WSU FACULTY SENATE MEETING
February 18, 2002

Senators Present: Matt Bosworth, David Bratt, Marianna Byman, Narayan Debnath, Darrell Downs, Matthew Hyle, Joe Jackson, Mary Kesler, Cindy Killion, Daniel Lintin, Christa Matter, Peter Miene, Bill Ng, Christine Pilon-Kacir (Rochester), Frances Ragsdale, Susanne Smith, Bruce Svingen, Kerry Williams.

Senators Absent: Sara Barbor, Danning Bloom, Mark Engen, Pat Ferden (spring sabbatical), Colette Hyman, Jo Stejskal, Cathy Summa, Paul Vance, Alex Yard.

Others Present: Charla Miertschin, Jim Pehler, David Gresham (IT), Marc Hauge (IT), Ruth Forsythe (cameo appearance).

David Bratt called the meeting to order at 3:33 p.m. (Item NB-A was taken early.)

II. Approval of minutes of February 4, 2002 Senate Meeting

Corrections:

1. Christine Pilon-Kacir was present.
D. Lintin/D. Downs moved to approve minutes of Feb. 4^th as written/corrected.
Motion Carried.

III. Agenda Additions/Revisions and Approval:

OB-A: WSU Hazing Policy
C. Killion/D. Lintin moved to approve agenda items.
Motion Carried.

IV. President's Report

D. Bratt reported:

Thanks to Mary Kesler for leading the Meet and Confer on 2/11 and to Susanne Smith for taking notes.

The Meet and Confer on 2/25 will begin at 2:00 p.m.

I have received a thank-you note for a fruit basket from a faculty member recovering from surgery and from MAPE for our contribution to their strike/hardship fund.

Cathy Summa and I are the faculty representatives on the Budget Task Force, which continues to meet Mondays at noon. Meetings are open to all interested parties.

[Class sizes have not been talked about yet! The need for more Comm Studies and English sections are being discussed.]

'Synergy' packets presenting the WSU and Moorhead science building proposals are available for perusal.

MnSCU Central is planning a 'discipline meeting' at Cragan's, 4/19, for system faculty in the areas of accounting, biology, chemistry, English, political science, psychology, and sociology. One faculty representative from each campus will attend; the meeting is intended to explore (and possibly resolve) transfer issues.

I intend to ask the IFO Exec Committee to inform MnSCU that, while a group of such limited representation may be able to identify many of the issues surrounding transfer, a single faculty member from a single campus cannot be expected to be familiar with the transfer issues within a discipline on all the campuses. For that same reason, it is unrealistic to expect that any 'resolution' achieved at the meeting will be regarded as adequate by the departments that had no representatives at the meeting.

[The real number of faculty-invites is still uncertain!]

MnSCU is also planning a second 'arena-style' examination of tech college courses for inclusion in the Mn Transfer Curriculum on 4/12, probably in the Twin Cities. This would be similar to the November meeting on the same subject.

An announcement on the Resolution Writing meeting will be forthcoming via Email.

Meet and Confer Notes received by Senate.

B. Graduate Council

No report.

C. Government Relations (Com-C document included in Senate Packet)

Darrell Downs briefly reported:

1. Thanks to Senator Langseth and Rep. Leppik for their strong support on higher ed issues.

2. B. Svingen has been named the State Board Liaison to the State GRC.

 

D. Personnel Policies and Grievance

No report.

E. Committee on Committees

No report.

F. Negotiator

Matt Hyle briefly reported:

1. As described by Jim Pehler in Item NB-A.

A. WSU Hazing Policy

The administration is querying the progress of the IFO ad hoc WSU Hazing Policy committee.

D. Lintin has been asked by D. Bratt to convene a meeting of this committee.

A. IFO President Jim Pehler

Jim Pehler visited the WSUFA Senate and talked about the present state of MN politics (relative to the IFO).

1. It's important to have full participation from each campus at the Delegate Assembly. There are many important policies and resolutions at this D.A. that could impact future negotiations.

2. Legislative bills are moving through both Houses quickly. A very conservative group in the House is exerting their power on various agenda. IFO is keeping close track of bill movements.

3. Contracts are in battle stages still. DP benefits remain a contentious issue for the House. Senator Moe has introduced a bill that would NOT require contracts to be ratified through the Legislature.

4. IFO negotiations will begin again at the same time as D.A.

5. The dragging-out of IFO contract negotiations by MnSCU is unnecessary!

6. Union presidents from the other unions and the IFO are working together on contract negotiations and ratifications.

7. Non-competitive salaries and high teaching load are the key reasons for the IFO pursuing Reduced Teaching Load.

8. A difference exists between unionized and non-unionized campuses.

9. If the contracts of MAPE & AFSCME are on the House floor for approval, it's believed that it will carry.

B. Leadership Week Invitation to Senators

The administration invited faculty senators to attend the Franklin Covey Leadership Workshops. Dates are June 10-14 and July 8-12...as a heads-up, but most senators had their heads down!

