burkhardt will be our second
student representative for the Graduate Council.
·
The Graduate Fair will be held
in Taylor 202 on November 29, 2001 from
4:00-6:00
p.m.
·
The next Graduate Council
meeting will be held in the Festival Dining Room
·
The CGAPP newsletter is under
development and is looking for a name
·
There will be a CGAPP Procedure
and Policy manual revision
·
The College of Graduate and
Professional Programs is in the process of creating a website joining together
the Graduate School and Continuing Education websites
·
There will be modifications in
procedures for “CE” course timelines
Commission on Community:
Dr. Anne Stewart and Mr. Zeb
Davenport, Co-Chairs, forwarded
the following report:
The Commission on Community held its
second meeting of the semester November 14, 2001. The committee reviewed the primary charge
for the year, committee membership, on-going committee activities, and liaisons
with other diversity initiatives.
Campus Climate Assessment
The Commission is continuing to develop a strategy for conducting an assessment
of the campus climate:
1.
The scope of activities,
projected timeline, and budget needs for the campus climate assessment was
discussed in more detail with Ms. Donna Harper and a written charge was
requested.
2.
Preliminary contact has been
made with two potential consultants.
Rev. Grace and Zeb Davenport reported the results from their
conversations with consultants (Putnam/Harvard and Singer/ Baltimore). The consultants’ initial feedback was
positive regarding their ability to assist JMU in the climate assessment
process. Each consultant required more
detail regarding the scope of work in order to provide an estimate of his or
her expected fee. Each strongly
indicated that it would be over $10,000 for the magnitude of work presented.
3.
A collection of articles and
annotated bibliography for recommended practices in climate assessment is being
assembled. Commission members may
request copies of articles to be sent to them.
4.
Members discussed multiple
influences that may have resulted in the request for the climate assessment
including the development of the Safe Zone survey.
Diversity Activities Update/Liaisons
Brief updates were provided about a number of diversity related activities
including the Faculty-Staff Education subcommittee (the C on C and ISM’s
Diversity Training group, contact Pam Gibson or Brenda Wilkinson), ISM’s
Rainbow Paper, and the ISM’s website group, the Safe Zone trainings and survey,
faculty and HR orientation/training, and the Greek climate survey. It was noted that a number of groups are
conducting activities or gathering data that will be useful for the climate
assessment. C on C members were asked to
assume specific ‘liaison’ roles with other groups to ensure that information is
exchanged and to offer the support of the C on C in accomplishing shared goals.
Subcommittee Structure
Members are indicating which Commission
activities on which they prefer to work to establish subcommittees for the following
initiatives:
- Climate assessment
- Faculty-Staff Education subcommittee (Diversity training)
- Website
- Recommended Practices for Faculty Recruitment and Retention
- CC Reception and Foundation account to support area students from
underrepresented populations.
The Commission plans
on meeting every other week next semester (alternating every other week for
subcommittee and large group meeting).
IV. REPORT OF THE
FACULTY SENATE
Dr. William O'Meara
forwarded the following report: The Senate met the first Thursday of
October and considered several issues, including:
Faculty
Morale Survey
The Steering Committee released the written report on the comments from the
Faculty Morale Survey by email to the Senators on October 31. We also met with Doug Brown and the Deans on
October 31 to discuss the report and to make suggestions for improving
morale. We appreciated the Academic
Council listening to the Senate and the faculty and hope that we can continue
in this process. We hope that the
Academic Councils in the colleges can be a significant resource for the Deans
in working on the problem areas that we have identified.
Academic
Freedom
The Senate considered a working document from the Faculty Concerns
Committee on some recommendations for improving the Faculty Handbook statements
on academic freedom. Senators were asked
to have their departments make recommendations for the Senate to consider for
passing on the new Faculty Handbook Committee.
The
Report for SACS
The consensus of the Senate was that the written responses by Rob Koslow
and Martha Ross to the Senate's questions in October were insufficient. The Speaker wrote to them, asking for some
improvements in the Report. Rob and the
Speaker met November 20 to review these matters, and several suggestions will
be incorporated into the body of the Report.
Rob was very cordial and will also come the Senate's December meeting to
review these improvements.
Inflation
Social Security payments and many other federal benefits will rise 2.6
percent in January, matching the increase in the consumer price index over the
past year, the federal government announced.
The Social Security Administration also said that separate calculation
not involving inflation showed that over the past year average wages paid in jobs
covered by Social Security rose 5.53 percent.
As a result the amount of wages on which the 6.2 percent Social Security
tax is levied will rise to $84,900 next year from $80,400 this year. [Washington
Post, October 20, 2001]
V. REPORT
OF THE STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION
Mr. Dave Mills, SGA
President, forwarded the attached report.
VI. REPORT OF
THE HONOR COUNCIL
Ms. Meghann McCroskey, Honor
Council President, provided the following information.
Case Update:
Formal
Resolutions: 4
Awaiting
Resolutions: 3
Informal
Resolutions: 20
Honor Council Day
The Honor Council held Honor Council Day on October 28th. The day was filled with leadership learning
activities, new representative induction and pizza.
Honor Advisory Board
The Honor Advisory
Board met has not met since the last University Council report.
VII. REPORT OF UPB
Ms. Rachel Franco, presented
the following report.
NOTE: The
next meeting is scheduled to meet electronically Thursday, February
21, 2002.
Linwood H. Rose, President
Donna E. Burch,
Secretary
For questions, please contact burchde@jmu.edu.
