WSU FACULTY SENATE MEETING

    November 4, 2002 [Maxwell Teleconference Center]

ITV Rochester GL-137

 

Senators Present:            Sara Barbor, 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, Peter Miene, Bill Ng, Troy Paino,, Susanne Smith, Cathy Summa, Bruce Svingen(Rochester), Kerry Williams, Alex Yard(sabbatical leave).

Senators Absent:            Christa Matter,  Christine Pilon-Kacir(Rochester), Jo Stejskal(sabbatical leave).

Others Present:            Charla Miertschin, Jan Karjala, Robert Bacchus, Maggie McDermott.

 

I.          Call to Order

 

David Bratt called the meeting to order at 3:02 p.m.

 

 

II.            Approval of minutes of October 21, 2002 Senate Meeting

 

S. Smith/K. Kesler moved to approve minutes of October 21st.

Motion Carried.

 

 

I           Agenda Additions/Revisions and Approval:      

 

D. Downs/C. Killion moved to approve agenda items.

Motion Carried.

 

 

IV.       President's Report     

 

1.         A memorial was sent to a faculty member=s family.

 

2.         Ruth Forsythe forwarded to Faculty Senate a flyer on >International Education Week= (Nov. 16-22).  She would like Senators to note the various events to interested people.

 

 

V.         Review of Meet and Confer Notes of October 28, 2002

 

Additional notes:

Item#4 - Adm. Resp. #4:            Most of the money have been spoken for [ extra first-year sections, extra Library hours, some band instrument.]

 

Item #5 - Adm. Resp. #3:            The AIS-issue discussion group should include one WSUFA Executive member.

 

Meet and Confer: to ask at the next Meet and Confer an acceptable back-up solution to the network-copier problem.

 

D. Bratt will ask the administration regarding the date of the presentation on the National Center for Prevention of Child Abuse.

 

Meet and Confer Notes  received by Senate.

 

VI.            Committee Reports

 

A.         A2C2

 

I.          Subcommittee Members

 

A.            Course and Program Proposal Subcommittee B representative by college

1.            Nursing & Health Science: Shellie Nelson

 

 

II.            Course Approvals

 

A.                University Studies B Course Requirements

1.            Unity & Diversity - Contemporary Citizenship

AIS 360 Interpersonal Business Relations (3 SH)

B.            University Studies - Flag Courses

1.            Writing

ENG 414 Shakespeare: Comedies and Histories (3 SH)

ENG 417 Shakespeare: Tragedies (3 SH)

ENG 447 Modern Literary Criticism (3 SH)

THAD 331 Performance III (3 SH)

2.            Oral

POLS 421 The First Amendment (3 SH)

SOCW 340 Introduction to Social Work and Social Welfare (3 SH)

 

 

III.            Notifications (information only)

 

A.                Theatre & Dance B USP Notification

1.            THAD 205 Make-up For the Performer

 

 

Faculty Senate approved the courses in (II. A and II. B) and received information from A2C2.

 

 

B.            Graduate Council

 

No report.

 

 

C.            Government Relations

 

Darrell Downs briefly reported:

1.            Thanked all people who worked for lobbying efforts.

2.            Let GRC people know about faculty issues related to legislative goals.

 

 

D.            Personnel Policies and Grievance

 

Committee met but needed to discuss further.

E.            Committee on Committees 

 

The Committee on Committees recommends the following appointment:

 

Kerry Williams to the All-University Space Utilization Committee.

 

Faculty Senate approved the above appointment.

 

 

F.         Social Committee

 

Bill Ng/Cindy Killion reported:

Nov. 13 (Wed) IFO social flyer have been sent to and received by all at WSU.  Suggested that D. Bratt invite the administration.

 

 

VII.      Old Business

 

A.         Motion to rescind Pre-Meet and Confer action

 

Motion from Executive Session of Oct. 21 Senate Meeting:

Faculty Senate approved to discontinue Pre-Meet and Confer and the associated summary. 

T. Paino/A. Yard moved to rescind the motion concerning pre-meet and confer sessions passed at the  October 21st meeting of the FA Senate.

