WSU FACULTY SENATE MEETING
January
27, 2003
Senators Present:
Danning Bloom, Matt Bosworth, David Bratt, Marianna Byman, Darrell Downs, Mark
Engen, Pat Ferden, Yogesh Grover, Kelly Herold, Matthew Hyle, Colette Hyman, Joe Jackson,
Mary Kesler, Cindy Killion, Daniel Lintin, Christa Matter, Peter Miene, Bill Ng, Troy
Paino, Christine Pilon-Kacir (Rochester), Susanne Smith, Cathy Summa, Bruce Svingen
(Rochester), Kerry Williams,
Senators Absent:
Sara Barbor, Jo Stejskal (sabbatical leave), Alex Yard (sabbatical leave).
Others Present:
Charla Miertschin, Joe Mount, Jim Pehler, Helen Dachelet, and Gretchen Cohenour.
David Bratt
called the meeting to order at 3:01 p.m.
II.
Approval of minutes of December 2nd, 2002 Senate Meeting
Motion
Carried.
III.
Agenda Additions/Revisions and Approval:
NB-J:
Electronic Vote
C. Killion/M.
Kesler moved to approve agenda items.
Motion
Carried.
IV.
President’s Report
I
have sent memorials on the death of two faculty members’ fathers.
The
search for a WSU Registrar has been postponed indefinitely.
Along
with Darrell Downs, Mary Kesler, Bruce Svingen, and other state university faculty, I
attended the DFL Senate caucus fund-raiser on January 6, just before the beginning of the
legislative session.
On
that same day I also attended an IFO Executive Committee meeting and a meeting between
state university campus presidents and the presidents of the local faculty associations.
Mary
Kesler, Cathy Summa, and I attended an IFO Board meeting January 23-24.
I
will attend a statewide Meet and Confer session on February 6-7.
In
response to the motion passed by WSU Faculty Senate regarding exploration of
withholding of domestic partner benefits as a human rights violation, the IFO Board passed
a motion calling for the Domestic Partners Task Force (a statewide committee with
representation by DOER and all state unions) to be reconvened.
Following
are items from the IFO Board meeting:
--MnSCU’s
Committee/Council on Professional Education (COPE) has begun discussing a 2-year Associate
of Science in Educational Foundations degree, to facilitate transfer of potential teaching
students to 4-year schools.
--The
Board passed motions (a) opposing development of the Associate of Fine Arts degree and any
other AA degree with a named emphasis; and (b) supporting a process that would include the
full participation of state university faculty in any MnSCU discussions of potential
AA-with-named-emphasis programs.
--The
Board’s attention was called to the following portion of MnSCU policy 3.17: AA Baccalaureate degree may be awarded after the successful
completion of a program of 120 to 128 semester credits. At least one-third of the required
credits for the degree shall be in non-major areas of general education, including the
Minnesota Transfer Curriculum. At least one-third of the required credits for the degree
shall be upper-division credits. At least 30 semester credits shall be taught by the
faculty recommending the awarding of the degree. This requirement may be decreased upon
recommendation by the faculty and approval by the president.
--The
Board discussed how the IFO ought to respond to the dismissal of a tenured Mankato
professor for insubordination. [a charge that is being strongly contested by Mankato
faculty and the IFO.]
--Campus
FA’s were asked to respond to a draft MnSCU policy regarding the acceptable use of
computers and information technology resources. Please send comments to me; I will also
ask the FA Tech Committee for comments.
Additional
note:
A
Civility Training memo was sent to (some? /selected?) faculty from Tess Kruger. The memo stated, in a tone of relative uncivil
manner, that not only attendance by faculty is encouraged, but that faculty supervisors
should also encourage employees (whom they supervise) to attend; though the training
sessions (3 hours long) were set up at the request of AFSCME and Council 6.
Senators raised the issues of funding
for the sessions, of the relative relevance of faculty being “told” to attend,
and of whether such training sessions have been informed via a Meet and Confer process.
M. Hyle/D. Lintin moved that D. Bratt
electronically inform faculty that faculty consideration of participation at the
“Civility Training” sessions be delayed until after the next Meet and Confer.
Motion Carried.
V.
Review of Meet and Confer Notes, 12/9/02 and 12/20/02
Additional
clarifications/notes for 12/20/02:
Note 10:
Phase-retirement replacements could be in question for next year.
M. Byman/C.
Hyman moved to ask at Meet and Confer that the administration confirm/continue
phase-retirement replacements.
Motion
Defeated.
C. Killion/B.
Svingen moved to alert Budget Task Force members that the preservation of phase-retirement
replacements and the number of faculty lines be preserved, i.e. should have as a priority
a maintenance of full-time faculty lines.
