Taylor Hall 306

December 2, 2004

1.&n= bsp; = ; Faculty Marshall, Oris Griffin, called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. Members present included:

Aash= ir Nasim, Psychology; April Roth= , Communication Studies; Bill Knorpp, Philosophy and Religion; Bob Jerome, Economics; Bob Lembright, History; Arthur Hamilton for Brooks Marshall, Fina= nce and Business Law; Carmenza Kl= ine, Foreign Languages and Literatures; Claudia O’Neill, Nursing; Craig Shealy, Psychology (Gr= ad); Cynthia Gilliatt, English; David Bernstein, Computer Science; Dietrich Maune, Media Arts and Design; Edgar Parker, Mathematics and Statistics; Elizabeth Cole, Accounting; Traci Pipkins, Writing Program; George Wynn<= /b>, Marketing; Jennifer McCabe, Libraries; Jim Ruff, Engl= ish; John Gilje, Chemistry; Joe Rudmin, Physics; John Singer, Kinesiology &am= p; Recreation Studies; John Wolf, Military Science; Karen Ford<= /b>, Social Work; Kenneth G. Lewis, Senate Treasurer, ISAT; Kent Zimmerman, Senate Speaker, Management; Mark Rooker, Art and Art History; Mary Fitzgerald, Political Science; Michael Smilowitz, Communication Studies; Laura = Lewis, Sociology & Anthropology; Oris Griffin, Education; Roberta Mitchell, C.L.A.S.S.; Richard Finkelstein for Roger Hall, Theatre and Dance; Scott Gallagher, Business; Sharon Babcock, Biology; Stephanie Chisolm, Health Science; Thomas Wood, Computer Info Systems; and Solange A. Lopes-Murphy, Senate Secretary, Education.

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Guests included: Doug Brown, Teresa Gonzalez and Sus= an Wheeler, Office of the Provost.

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2.<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'>         = Approval of Minutes: Solange Lopes-Murphy asked for approval of the minutes of November 4.&nbs= p; Bob Jerome made a motion to approve minutes. Senators seconded it.

3.<= span style=3D'mso-tab-count:1'>         = Treasurer’s Report: Ken Lewis reported that the ending balance as of December 2, 2004 as $2,393.01. The beginning balance as of November 4, 2004 was $1,563.01.

4.      =             Speaker’s Report:

Kent Zimmerman announced that the Board of Visitors meets on January 7, 2005.= Kent asked senators to provid= e him with tasks worked on during fall 2004 to be shared with the BOV.=

The computer lottery information will b= e in faculty mailboxes in early spring semester.

Kent reminded senators that the Faculty Sen= ate meetings will switch to the 4^th Thursday of each month starting spring 20= 05.

5.      =             Doug Brown’s Report:=

Merit Pay – Dr. Brown explained that the JMU centralized pay system kept= pay raises off that system until all faculty have been informed about their mer= it pay, between 12/7 & 12/9.   Some departments still have n= ot informed their faculty about their merit pay raise.    According to the Facul= ty Handbook, letters with pay increments and procedures used for merit pay calculation should come out on December 1.= Dr. Brown suggested that the Faculty Handbook should be followed or = revised to reflect different procedures being used by different departments.

Dr. Brown also mentioned that faculty has 15 days to appeal to the department’s decision on the individual faculty merit pay. Dr. Brown emphasized that if the procedure outlined in the Faculty Handbook regarding faculty evaluation is = not followed by a department, that incident should be communicated with him.

Dr. Brown reiterated that departments have the freedom to select their own procedures regarding merit pay. Dr. Brown would not be satisfied if these procedures have been done without consultation with the faculty or have not been made clear to the faculty.

Space planning – the plan is to bring consultant= s to revisit the master plans for the remodeling of several buildings on campus (e.g., Miller, Roop). The acquisition of the hospital to be added to JMU is in the plans. Modular buildings would be built a= t the hospital site to increase faculty office space and departmental space. Further expansion of the east camp= us is in the plans to add buildings in that section. Dr. Brown shared with senators the ongoing and future additions and renovations on campus.

The construction of the new library will begin this coming fall. It will be located in the east campus. The project will be completed in 2006.

Duke Hall will also go through renovation. The plan for the Center for the Ar= ts across Main St. will include a tunnel to facilitate students, faculty, and staff to safely = cross Main St.

Issues Brought Up by Senators:

C.L.A.S.S. – this group is officially part of the Faculty Senate.

Child-Care Facility - The discussion on the creation of a = child care facility on campus is sitting in a limbo right now, according to Dr. B= rown. The hospital site presents a poten= tial in terms of the facility space. = Until there is consensus that the creation of a child care facility is a benefit = to the university, the issue will continue in discussion.

Salary adjustments - salary compression and inversion are= being in the works and will be released in January 2005.=

6. &nbs= p;       Committee Reports:

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        &= nbsp;   A.        Nominations and Elections: No reports. Oris Gr= iffin announced that fall graduation is= December 11, 2004. Only academic unit heads and deans= should attend.

   &nbs= p;        B.        Academic Policies: No reports until after the holiday brea= k.

C.        Faculty Concerns: Cynthia Gilliatt shared that on March 17, 2005 Dr. Martha McCaughey from Appalachian= State will come to JMU to talk about Academic Freedom.

Cynthia also requested that space be created in the Faculty Senate for colleges and departments to share their current practices regarding third-y= ear or mid-course review.

D. Student Concerns: Committee has not met regarding the onl= ine tutoring on the Honor Code. S= omeone referred Stephanie to an outside source that has a tutorial in it. She will look at it and report her findings.

7. &nbs= p;       Old Business:

Resolution on the creation of new colleges is off the table. Dr. Dietrich reported about a broa= der concern regarding the language used in the resolution. Does “restructuring an existi= ng college” entail creating a new college? Kent Zimmerman read the resolution to the senators and suggested that a policy be put in place prior to discussing the details about the restructuring proces= s. The resolution passed.

8.         New Business:

Laura Lewis read the following:

“The Department of Sociology and Anthropology voted to support = the following resolution:

Resolution in favor of updating University documents in keeping with University policies:

Whereas “sexual orientation” is included in James Madison University’s = equal opportunity policy (#1302); and

Whereas “sexual orientation” is included in the University’s hiring policy (#1313);

Therefore, be it resolved that all University documents in which these policies appear accurately reflect current policy.”=

According to Susan Wheeler, there is nothing illegal about asking an individual about his/her sexual orientation. It is legal to discriminate against sexual orientation. This is n= ot a protected by policy classification. Susan explained how the reference to sexual orientation was taken ou= t of the Faculty Handbook but not from other university policies.

Cynthia stated that most professional organizations include sexual orientation as part of groups that should not be discriminated against.

The senate treated Laura’s resolution as a first reading and ma= de a motion to table the topic until the next Faculty Senate meeting. Laura will invite Chris Robinson to attend the next faculty meeting to talk about the issue.<= /p>

Joe Rudmin shared with senators that Roger Hall did not attend the meeting because his wife passed away two days ago.

9. =         The meeting was adjourned at 4:= 39 PM

Respectfully submitted,

Solange A. Lopes-Murphy, Se= cretary