 

Senate Discussion:

1.         Many (key) people were not present to relate their views/experiences on Pre-Meet and Confer.

2.         To rescind the previous motion in such a short time without the motion actually go into effect would be unfair.  That is, give the action a chance to go into effect and see if the action would affect the Meet and Confer process.

3.         M. Kesler, as a former IFO President, never had Pre-Meet and Confer sessions.  She simply set an agenda and then allow the administration to add to the Meet and Confer agenda.

4.         Having a Pre-Meet and Confer could help to make sure that appropriate people are present at the Meet and Confer meetings.

5.            Clarification of items at Pre-Meet and Confer helped to speed/clear up issues, which can be beneficial.

6.         Having a Pre-Meet and Confer enhances the trust issue between administration and faculty, and also between IFO and the legislators. [Legislators believed that Pre-Meet and Confers gave the impression of not only trustworthiness between the IFO and the administration, but it also implied that communications are occurring at an appropriate level.]

7.         Voting out Pre-Meet and Confers could be viewed as a non-confidence issue.

8.            According to the IFO contract, 5 days are given to set the Meet and Confer agenda.

9.         The impression is that Pre-Meet and Confers are >closed= meetings.  Perhaps if these meetings were made known at the beginnings of each President=s term, it could be viewed differently.

 

Extension of discussion after 20 minutes.

10.        Pre-Meet and Confer meetings are held between IFO Pres/VP and the university Pres/VP or their designees.

11.            Information could be lost after Pre-Meet and Confers, it has nothing to do with trust or confidence.

12.        If Pre-Meet and Confers are open to all Exec members, the appearance of >closed= meetings would not be an issue.

 

Motion to rescind voted.

Motion Carried. [14-8]

 

S. Barbor/B. Svingen moved to open the Pre-Meet and Confer meetings to all members of the Faculty Executive committee.

Amendment: A. Yard/D. Downs amended that these meetings are for the purposes of clarifying agenda items.

Amendment Carried.

Main Barbor/Svingen motion:

Motion Carried.

 

Pre-Meet and Confers are held at 8:15 a.m. on Thursdays of the week of the Senate meeting.

 

A. Yard/B. Svingen moved that Senate express their confidence of President Bratt and VP Summa in using the Pre-Meet and Confer meetings appropriately.

Motion Carried.

 

 

B.         AIS Department

 

At the Oct. 28 Meet and Confer, the administration responded that they did not have any general problems with the AIS memo.  However, the administration disagreed with the 3.37 AIS faculty lines.  Their stance is that only two probationary lines are in AIS, with additional needs supplied from different sources [e.g. for one of the three positions stated by AIS, one-half of its funding came from ACEED and the other half came from sabbatical savings].  The administration suggested to redo/restart the process by having a group consisting of the Deans of Business and Education, AIS and Ed faculty, and one WSUFA exec. member.

 

AIS faculty supplied the Faculty Senate with a document (Due Process: AIS Programs and Students, dated November 4, 2002) stating their positions on the AIS program and the faculty lines.

 

C. Killion/S. Barbor moved that a group consisting of the Deans of Business and Education, 2 AIS faculty and 2 Ed faculty, and two Faculty Executive members be formed to discuss the AIS issue.

B. Ng/C. Hyman amended to 3 faculty for both AIS and Ed.

Amendent Carried.

Main Killion/Barbor motion with amendment.

Motion Carried.

 

Volunteers for AIS-issue group:

D. Bratt volunteered as one of the two Faculty Exec members.  D. Bratt will solicit the other Exec member.

AIS and Ed will be notified and forward their 3 names.  All faculty members must be IFO members.

 

 

 

 

C.         WSU Capital Campaign Case

 

The administration would like to invite 5-6 faculty members to work on the WSU CASE document [e.g. language, 5-year fixed term].   They would like relatively prompt faculty appointments.   Perhaps faculty with contract expertise and/or capital campaign experience can be solicited.  The Long Range Planning could be dealing with the >public service university= issue. 

 

M. Kesler/B. Svingen  moved that the Faculty Senate requests Committee on Committees to solicit 6 faculty; that upon receipt of faculty applications, the appointments by Faculty Senate be performed electronically. [One faculty member must be intimately acquainted with the IFO contract.]

