Faculty
Senate, April 29, 2004
Taylor
404
(The
sign-in sheet did not reach all senators present during the meeting)
Provost’s Report=
: The meeting began with a report fr=
om the
provost, Dr. Doug Brown. He s=
tated
that the Board of Visitors had during the past week and raised tuition and =
fees
for the coming year. The mult=
i-year
plan is to increase the academic budget $30million and backfill the loss of
funding and the base adequacy needs as defined by the base adequacy study w=
hich
looked at the faculty:student ratio.
The Board will conduct a retreat on May 20, 2004, at which it will
discuss academic issues including enrollment management, faculty load, and
money. This is the first year=
in
some time that we have had positive cash flow. The House/Senate compromise was a
positive action although not as positive as we would have liked. It is hoped that there will be fac=
ulty
salary increases in the neighborhood of 3% this coming December. The Board is very sensitive to the=
issue
of faculty salaries and faculty retention.=
Doug indicated that he had had an extremely positive working
relationship with the Faculty Senate and particularly the steering committee
and the speaker. The speaker =
has
had a particularly positive effect in his relationship with the Board this =
year
and is to be congratulated.
Joe
Rudmin noted that salary increases of less than 4-5% are actually salary cu=
ts
when inflation is considered.
Cynthia Gilliatt asked if all college deans were being evaluated by =
the
faculty – Doug brown indicated that was university policy.
Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the Ma=
rch
meeting of the faculty senate were approved as distributed.
Budget Report:<=
/b> Geoff Egekwu reported that there w=
as a
balance of $1067.01 in the flower fund and $6588.00 in the provost’s
office.
Speaker
Smilowitz reported that three amendments to the senate constitution were
approved and changes will accordingly be made to the Web site. As Doug Brown previously reported,
Michael indicated that faculty retention, load, staffing and turnover issues
were brought before the Board and these issues will certainly be discussed =
at
future meetings. Michael again
thanked the steering committee for their work over the past year. Also receiving the speaker’s=
thanks
are Susan Wheeler, Theresa Gonzalez, and Doug Brown.
Committee Reports:
&=
nbsp; Academic policies: Beth Eck presented a resolution
supporting the acquisition of anti-plagiarism software. The resolution passed unanimously.=
&=
nbsp; Faculty Concerns: Cynthia Gilliatt presented the
resolution supporting the modification of the statement on hiring and
harassment policies to include sexual orientation. Val Larsen proposed an amendment t=
o the
resolution, striking the word
“harassment.” &nbs=
p;
Senator Larsen expressed his concern that the term harassment could =
lead
to a diminution of free speech in the classroom if students and faculty mem=
bers
felt that they were not free to express their views regarding subjects which
could be taken by some to be politically incorrect. Cynthia Gilliatt expressed her view=
that
all subjects should be open for discussion but the use of derogatory langua=
ge
was the element that would trigger the possible charge of harassment. After significant discussion, Val
withdrew his amendment. Beth Eck moved to table the motion to allow her to =
take
the resolution back to her faculty for consideration prior to the next
meeting. The motion to table =
was
approved. Senators were asked=
to
take this information back to their colleagues for further review.
&=
nbsp; Budget: Val Larsen reported on the wor=
k of
this committee during its first year of operation.
&=
nbsp; The
meeting was adjourned at 4:55PM and senators were invited to the reception =
for
retiring faculty to be held in Warren hall.
Respectfully
submitted,
David
P. Zimmerman, Secretary