Postponed
to NB-I.
Note 9:
Courses with ten or less students are considered to be low-enrollment courses by
the administration.
Add note 15:
Dr. Krueger mentioned his dislike for the $0.5M tail for career steps!
Meet and
Confer Notes received by Senate.
VI.
Committee Reports
COM-A. A2C2
A2C2 forwards the following items from
their December 4, 2002 and January 15, 2003 meetings:
I.
Course Approvals
A.
New Courses
1. CS 433
Digital Image Processing (3 SH)
2. GEOS 102
Resources of the Earth (3 SH)
3. SOC 474
Intervention with Families (3 SH)
B.
Revised Courses
1. PER 214
Standard First Aid and CPR (3 SH) - change to 2 SH
2. PER 300
Motor Learning (2 SH) - change to 3 SH
C.
University Studies - Flag Courses
1. Writing
MCOM 130
Newswriting (3 SH)
Item
I approved by Faculty Senate.
II.
Recommendations
A.
US Global or Multicultural Perspectives Requirement
Students
from a different culture, including international students, will not be waived from the
global or multicultural perspectives requirement.
[A concern
was made regarding the possible increase of Gen. Ed. credits/loads to WSU.]
Item
II-A approved by Faculty Senate.
B.
2004-2005 Calendar
A2C2
endorses the 2004-2005 calendar as approved by the FA Senate on November 18, 2003 with the
change of Assessment Day from Thursday, February 10, 2004 to Wednesday, February 9, 2004.
[The move of
Assessment Day provides a better balance for the whole year, but not as well for the
spring semester.]
D. Bratt
ruled that it would 2/3 majority for Faculty Senate to defeat Item II-B from A2C2.
M. Hyle /B.
Ng moved to challenge the Bratt ruling.
Bratt ruling
defeated.
No
subsequent action taken by Faculty Senate. Original
Faculty Senate action of having Assessment Day on Thursday Feb. 10th for the 2004-2005
Calendar prevailed.
III.
Notifications (information only)
A.
Sociology/Social Work: USP notification
SOCW 340
Introduction to social Work (3 SH)
B.
ACEED
RC 399
Internship - change from 6 SH to 1-12 SH
C.
Global Studies: one-time course offering
GS 100
Chinese Cooking (1 SH) - spring 2003
D.
Mass Communication: one-time course offering
MCOM 411
London Advertising Project (3 SH) - spring 2003
E.
A2C2 has asked that departments review their online catalog listings for
correctness, especially checking the application of asterisks (*) for additional
requirements. Asterisks are only needed under
the USP for Arts & Science Core courses for which the department wishes to have
courses count as both US and for the major.
Com-B. Graduate Council
No report.
Com-C. Government Relations
Darrell Downs
briefly reported the following:
1.
Budget scenarios are now being predicted for the next biennium.
2.
The IFO Lobby Day will be held February 19-20 with several WSU faculty planning to
attend.
Com-D. Personnel Policies and Grievance
Senate motion
from 12/2/02:
M. Hyle/P.
Miene moved to accept the PP&G statement of fact (Frank Conroy document of contract
violations in PQI document) and to delay any action until the next Senate meeting.
Motion
Carried. [10-9]
1/27/03 Senate action:
The
PP&G statement of fact will be sent to Meet and Confer and to the new Ad Hoc May Term
committee. (See NB-D)
Com-E. Committee on Committees
The Committee
on Committees recommends the following appointments:
Celeste
Miller (Education) to the MnSCU Task Force on College and University Collaboration in
Teacher Preparation.
Terry Price
(Math/Stats) to the committee working on the case document for the capital fund campaign.
Russ Dennison
(Library) to the IFO's Library Committee.
Faculty
Senate approved the above CC recommendations.
Additional note:
Jim Armstrong has resigned from the Student Affairs Committee (we now have 14
members on this committee)
Com-F. Social Committee
The dance event held on Saturday,
January 18, at the Winona Country Club was a very successful event. About 60 faculty members and their guests attended
the event. About 50 door prizes were given
out during the evening. The WSU Jazz Band
provided a great dancing atmosphere.
The next event will be the IFO
Retirement Banquet on Wednesday evening, April 23, at the Westfield Golf Course meeting
hall. Retirees who have given consent to HR
to have their names released are:
Dennis Pack,
Lyelle Palmer,
George Gross,
Chuck Bentley (held IFO tenure)
Jim Mootz (held IFO tenure)
Gloria Miller - MSUAASF, no IFO
service
VII.
Old Business
OB-A.
Academic Calendar, 05-06
B. Svingen had previously e-mailed the
05-06 Calendar to Senators. Some features of
this version included:
1.