C. Alumni House and Capital Campaign

The administration announced that a proposal is forthcoming regarding purchase of the Alumni House. Also proposing to move staff alumni functions/offices to campus space. WSU is preparing to start a capital campaign. Administration would like faculty participation in trips to local communities. Will probably have one such trip this spring. Dates to be announced.

Senate Comments:

1. Foundation presently owns the Alumni House.

2. Can departments still use the Alumni House? (Upon purchase by WSU).

[Question to be asked at Meet and Confer.]

D. E-Mail addresses: kill the old ones now? [IT reps present: David Gresham, Marc Hauge]

The official Email address syntax is: first letter of first name+last name@winona.edu. IT would prefer to take out all old addresses now and would like Senate feedback.

Comments:

1. Start using the official Email address.

2. No effect from student Email changes.

3. The VAX-designation can continue to be used through next fall, but may be used longer than that due to long-transition-time.

4. IT will be sending out an Email to all faculty/staff users on the new syntax.

5. People with same first letter and last name will be given a priority-designated system using such things as dates of first hire to determine who gets the first letter. There will be court battles from couples who were hired on the same date but were married/DPd later. Yes, the court system better start reserving slots for Smith=s versus Smith=s!

6. Lotus notes could? be more user friendly with the new Email server system.

7. Eudora will continue to be supported.

8. New business cards and official university letterheads should use the new syntax.

9. The search engines on the web will be corrected with the same syntax Email address...though don't hold your breath, since different search engines on the WSU web are set up by different groups!

10. Only ~50% of students have changed over to the Webmail system. Deadline for them is March 1st.

 

E. WSU-Rochester Positioning Statement (reactions requested) [document in Senate Packet]

A Mission Statement document on Positioning Statement for WSU-Rochester Center and Distinctives were given to Faculty Senate by the administration.

Senate Comments:

1. A bit confusing since the document starts with the WSU Mission statement.

2. What are Distinctives?

Will be inquiring at Meet and Confer.

F. Laptop Proposal (particularly for part-time students: reactions requested)

The administration presented a Draft proposal for fall 2002 Implementation of Laptops for Senate analysis. This needs to be addressed by the end of February. The draft proposal will also be presented to Student Senate and to focus groups on both campuses, Feb 12.

The draft proposal contains the following features for part-time students:

1. Limited access program via a four-hour time block checkout system.

2. Charged on a graduated scale based on number of credits enrolled with limited access.

Questions posed on the draft proposals are:

1. How do you anticipate part-time students being impacted by the proposed laptop strategy?

2. What specific applications should be pre-installed on the laptops?

3. How can the laptop program be improved?

These questions were sent to department chairpersons for input. Senators are also encouraged to give input to Senate and/or FACTech.

Senate Comments:

1. There are already support problems, could have even more when part-time support comes on line.

2. Students who are full-time and who take only one laptop-required course could be treated as a part-time student in terms of laptop leasing.

3. If a course is designated as a laptop course, then an extra fee? (~$50?) is being charged per course?! This is disturbing since not many people seem to realize this has been going on? And for how long?

4. How can specific applications used in laptop courses be supported by the university with laptop courses? For that matter, even non-laptop designated courses since all students are expected to use the laptop in some way at WSU?

5. The communications are not strong/often enough with respect to new technological events.

These issues will be taken to Meet and Confer.

G. President's Work Plan (reactions requested)

Document in Senate Packet: WSU President's Work Plan for 2001-2003. It contains goals, plans, people responsible, and progress timeline-estimates for major areas of Academic Excellence, Distinctive Community, Financial Resources/Fiscal Stability, Infrastructure, Leaders in Technology, Optimal Size and Learner Success, Quality Internal Processes, Strength in Image and Place, Title IX - Equity, and for WSU-Rochester (Public Perception and Awareness, Quality Operations, Quality Teaching and Learning).

Senate Comments:

1. There are some items that do not have any "Person Responsible", so who is/are responsible?

2. Is this similar to Faculty PDP? i.e. Can faculty list IT as "Person Responsible" for laptop courses in their PDP?

3. Faculty is listed as "Person Responsible" under certain items...but where is the authority/power for faculty to do that?

4. Who will be held responsible if an item does not get done?

5. Do we, in fact, do re-allocations within/between departments?

6. Some Rochester items (in terms of time-lines) are simply too ambitious and some are even out-dated.

7. More valid indicators are needed under Infrastructure of Leaders in Technology.

 

H. WSU-Faculty Assn. Donations to Groups and Activities

D. Bratt would like Senate to consider which course it wishes to follow (and/or it wishes the President to follow) with requests for financial support from outside groups. Two options were presented:

(a) Consider requests on a case-by-case basis, which is being currently done/screened by the President and then brought to Senate. [Could be inconsistent from President to President, and from Senate to Senate.]

(b) Establish a policy defining the sorts of requests the Senate will (and therefore will not) consider funding. [Has the potential of consistent decision-making for both a President and the Senate.]

Comments:

1. There have not been any problems with handling any charitable contributions of worthy causes.

2. This year, WSUFA seems to be tight on budget items, but still should be OK.

No suggestions from Senators regarding either (a) or (b). D. Bratt remains as the "Person Responsible".

Faculty Senate adjourned at 4:46 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Bill Ng.