Motion Carried.  

 

 

D.            Seniority Roster

 

The Seniority Roster,  hard-copy and electronic version,  has been provided by the administration at the Oct. 28 Meet and Confer.  Because of new IFO language involving Career Steps, faculty would like listing of creditable years included on the roster.  Furthermore, faculty will have only 20 days to review and pursue questions related to information given on the Seniority Roster. 

 

Senate Comments:

1.         If a mistake is spotted, faculty should inform HR in writing ( i.e. to generate a paper trail for mistakes made in the Seniority Roster.)

2.         If several faculty were hired at the same time/date, what is the process of designating the seniority order between these faculty?  Is it alphabetical?

Will enquire regarding comment 2 at the next Meet and Confer.

 

A new list will be forthcoming from the administration listing >years of service= for all faculty (e.g. fixed terms, retrenched faculty, or any faculty without any years listed beside their names.]

 

 

E.            Legislative Goals

 

Item was requested to be moved into Executive Session.

Motion Carried.

 

Motion voted out from Executive Session:

C. Hyman/M. Byman moved that the Faculty Senate direct the WSUFA Board members to oppose the goal of removing IFO strike authorization within the PELRA language.

Motion Carried.

 

 

 

VIII.    New Business

 

A.            Academic Calendar

 

The Calendar Committee is holding its first meeting 11/4 or 11/5, and a Senator has asked that the faculty determine priorities to guide the faculty reps on that committee.

 

In the past, Faculty Senate has recommended the following, which are all features of the current calendar:

 

1.         Class start date for Fall semester after Labor Day (except when Labor Day is 9/6 or 9/7)

2.         Spring Commencement before Memorial Day

3.         Fall Break Day in October (a Faculty Development Day)

4.         Class start date for Spring semester after MLK Day

5.         One week Spring Break

6.         The two parts of a spring semester should have the same number of class meeting days. To do this, schedule the beginning of Spring Break as close to Midterm Day as is practical.

7.         During any semester, there should be an equal number of class meeting days on each of the five weekdays (for instance, if there are 14 Tuesdays on which classes meet, there should also be 14 Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays). Be particularly aware of this goal when a semester's first day of classes is not a Monday or the last day of classes is not a Friday. Distribute non-class meeting days (such as Faculty Development Days, Assessment Days, Study Days, and holidays) among the five days of the work week as needed to accomplish this goal. Motion Carried.

8.         Faculty Development Days before the first class days in Fall and Spring, in October, before Thanksgiving, and following Spring Commencement.

 

Senate Comments:

1.         Summer sessions should be displayed as 25 consecutive duty days.

2.         Perhaps non-teaching faculty duty days can be used for class days.

3.         At least 3 weeks of break for Christmas and New Years.

 

M. Byman/C. Killion moved that the Faculty Senate reaffirmed the 8 features listed above for Calendar Committee deliberations.

P. Miene/B. Svingen amended that, if possible, as an additional goal #9, that equal number of class meeting days are assigned across the two semesters.

Amendent Carried.

Main Byman/Killion Motion voted.

Motion Carried.

 

 

B.            Parking

 

Several Senators complained about the lack of available 24-hour Gold Lot parking spaces.  Since most of the Gold Lot spaces are only set from early morning until 5:00 p.m., when faculty/staff arrive for late afternoon and evening classes, the Gold lot spaces in the center of the campus are always filled by general (non-Gold-Lot) vehicles.  Some cars even parked in Gold Lots before 5:00 p.m. without any ticketing.  If Gold Lot spaces are set at a high price, why shouldn=t they be guaranteed spaces in the evenings?...specially when faculty/staff need to provide evening classes for students.

 

C. Summa/M. Byman moved to bring to Meet and Confer the issue of lack of available (past 5 p.m.) Gold-Lot spaces in the center of the campus and to request that more Gold Lot spaces be designated with hours beyond 5 p.m. to accommodate evening classes.

Motion Carried.

 

 

C.         Plastics / Newspapers / TV news