Start class after MLK day; i.e. 4 weeks break for students,
2.
Assessment on a Thursday,
3.
Spring break March 20-24,
4.
May 5th Commencement,
C. Summa/M. Kesler moved to approve
Calendar 05-06.
Amendments:
1.
Fall break day moved to a Friday, (Summa/Killion m/s),
approved
2.
Move spring break to March 6-10 (Hyman/Paino m/s)
[6-7], defeated.
3.
Move spring break to March 13-17,
approved.
Senate concerns:
1.
Shows and performances could be disrupted with late March break.
2.
Some athletic events could be affected by a move of spring break to early March.
Summa/Kesler Motion Carried with
amendments of fall break day and Spring Break.
The amendments on fall break day
and spring break will also be applied to Calendar 04-05.
VIII. New
Business
NB-A. IFO
President Jim Pehler (~3:10 p.m.)
President Jim Pehler spoke to Senators
regarding the State Budget situation:
1.
House proposed $25M cut to MnSCU, Senate proposed $20M cut to MnSCU; Senate did not
take cut out of base funding (i.e. just a one-time cut), but House proposal did. Conference committee will work out the difference.
2.
MnSCU is applying an ~4% cut across all campuses.
3.
Unlike past practice, campuses with reserves will not receive a larger budget cut
in order to help out campuses without reserves. However,
campuses may choose to lend their reserves to other needy campuses with appropriate
interest-loan agreements.
4.
If the legislature does not take action on a timely manner, Governor Pawlenty will
be un-allotting state agency budgets on his own. It’s
predicted that the legislature should be able to make the Governor’s deadline
sometime next week perhaps the night before it’s due.
5.
Legislature is planning to forward as their 4/5th Bill, state employee contracts,
with the understanding that Domestic Partners benefits will be removed for approval.
6.
Minority leader in the Senate has called for a two-year freeze on state employee
salaries. IFO contract needs to be copied to
DOER, but doesn’t need approval by DOER. Legislature
and the Governor are the approving bodies for the IFO contract.
7.
All union heads will be meeting tomorrow with the new DOER head on contract issues.
8.
House speaker and the Governor have indicated that contract ratifications will only
occur if Domestic Partners benefits are removed. The
House speaker does not wish to intrude into language of state statues.
9.
Early retirement incentives could be discussed to help address budget problems. Providing health insurance after age 64 (since get
1 year coverage after retirement) is a concern for the state. The AG is attempting to clarify this issue.
NB-B. State
Budget
Senators received a document on
“Ten things you should know about the state’s budget crisis”
(John
Gunyou, the city manager of Minnetonka and was MN finance commissioner under Gov. Arne
Carlson during the state’s last budget crisis), a pie chart displaying five areas
(K-12=41%, Higher Ed=9%, LGA=10%, Health Care=19%, H&Human Svcs=7%) accounting for 86%
of the State’s General Fund Spending, and an itemized WSU FY04 Budget Status sheet.
A WSU FY04 Budget Scenarios (1/24/03)
sheet was given to Senators. The sheet lists
Best (no increase), Bad (10% Reduction), and Worst (20% reduction) scenarios. Estimates of total un-funded ranging from
$3.1M to $10.6M with possible tuition increases ranging from 13 to 43%.
Discussion:
1.
Senators and faculty are urged to write the Governor and the legislature that
everyone should experience an equal share of the cut; i.e. not touching K-12 is not a good
idea.
2.
Write to them in a polite and reasonable manner.
3.
Students should be strongly encouraged to participate on Lobby Day. Faculty should remind/educate students on the
political reality of budget problems.
4.
Some students are already suffering due to a cut in financial aid.
5.
Private schools are hiring many additional lobbying staff for this legislative
session.
NB-C. CLA
Chairs/Directors motion
The department chairs and program
directors in the College of Liberal Arts are fully cognizant of the budget crisis facing
the state and our university. We all
understand that some reduction in spending has to occur in order to cope with this crisis. But we are also of the view that cuts should have
proportionately fair impact on all departments, programmatic areas, and university
initiatives, including technology, library acquisitions, equipment purchase, and
athletics. To minimize the impact of spending
reductions, the university should consult with students to determine tuition increases
sufficient to maintain the quality of education at WSU. We emphasize in no uncertain terms
that the university must accord the highest priority to classroom instruction by retaining
all necessary personnel at the university and filling vacant positions.
The above was signed by ~9 CLA
Chairs/Directors (i.e. not a unanimous motion from CLA Chairs/Directors).
Some Senators voiced their concerns
that actual data on which program getting cuts were not known. One comment related to why Library budgets were
targeted in the motion.
C. Summa/C. Killion moved that Faculty
Senate refer this motion to the new Budget Committee. (See Item NB-I).
Amendment:
D. Downs/S. Smith moved to strike “ including technology, library
acquisitions, equipment purchase, and athletics”.
Amendment
defeated.
Summa/Killion Motion Carried.
NB-D. Ad hoc
May Term committee
C. Summa/M. Kesler moved to
re-consider the May term issue by forming an Ad Hoc May Term committee:
That Faculty Senate establish an ad
hoc faculty committee to explore (a) the establishment of a 3-1/2 week May Term summer
session, consisting of 25 consecutive days, which would commence as soon as possible
following the end of Spring semester; and (b) possible funding options aimed at making
teaching in the May Term more attractive to faculty. The committee should consult with
A2C2 and other pertinent groups and should report to Senate at its March 31, 2003,
meeting. The committee will consist of 5-7 faculty volunteers; representation from all
colleges and from non-teaching faculty is desirable but not required.
Amendment 1: B. Ng/C. Killion moved
that the Frank Conroy document (see PP&G 12/2/02) be sent to Meet and Confer and to
the Ad Hoc May Term Committee members. (Amendment
1 Approved) [The understanding is that committee members should take note of IFO contract
violations stated by Frank Conroy regarding the May-term proposal in the original PQI
document.]
Amendment 2: B. Ng/C. Killion moved that the committee
considers budget ramifications in the committee=s exploration of a May term scenario. (Amendment 2 Approved)
Ad Hoc Committee Motion Carried
with Amendments 1 and 2.
NB-E. Ad hoc
committee, National Child Protection Development and Training Center
C. Hyman/S. Smith moved that Faculty
Senate establish an ad hoc faculty committee to explore establishment on the WSU campus of
a National Child Protection Development and Training Center and report its recommendation
to Faculty Senate at its March 31, 2003, meeting.
If the committee’s recommendation
to Senate is that the WSU Faculty Association should support establishment of the Center,
the committee report should include drafts of policy statements regarding the
Center’s governance and funding; its relationship to WSU academic departments,
courses, and academic programs; and other issues which may arise.
The committee will consist of 5-10
faculty volunteers. Representation should
include but not be limited to departments and programs whose academic programs would be
closely related to the work of Center.
Motion Carried.
NB-F. Meet
and Confer, 2/3/03
President Krueger will not be present
at the 2/3/03 Meet and Confer. No
objection from Senate to hold the meeting as scheduled.
NB-G. Spring
semester assignments for supervision of student teaching
Faculty Senate received a copy of an
e-mail from Barbara Boseker (SPED Practicum Coordinator) to Dean Anderson stating the
student teaching supervision load in SPED for Spring 2003.
Faculty Senate received as
information.
NB-H.
Election Schedule
A tentative time frame for Spring 2003
FA Election was presented:
Feb. 12
Call for
Candidates sent to Faculty
Feb. 26
Deadline for
call for candidates
Mar. 13
Post Candidate
info on Web-page/ Send ballots to Print Shop
Mar. 26
Send ballots to
IFO members
Apr. 9
Deadline for
return of ballots
Apr. 10
Disseminate
results to Senate President and Candidates appearing on the ballot
Apr. 14
announcing
results of spring election at Senate meeting
Apr. 21
Announce results
of spring elections at Meet and Confer
An info sheet displaying Terms Ending
2003 for Officers and Senators was included in the Senate Packet.
D. Downs/B. Ng moved to approve the
Election Schedule.
Motion Carried.
NB-I. Budget
Committee
M. Kesler/C. Summa moved:
That Faculty Senate establish a
standing FA Budget Committee to review university budgets and priorities, to report to the
Senate its analyses of these issues and priorities, and to recommend positions the Senate
may wish to take regarding the allocation of the university budget resources. The
Committee will consist of 4-7 faculty; representation from all colleges and from
non-teaching faculty is desirable but not required; approximately half the members will
serve one-year and half two-year terms; the Committee will elect its Chair at its first
meeting of each academic year.
Amendment: change composition to: 6 faculty + FA-Pres/VP, to include five colleges +
non-teaching.
Amendment approved.
Motion Carried.
Postponed motion from Item V.
C. Killion/B. Svingen moved to alert
Budget Task Force members (once it’s formed) that they should take into its
considerations the maintaining of full-time tenure-track faculty lines (including
previously agreed upon phase-retirement replacements) in the university.
Motion Carried.
NB-J.
Electronic Vote
C. Killion/Kesler moved that all three
new committee memberships (Ad hoc May Term, Ad hoc NCPDTC, Budget) be confirmed by
electronic votes of the Faculty Senate.
Motion Carried.
X.
Adjournment
Faculty
Senate adjourned at 5:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Bill Ng